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Welcome to the World Situation Report For April 17, 2022

Michael Cessna April 17, 2022

The goal of this column is to present news from around the world that is not often – if ever – covered by more mainstream entities, using local sources wherever possible, but occasionally using news aggregators not used, again, by the mainstream media. Also, please note that we do use links to Wikipedia; while Wikipedia is well-known as a largely-useless site for any kind of serious research, it does serve as a launch-pad for further inquiry, in addition to being generally free of malicious ads. As with anything from Wikipedia, always verify their sources before making any conclusions based on their pages.

This column will cover the preceding week of news.

North America

Starting off, we will obviously need to address the New York City subway attack.

At approximately 8:24 a.m. EDT, a man later identified as 62-year-old Frank Robert James reportedly donned a gas mask, threw two smoke grenades, and fired some 33 shots from a Glock 17 9mm handgun, injuring some 29 people, 10 from gunshots and 19 from the ensuing panic.

The suspect has an extensive arrest record, but in all of those previous cases, the charges were either dropped or reduced to misdemeanors, allowing him to retain the ability to legally purchase firearms, a very common occurrence in the United States, even though both the state of New York, and New York City itself, enforce some of the strictest firearms laws in the United States, in spite of numerous Supreme Court rulings to the contrary. As with many other incidents in recent years, the investigation by the NYPD, FBI, BATFE and HSI were hampered by a lack of security cameras. Despite a city-wide appeal to people who had been at the scene of the attack to send any pictures or videos of the suspect to the NYPD, although the suspect was identified, he was not arrested until he, himself, called the tip line and advised the police of his location the day after the attack.

As a result, authorities in Los Angeles, California remain in “high alert” for similar events, as that metro area increasingly faces rising crime from the effects of homelessness and the rampant effects of enforced lax law enforcement.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]

Elsewhere in the nation, police in Virginia recovered a “live grenade” near a Goodwill store. No images of the device in question were released.

In Boston, Massachusetts, local police and the FBI are investigating the reported theft of police uniforms, mere weeks before the world-famous Boston Marathon is due to be run. This year marks the ninth anniversary of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and wounded over 260 others, whose perpetrators – brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev – were killed by police (Tamerlan) or sentenced to death (Dzhokhar).

[Source 1] – [Source 2]

Europe

In the United Kingdom, 26-year old Ali Harbi Ali, a British citizen of Somali descent, was given a rare sentence of life in prison for the 2021 stabbing murder of Sir David Amess (father of actress Katie Amess), Conservative MP for Southend West.

Amess was stabbed to death by Ali on 15 October, 2021, at a “constituency surgery” (an event where politicians speak one-on-one with their constituents) in Leigh-on-Sea. These events always present a significant security risk, as two other MP’s have been killed and two more wounded at similar events in the past decades.

“If I thought I did anything wrong, I wouldn’t have done it,” he told the jury.

Ali expressed no remorse for his attack, telling police at the time of his arrest that he was influenced by the propaganda of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a senior leader and official spokesperson of the so-called “Islamic State” (killed in an airstrike in 2016), who had called on Muslims to attack people in their home countries who were deemed to be enemies of the IS. Ali had entered a plea of “not guilty” for the attack, claiming that his actions were “religiously motivated”. According to police, Ali conducted research on over 250 MP’s before narrowing his target list down to Amess and a few others.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4]

Africa

Turning to Africa, Nigerian government officials released a statement that “armed gangs” that have been attacking remote communities in Nigeria’s northwestern regions are actively working with the terrorist group Boko Haram, who have been battling several governments in an insurgency that began in 2009. While previously believed to have been simple, criminal banditry, the increasing number and violence of attacks in recent months has led Nigerian officials to confirm the ties suspected by counter-terrorism specialists.

This comes as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with a population of over 200 million, has seen a series of nightmarish attacks this week, including the massacre of over 100 people in attacks on four villages in northern Plateau State, as well as other attacks throughout the rest of the nation, resulting in dozens more deaths, bombings and arson attacks.

Labeling the “criminal gangs” as being part of Boko Haram will allow – in theory – far more resources to be devoted to combating them. However, Nigeria’s security services have been stretched thin by the long-running fighting.

Across the continent in Somalia, meanwhile, Somali National Army (SNA) troops – backed by the newly-formed African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) – killed seven Al-Shabaab terrorists in a foiled attack on an army encampment in Dinsoor, in the country’s south on the 11th. Somalia is slowly beginning to stabilize after decades of civil war, lawlessness and the ongoing campaigns against Al Shabaab.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]

Middle East

In the Middle East this week, various Yemeni groups accused the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the country’s civil war in 2015, of repeatedly violating a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement. The confusing, multi-sided war has reportedly killed over 100,000 people, in addition to an estimate 85,000 who have died as a result of the ongoing famine in the country since it began in 2016. The UNICEF organization and various NGO’s described Yemen as “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world“, and estimated that 80% of the population, over 24 million people, were in need of humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, desultory fighting continues throughout war-torn Syria, as Turkish forces continued shelling areas in the country’s north, along with low-level violence from both native factions and several international belligerents who have intervened for all sorts of claimed reasons, legitimate and otherwise.

The same holds true for Iraq, as security forces engaged in the now-normal give-and-take of attacks, IEDs and arrests throughout the country, as another Coalition supply convoy was attacked in the Babil Governate, in which are the remains of the historic city of Babylon.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9]

In Pakistan, Balochi insurgents attacked reported military intelligence posts of the MI and ISI in the city of Kharan.

Elsewhere in the country, a total of 15 police officers and soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in the country’s northern regions. The terror group “Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan” claimed responsibility for all three attacks. In the Bajaur District, one Mufti Shafiullah Jan, a teacher at the Government High School, died of his injuries after being seriously injured in an IED blast while on his way to work, despite paramedics’ best efforts to save him.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6]

South Asia

Finally, in central India, Communist insurgents kidnapped and murdered two men – one of them a former insurgent who had surrendered in 2010 – claiming that they were “police informants” in pamphlets left at the scenes in the city of Gadchiroli.

In the north of the country, in Jammu & Kashmir, scattered gun battles with various insurgent groups killed a total of six terrorist suspects and wounded two police officers, in two separate incidents, amid the long-running strife in the region.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]

MILTECH: Rethinking The Fortress

Michael Cessna April 17, 2022

We’ve all seen them — whether picturesque castles, grim fortresses, chaotic and open firebases, or grimy underground tunnel warrens — most people know a “fort” when they see it. Most people, however, also assume that such things are passe, obsolete ideas long overcome by technology.

But – are fortresses obsolete?

From mankind’s earliest days of social interaction, we have been building defensive structures. At first, defense against the weather – mainly, the rain and the cold – was the major concern, mostly because caves could be hard to come by. Over time, however, it became readily apparent that sturdier defenses were needed, to protect us from large predators. Eventually, though, someone realized that improving those structures made it difficult for the raiding party from the next valley to steal all the women and goats. Thus, the first real walls were built…causing, consequently, the first arms race.

As time went on, attackers began figuring out how to get over, under, around or through walls. In response, walls got taller and thicker, and foundations sank deeper into the ground. Covered parapets began to appear. Then, someone built a tower, and someone else extended walls away from it…

This spiral continued for unknown millennia, until – in Western Europe, at least – the early 14th Century. Then, black powder appeared in concert with cannon, and with increasing speed, castles that had withstood multiple sieges began falling, as their inflexible stone battlements were blown apart by stone – followed by iron – shot.

*Martello Tower, Shenick Island, County Dublin, Ireland (Source: Pixabay)*

It took until the middle of the 17th Century before one man brought fortifications back from obscurity: Vauban.

*Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), Maréchal de France; Artist: Charles-Philippe Larivière (1798–1876)*

Starting with the basis of the “trace italienne” designs, Vauban revolutionized the entire science of military engineering, developing a system of both attack and defense from modern fortifications – now, fortresses became more or less impervious to all but the most massive bombardment, and became offensive weapons in their own right. Vauban’s designs were applied around the world for the next two hundred and fifty years. And then, of course, technology caught up.

The advent of high explosive artillery in the late 19th Century spelled the end – for a time – of Vauban-style fortresses, as the high explosives could obliterate the intricately laid out constructions at will.

But then, an odd thing happened.

Following World War 1, France was left with the stark reality that nearly an entire generation of its young men had been wiped out in the trenches. Needing what we would now call a “force multiplier“, France turned to its military engineers, and built the “Maginot Line“, named for the war veteran and War minister of the time, Andre Maginot.

*Ligne Maginot – Schoenenbourg. CCA/2.0*

This enormous complex was a series of self-contained concrete fortresses, all of which were built around multiple pieces of heavy artillery. For most of its length. the forts in the defensive belt that ran from the Swiss border to Luxembourg could cover their neighbors with overlapping artillery fires, making any attempt at assault costly to even contemplate. Only the sections beginning at the Ardennes Forest – rough, heavily-forested terrain – were more thinly spread out.

French leaders were convinced that the Maginot Line would force Germany into a repeat of their World War 1 strategy of striking though Belgium, while slowing the attack further south, but that this time France would be ready, and could slow the German war machine down long enough to give France time to assemble allies to once again batter Germany into defeat.

But, when war finally came, French and British troops sat and stared at Germany, until the Nazis smashed through the Low Countries, and forced France to surrender in six weeks.

The hideously expensive Maginot Line, it seemed, had failed completely. Coupled with the other spectacular surrenders of heavily and expensively fortified places in World War 2, it seemed that fortresses were finally dead.

*Lieutenant-General Percival and his party carry the Union flag on their way to surrender Singapore to the Japanese, February, 1942. Public Domain.*

But…were they? Did the Maginot Line fail?

In a word – no.

In fact, the Maginot Line worked flawlessly: it forced the Germans to essentially repeat their much maligned Schlieffen Plan of World War 1, with the crucial additions of at least partially armored and motorized formations supported by dedicated ground attack aircraft. These additions, coupled to a hopelessly inadequate and lackluster command structure among the Allies, are what led to France’s collapse.

In fact, only one of the fortresses of the actual Maginot Line ever fell to the Nazis. The most famous fortress built on the Maginot model to fall – that of Eben-Emael, in Belgium – was neither part of a cohesive defensive network, nor was fully manned or supplied, and was not designed to defend against a glider assault, something built into the layout of the Maginot network.

However, the public – and unfortunately, most of the military – perceptions were that the concept of a fortress, as such, was dead, especially with the advent of atomic and nuclear weapons.

*A B-61 thermonuclear weapon, showing its major components; Source: US government DOD and/or DOE. Public Domain.*

And yet…countries still built versions of fortresses, a practice which continues into the present day.

From the underground command bunkers and ballistic missile silo’s of the militaries of the United States and the USSR in the Cold War, to the firebases and underground guerilla bases of Vietnam, to today’s “forward operating bases“, fortresses still quietly soldier on.

*C-RAM 3 air defense system; Source: US government; Public Domain*

One of the chief arguments against a modern fortress is its supposed vulnerability to “smart munitions“, primarily bombs and missiles. However, this dangerous assumption presumes two things to exist: complete command of the air, and a lack of effective anti-missile systems on the part of the defenders in the fortress. The North Vietnamese Armed Forces, like the modern Islamic State, would have happily bombed and shelled US and South Vietnamese fire bases and FOB’s out of existence from afar; however, lacking any effective way to contest the airspace over those bases, those forces were forced to rely on infiltration, suicide bomber tactics and human wave assaults. Similarly, although Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was capable of buying effective anti-missile systems, he declined to do so, because that would have required a level of technical ability and professional competence to operate that he was loathe to allow in his fragmented military forces.

Another argument against a modern fortress is its susceptibility to attack by conventional ground forces, such as artillery and tanks, as well as infiltration attacks by various types of special forces. This argument ignores the fact that while a modern fortress can indeed be severely damaged by modern high explosives, the amounts of artillery ammunition needed are staggering; in fact, it is questionable if modern armies possess the firepower necessary to reduce a position like Verdun – even with no modern updates – and the fact that infiltration has been tried against fortresses throughout history.

As a result of these factors, no one has attempted to design an actual “fighting fortress“, as such, for almost a century. This begs the question: What would such a fortress look like?

In order to be functional, the fortress would have to be sited to guard a specific location, like its predecessors. It would need an array of offensive weapons, of both tactical- and theater-level, and both active and passive defensive systems, as well as a mobile garrison which could launch conventional attacks against enemies attempting to lay siege to it.

In the offense, the fortress would need batteries of tactical- and theater-level conventional missiles, likely stored ready-to-fire in vertical-launch units; these types of missiles have been in use for decades. Our hypothetical modern fortress would also have an array of emplaced conventional artillery. These weapons, most with ranges in excess of 15km or more, have been in common use worldwide for over a century. The modern fortress could also have some form of armored cavalry unit secured in underground revetments, ready to launch rapid counterattacks if necessary.

*A Tomahawk Cruise Missile launch form the USS Farragut (DDG-99), August, 2009. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Leah Stiles. Public Domain.*

Defensively, our modern fortress would have passive defenses in the form of Vauban-style approaches, as well as barbed wire and defensive landmine barriers, designed to channel and slow conventional infantry attackers, and making armored attacks on the fortress problematic. Active defenses would include various radars, as well as defensive missiles like the Rolling Airframe Missile and rotary cannon anti-missile turrets, but could also employ more advanced systems, such as “Iron Dome” or a THEL-type system.

*Tactical High Energy Laser/Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator, 2005. US Army Photo. Public Domain.*

The penultimate argument actual fighting fortresses in the modern age, at the end of the day, is one of expense: in an era where countries are paying well in excess of US$100million for a single fighter plane, constructing a fighting fortress could be staggeringly expensive.

But not completely out of reach.

Time – and finances – will tell, if the fighting fortress will make a return to the front of the stage.

*An aerial photograph of the town of Neuf-Brisach, 2018. CCA/4.0*

*The Freedomist — Keeping Watch, So You Don’t Have To*

How The Sultan Got His Groove Back

Michael Cessna April 15, 2022

In 2016, among many other incidents, there was an “attempted coup d’état” in Turkey, in an attempt to unseat Recep Tayiip Erdogan. The quotation marks are there for the simple reason that the Turkish coup was a scam, played for a Turkish audience, only.

Why would a leader – popular or otherwise – take such a dangerous course, as to stage a fake coup d’état against themselves? It doesn’t seem to make sense, even in spite of prepared arrest lists.

In the bizarre world of ‘realpolitik’, however, it makes perfect sense.

Erdogan has survived conspiracy plots before, but he and his nation’s military had come to some level of truce. However, as has become increasingly clear, Erdogan has big dreams, and is willing to take big risks to do it, including actively aiding one of the most savage and brutal terrorist groups seen in the last century.

*Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, 2018. Photo Credit: Mikhail Palinchak. CCA/4.0*

But, why? What prize could be so valuable, as to risk wars on multiple fronts, with some of the largest, most powerful nations in the world? In simple terms, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to become the first Sultan of a restored Ottoman Empire.

The case for this is fairly straightforward.

Erdogan began injecting Turkey into Levantine politics as far back as 2010, with Turkey’s tacit support of the Palestinian relief flotillas. No one with any experience in the region expected those flotillas to accomplish much, but its tacit support reintroduced the world to Turkey as a significant political player.

This was followed by the appearance of the so-called ‘caliphate’, also known as the ‘Islamic State’. Although ISIL had its genesis from many authors, as the video above clearly demonstrates, its major bases and overland supply corridors originated in southern Turkey.

But again, why? How does active support for ISIL lead to Turkey reforming the Ottoman Empire? The secret is revealed in an ISIL video, since removed by YouTube. The video’s emphasis in its monologue is almost exclusively about destroying the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Sykes-Picot Agreement, drawn up during World War 1, created the modern map of the Middle East as we know it today. The modern nations of Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel–Palestine, and Saudi Arabia were all the children of that agreement.

“Destroying” Sykes-Picot would result in absolute anarchy — an anarchy into which a “strong leader on a horse” could step, bringing unity, stability and ultimately, peace. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, no matter how legitimate a candidate for Caliph he may have been, would never have been able to bring that peace and stability; the idea that he could bring any kind of unity to the region was simply laughable on its face.

However, a restored Ottoman state, headed by a Turkey with a comparatively untainted reputation, would fit the bill, as it could make the claim that Sykes-Picot was imposed on the region illegally.

But, as possession is always 9/10th of the law, how was this supposed to play out in the military arena? Refer to the map video above, one more time: the main targets of this Turkish ‘grand plan’ were Syria and Iraq. None of the nations in the region would be willing to jump into Turkey’s bed ‘just because’, so some ‘motivation’ needed to be applied to those countries’ peoples.

The so-called ‘Arab Spring‘ provided the opening. Bashar al Assad’s regime was considered to be very stable before the unrest began — but there were still too many US troops in Iraq for the push to start there.

As Syria collapsed into civil war, Iraq consequently fell into even more instability. Two years later, as ISIL exploded out of obscurity, both nations were so badly weakened, they could do little against the terrorist tsunami.

As the IS gained ground, rolling over all the opposition before them, they began to edge southeastward, as if attempting to surround Baghdad, but they never seemed able to close the pincers. Doing so was the logical military move, as it would have cut Baghdad’s only route of ground supply, and would have forced a major battle with Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government — a battle the weak Iraqi government was in no way guaranteed of winning, given the state of its military forces at that time.

ISIS (Grey) Territory Change 2014-2016 Legend: grey: ISIS light/dark yellow: Syrian/ Iraqi Kurdish forces dark red: Iraqi government forces light red: Syrian government forces. Green: Syrian rebel forces. 2016. CCA/4.0

The impending collapse of Shiite-dominated Iraq would, so the thinking went, have drawn in Shiite Iran, which should have sent the main-force heavy units of the Artesh (the Iranian Army) in a US Army-style assault all the way to Baghdad, riding like the cavalry to the rescue in a John Wayne movie, with Arabic subtitles…which would, naturally, have allowed IS to scream for help to rest of the Sunni world against the heretic Shiite aggressor…

That is, of course, not what happened.

*Iran Army in 2018; Date: 28 May 2019. Photo Credit: Amir Hossein Nazari. CCA/4.0*

The Iranians – the Persians of Biblical and Greek history – have been in the war business for several millennia, and saw that trap for what it was. Their response was — to do nothing. When things got very tight for Shiite Baghdad, the Iranians sent in their “Quds Force” (the Iranian version of special forces), because the Quds Force is seen as an advisory group, not a garrison force.

This left ISIL withering on the vine, as no one could openly support such a savage and bestial regime as al Baghdadi’s. Worse, for ISIL, at least, was first Iran’s and then Russia’s not-very-covert aid to the Assad government. Hardening resistance by Kurdish groups like the Peshmerga and the YPG began to slice away ISIL gains, resulting in increasing repression by Erdogan’s regime. Then, everything almost came completely off the rails when the Russians intervened, an event that nearly caused NATO to choose between Turkey – an event that could have caused World War 3 – and dissolution, if it failed to back a member nation under attack.

This failure of ISIL to fulfill its role as sacrificial lamb to the Iranian lion also exposed the dark underbelly of the world of realpolitik, revealing Turkey’s clear role of support, and implying support (tacit or direct) from other countries. In this atmosphere, it would appear that at least some of Erdogan’s military commanders began to whisper about the possibility of a coup. From the stunted development of the coup, it is clear that the coup plotters in the field had little to no direction. In the end, the instant Erdogan put in an appearance, the foot soldiers began giving up.

As a result, Erdogan has now cemented his position within Turkey, as the “hero” who stood up to the military, and prevented the return of military rule…and, of course, disrupted the desultory Allied air campaign against ISIL.

But what about the possible “other” actors? Those foreign powers that may have been – or may be – supporting ISIL directly? Why would they back something like this? Simply: the myriad of Middle Eastern nations are too fractious and chaotic. Replacing them with one state is easier to manage…and take advantage of.

It really is that simple.

Welcome to the World Situation Report For April 10, 2022

Michael Cessna April 10, 2022

The goal of this column is to present news from around the world that is not often – if ever – covered by more mainstream entities, using local sources wherever possible, but occasionally using news aggregators not used, again, by the mainstream media. Also, please note that we do use links to Wikipedia; while Wikipedia is well-known as a largely-useless site for any kind of serious research, it does serve as a launch-pad for further inquiry, in addition to being generally free of malicious ads. As with anything from Wikipedia, always verify their sources before making any conclusions based on their pages.

This column will cover the preceding week of news.

North America

This week, the wave of bomb threats against schools continues, with schools across the country alternatively being evacuated or ordered to ‘shelter in place‘ across the country. Most of the bomb threats against schools this week were delivered by phone, but only one was definitively an automated voice call threat. Interestingly, the targets included a school in the city of Grande Prairie, Alberta in Canada, and a Muslim private school in Worcester, Massachusetts. In the Canadian case, school officials specified to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that the caller was from the United States.

In Texas, meanwhile, a suspected pipe bomb was disabled at the Ector County courthouse in the county seat of Odessa. As this involved an actual device at a government facility, it falls under the purview of the FBI and the BATFE.

In Mexico, gang violence related to the country’s ongoing drug war continues to erupt in popular tourist destinations, with a beach-side assassination in the west coast city of Acapulco that resulted in a police chase and shootout among sunbathers, and an abrupt uptick of killings in the Yucatan Peninsular state of Quintana Roo.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6]

[Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9] – [Source 10] – [Source 11] – [Source 12]

South America

Three soldiers of the Colombian Army were killed by a roadside IED on the 8th, in the rugged and mountainous Antioquia Department, according to the Army’s 7th Division. Army officials believe the IED was planted by members of the so-called “Structure 18” group, yet another of the kaleidoscope of dissident and breakaway factions that splintered away from the disbandment of the FARC, which had disbanded in 2016 following peace talks with the Colombian government.

In neighboring Venezuela, army troops in rural Apure State reportedly disarmed an IED reportedly laid by the mysterious (and possibly fake) TANCOL group. The Venezuelan government claims that the mystery group was created by the Colombian government to undermine Venezuela and facilitate drug trafficking, while Colombian sources counter that the group is yet another FARC offshoot. Whichever the case, Venezuelan farmers in Apure and next door in Colombia’s Arauca Department are caught in the middle…as usual.

In the Peruvian capital of Lima, protests against the curfew ordered by left-wing President Pedro Castillo turned violent on the 4th. Castillo had ordered the curfew in an attempt to break a strike and demonstrations by Peruvian truck drivers against skyrocketing fuel costs. The strike, which began on March 28th, has begun to seriously impact the Peruvian economy. Various factions within the Peruvian government – including some of Castillo’s allies, slammed the curfew as unconstitutional and “unenforceable.” Protesters reportedly stormed the Supreme Court building, even attempting to set it ablaze, but instead satisfied themselves by looting computers and furniture and burning records. The Freedomist will keep an eye on this situation.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4]

Africa

The Polisario Front has suspended contacts with the government of Spain, after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recognized Moroccan control over the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. This move marks a sharp reversal of long-standing Spanish policy towards the region, which backed a United Nations call for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, which Morocco has ignored in its efforts to exploit the mineral-rich region. This move comes after Morocco loosened its border controls on Spain’s only remaining African continental possessions of Ceuta, opening the way for the unauthorized crossing of thousands of young Moroccans and migrants from other African countries into Spanish territory, after Spain allowed a Sahrawi leader into the country for treatment for Covid-19. This is a matter of serious concern, as it could breathe new life into the Polisario Front, which could lead to a further destabilization of the region, and a possible expansion of operations by groups such as Al Qaeda in the Maghreb and potentially even the Islamic State in Libya, or their associates, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.

To the south, the Malian Army went on the offensive in the central part of the country, reportedly killing some 22 suspected terrorists. However, the United Nations and some human rights organizations have claimed that the offensive may have seen excessive uses of force, and that civilians may have been killed instead.

In neighboring Burkina Faso, an army outpost in Namissiguima was overrun in a “complex attack“, which left twelve troops dead and another 21 wounded. Although the group conducting the attack was not specifically identified, it was likely the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, who remain the greatest threat in the region.

In a potentially-related event, unidentified gunmen abducted an 83-year old American nun, Sister Suellen Tennyson of the Catholic congregation Marianites of Holy Cross, from the congregation’s house in the parish of Yalgo, part of the diocese of Kaya.

In Nigeria, some 17 troops were reported dead, and another 40 were wounded, after “gunmen” believed to be part of the Ansaru group (a splinter faction of Boko Haram) overran an outpost in the state of Kaduna in a swift and violent attack, mounted on motorcycles, came in armed with AK-47s and RPGs. The attack reportedly destroyed as many as three armored personnel carriers (APC), although precise details remain sketchy.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]

Middle East

Violence continues in Israel, as Palestinian protests and terror attacks by various groups continue throughout the region. Two of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State. The recent wave of violence has killed and injured dozens, in the ongoing, and seemingly never-ending violence.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4]

Scattered, low-level fighting continued throughout eastern Syria this week, with Syrian government soldiers being killed in the southern Daraa region, as Israel reportedly targeted several Assad government military sites in the central part of the country with missile strikes. Elsewhere, Turkish units launched drone and artillery strikes against suspected targets across the northern part of the country. This, as several US troops were injured in an “indirect fire” attack on their base in the oil-rich Deir al-Zor region, reportedly by Iranian-backed militias.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9]

More US forces came under attack in Iraq’s Al-Diwaniyah, capital of Iraq’s Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, and in Dhi Qar, when their logistics convoys were attacked by roadside bombs. These attacks have been happening frequently, often several times a week, as local groups demand that the Iraqi government enforce a resolution it passed in January of 2020, to expel all foreign forces from the country. Given Iraq’s track record on the subject of expelling foreign forces like the Islamic State in the last eight years, the question of “how” is begged.

Elsewhere in Iraq, scattered military and police actions resulted in arrests of suspects, and several Iraqi security forces killed and wounded.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]

In Pakistan, the US State Department issued a travel advisory on April 4th, urging US citizens to reconsider travel to the country, due to rising levels of terrorism and sectarian violence. This comes after the March 4th attack on a Peshawar mosque that killed 62 and wounded 196.

Elsewhere in the country, two soldiers and two terrorists were killed in the Sinji area of southwest Balochistan’s Awaran District. This is almost certainly an outgrowth of the long-simmering insurgency in the region.

Meanwhile, a total of five more terror suspects were killed in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, reportedly from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]

South Asia

India was surprisingly – and thankfully – quiet in general, this week. The only items of real interest were a series of bomb threats against several schools in Bengaluru/Bangalore, made via email, on the 8th. Interestingly, police officials stated that they believed that the emails came from the United States. As we noted above, in our North American section, a school in Canada also received a bomb threat believed to have originated in the US.

Also, two Indian Army soldiers were reported wounded by a bomb blast in the Khunti District, in central Jharkhand State, on the 6th. The device was reportedly of “low power”, and only caused light injuries.

Finally, the US State Department issued another travel advisory, this time for the nation of Sri Lanka, citing elevated COVID-19 risks, fuel and medicine shortages and terrorism.

To quote the advisory in part:

“…There have recently been protests over the economic situation and queues at gas stations, grocery stores and some pharmacies. Protests have occurred throughout the country and have mostly been peaceful. In some instances, police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters.

“There have also been daily planned power outages across the island, as well as some unplanned power outages, as fuel for backup generators is increasingly scarce. Public transportation in some instances has been limited or curtailed. Travellers should monitor local media for updates on the ongoing situation…”

Forewarned is forearmed.

[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]

TECHNICAL DESTRUCTION

Michael Cessna April 9, 2022

If I were to ask the average reader, “What is the most popular combat vehicle of the last c.100years?”, most people would say something like the World War 2 US M4 Sherman tank…or, perhaps, the Soviet T-34 series, from the same conflict (both of which remain in limited service). Some might even say the Cold War-era Soviet T-55 – which also still soldiers on, around the world — but, like virtually everyone else, they would be wrong.

In fact, the most prolific and widely-deployed combat vehicle in modern history is — the humble “Technical.”

*An improvised fighting vehicle armed with a ZU-23 autocannon.*

The Technical – a term whose etymology is generally believed to have originated in the nation of Somalia during that country’s civil war, which began in 1991 (and which included the disaster that is now known as “Blackhawk Down“), when various NGO’s – unable to legally hire armed private security (i.e., “mercenaries“), instead used “discretionary funds for ‘technical services’” to hire “local security” who were, in fact tribal militiamen, who formed the core of the warring tribal/clan armies of the various warlords vying for control of the failed state.

*A “technical” in Mogadishu at the time of the UNOSOM mission (1992 or 1993)*

There is no single model of Technical. In general, a ‘Technical’, as such, is a civilian vehicle – usually a light pickup truck or some sort of 4-wheel drive vehicle, repurposed as an armed combat vehicle, although such vehicles used solely for troop and logistics transport are still considered Technicals. There are a special class of technicals, the “Gun Truck“, that are actual military vehicles, such as WW2 ‘Willys’ Jeeps or M35-series, M939, M809 and later 2.5ton trucks that have been used since WW2, but especially during the Vietnam War. Until very recently, the closest the US military came to deploying a Technical, was the occasional arming of various CUCV-type vehicles, beginning in the 1970’s (but read on to the end). While certainly improvised for combat, such vehicles were not – at those times – generally available to the public; debate on the term continues.

This was not, however, the first use of vehicles that could be classified as “Technicals.” Initially, almost military vehicles were “technically” (no pun intended) ‘Technicals’, simply because there were few “military vehicles”, as such, anywhere in the world. The first truly extensive use of such vehicles came during World War 2, with the British Army’s “Long Range Desert Group (LRDG)“, one of the predecessors of the famed “Special Air Service (SAS)“. Using whatever light civilian trucks they could scrounge up in Egypt at the time, the LRDG conducted deep raids and reconnaissance against Axis forces and installations during the Desert Campaign of 1940-1943. While this model was copied by a few other units during the war, most armies quickly scrapped the idea after the war was over. The reasons are many, but the primary one is that armies are conservative – even reactionary – by nature, and dislike “ad hoc” solutions to problems, unless there is an emergency situation.

*“T10” a T Patrol Long Range Desert Group 30 cwt Chevrolet, during WW2. Public Domain.*

The public’s first real exposure to Technical-type vehicles, however, was the Great Toyota War of 1986-1987, part of the Chadian–Libyan conflict. The nation of Chad – perpetually poor and fractious – needed a way to counter the heavy, Soviet-supplied combat vehicles of the Libyan army of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Using the only vehicles readily available (mostly Toyota Hilux’s and Land Cruisers) in a manner similar to light cavalry, as well as the WW2 LRDG, the Chadians almost literally “ran rings” around the Libyans, inflicting an estimated 8,500 casualties (dead, wounded and missing), and capturing or destroying an estimated 800 tanks, APCs and other vehicles, as well as around 30 aircraft, wildly out of all proportion to their perceived abilities as an army, French intervention notwithstanding.

(Of note, the Libyan general who lost the Chadian War, Khalifa Haftar), now leads the Libyan National Army (LNA), one of the primary factions in the country’s intermittent civil war.)

While the scale of this defeat brought on pithy jokes and comments about the Libyan Army’s prowess, more sober-minded observers started paying attention to the concept, although little actual work was done during this period.

As the Somali Civil War increased in intensity, the widespread use of technicals was increasingly studied. As the 1990’s evolved into the early-2000’s, and with wars erupting around the world in the wake of the 9-11 attacks in the United States, regular militaries increasingly found themselves facing – and occasionally using – such vehicles, a few salient point became apparent.

*Chadian soldiers on a Toyota Land Cruiser pickup truck in 2008. Photo credit: Czech Ministry of Defense. Public Domain.*

Technicals, by their very nature as lightweight civilian vehicles, are simultaneously cheap,

commonly available, easy to work on, have a ready supply of spare parts, and generally get far better gas mileage than comparable military vehicles. They can also mount a variety of very powerful weapons, from the BGM-71 TOW Missile and other types of ATGMs, to heavy-caliber recoilless rifles, multiple-launch rocket systems such as the seemingly-immortal Type 63, as well as heavier and longer-ranged rockets, and a variety of other improvised rocket launchers and anti-aircraft cannons. (For a much more in-depth study, please see the excellent Tank Encyclopedia article on Techincals, YouTube video linked below.)

*IRGC Ground Force loading a Type 63 MRL, 2017. Photo credit, Tasnim News, CCA/4.0*

For many national armies faced with tight military budgets – and guerrilla and terror groups – around the world, Technicals are increasingly the first choice when swift formations are needed for attack and/or defense. However, the above comes with a very significant caveat: Technicals, as a class of combat vehicle, typically have little or no armor — which is why casualties among Technical crews meeting determined opposition tend to be very high, compared to more heavily-protected units…a consideration that seems to be an acceptable option for the US Army, given its recent adoption of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) — all at a staggering cost of nearly $330,000 — per vehicle.

*Infantry Squad Vehicle; 24 January 2020. Public Domain.*

Maybe the Army should call Toyota — their Special Forces did.

Technicals Part 1 (Tank Encyclopedia)

DIY Tanks of Iraq (Source: Vocativ)

The Democratization of Military Training…

Michael Cessna April 7, 2022

Or, Once More With Effort, “Professionals Are Predictable, But The World Is Full Of Amateurs”

It seems that “everyone” has an ax to grind, these days. After over 4000 years of recorded history, it seems that we humans just keep getting more adept at this whole “war thing“.

And – just to be clear – no, this article is not a “how to” do anything. You’re on your own, there.

There are as many reasons to “go to war“, as there are human groups in existence; anytime two or more people decide that they agree on an issue enough that they are willing to do violence – if not agree to lay down their very lives – in that goal’s furtherance, “war” at some level becomes a distinct possibility. And by this, we’re talking about “war” in the sense most people are thinking – replete with dead people, lots of violence, destroyed cities, etc., as opposed to a more figurative example…like, say, “the war on poverty“.

However, most people simply don’t “get” war. From an external view, they do not grasp the intricate web of minutiae that goes into “war”; it’s not simply swinging a sword, or pulling the trigger of a firearm, or pushing a button to launch a missile. It is not only knowing when to do so, but also is knowing how and when to do these things, as well as understanding the systems that enable these actions.

While the individual “spear carrier” does not need to understand the intricacies of the industrial base that created his sword or rifle, his leaders most definitely do. The real challenge for any prospective leader or groups of leaders, though, has always been how to teach some kid – who may even agree with their goals, as far as they can understand them – how to swing that sword, or shoot that rifle.

Military training and military science have evolved over time. Even in the days when muscle power was the definitive factor in combat – swinging a sword is a very physically demanding job, when done for any length of time – it was an understood fact that the person who worked from a regularized system of actions (“drills“, or even “kata’s“, in modern parlance) in combat had a much better chance of winning the fight than someone who simply ran up and tried to smash their opponent in the face with a bat.

However, that kind of training has always been hard to come by – either there simply were not enough people with the knowledge to teach it, or the teaching took too long — it was said of the dreaded English and Welsh Longbowmen, that “if you wanted to train the archer, start by training the archer’s grandfather.” This is why projectile weapons were continuously evolving, much faster than swords and polearms.

The reason for this, militarily speaking, is quite simple: maneuver is a very powerful tool, and if you can hurt your opponent at long range and still stay on the move, that is definitely what you want to do…However, this brought on other problems: horses are faster than humans, but they require a large and intricate infrastructure to obtain and support, complete with specialized fields of labor, such as the farrier; specialized saddle-makers; special armor and weapons to maximize fighting from horseback, and on and on…

This translates across virtually every conceivable field – the never ending quest to “tweak” the equipment you have, and to find The Next Big Thing.

These all contribute to the training problem – “training, techniques (or ‘tactics’) and practices (or, ‘procedures’)” (TTP) – since the TTP’s for any given concept or field are in a constant state of flux.

What this translated to, as recently as the 1980’s, was getting some people together, teaching them how to march, then handing them each a rifle and a few rounds of ammunition to practice, then sending them out to do battle for the “glory” of whatever…with usually predictable results. And make no mistake – this phenomenon was in no way limited to guerrilla bands of former farmers and shopkeepers who had never held a weapon in their hands with lethal intent. There were plenty of armies around the world who did exactly this — and in some places, still do, as of this writing.

But today, things have largely changed. With the advent of the internet, the World Wide Web and digital file sharing, it is now possible to create the core of a training program – at almost every level – simply by searching out the appropriate files and videos. Nothing, obviously, can replace actually running around an assault course with a real weapon, but it is entirely possible to locate acceptable-quality videos and training manuals online to show a person exactly how to run the course – it is up to the searcher to then put into practice what the videos and manuals teach them (see the second video, below).

People love to share; that’s a feature of human interaction. Whether it’s cooking recipes, flower arrangements, tips on fixing your car or what have you, chances are, someone out there has not only written something about it, but may have a video to teach you how to do it for yourself. What’s more, their advice is likely free…whether they intended it that way, or not.

Military training is no different. Finding information in the form of .PDF manuals – everything from the basics of plumbing, to field food service, to how to build a fortified bunker, to just exactly how to go about “taking that hill” – whether created in a government printing office, or written by a private person (whether they are a professional soldier or a gifted amateur), is ridiculously easy, in most parts of the world.

Military training video courses – some of them quite extensive, as in the first video, below – are equally accessible for most people with the acumen to navigate LiveLeak, YouTube or Vimeo. For the raw, untrained amateur, the sheer wealth, depth and breadth of information available is staggering, so much so, that it can overwhelm them. For the experienced trainer, however, there is a vast Archive of tools to study, that anyone who knows what they’re looking for can access for their training program, for free, between their morning Lifer Juice and lunch.

For the aspiring totalitarian, this is a terrible, terrible thing, because it undermines the State’s monopoly on the application of force as a tool of control — if every Tom, Dick and Harriet in your country knows how a military force operates (even if only in the crudest, most basic manner), your loyalist military will be facing a staggering number of enemies, far more than they have ammunition to deal with, and possibly so many that they will begin to desert, rather than try to plant your boot for you…Much more so, when the enemy is literally at the gates, and you find yourself begging and press-ganging your citizens into your army, handing them weapons for free that you previously prevented them from owning — that’s the real takeaway from Ukraine, but I digress…..

Of course, if you are a Libertarian with the proper outlook on the world in general – and human civilization in particular – this is probably the closest to heaven that you are going to get to, since The People now have the means to stand up to those professional armies that you are so worried about. (We’ll leave talk about casualties another time…)

So — the next time a politician starts talking about limiting the availability of, or the access to, information – of whatever stripe – remember that information is the real root of all power, and if a politician doesn’t want you to have it, you should probably be seriously worried about why they don’t want you to have it.

Biden’s Covid-19 Propagandist Moves Into New Disney Digs

Paul Collier April 7, 2022

Biden’s Covid-19 content marketing manager is no longer working for the President, as she has taken a new job with Walt Disney, pushing woketarianism on the masses. As Disney appears all-in on becoming a company of woketarianism, the Covid-19 agit prop wizard, Kristina Shake, now sets her sites on moving from ostensibly attempting to stop a virus to intentionally trying to spread one.
The move showcases just how incestuous the relation is between the DNC-CCP and its corporate ‘allies,’ who are also best frenemies with America’s number one enemy, China. Given the anti-American nature of woketarianism (which denies the individual altogether, let alone individual rights), it seems fitting a member of the most anti-American regime in US history would move so seamlessly from one agit prop war machine aimed at American freedom, Covid lockdown, to another, Disney woketarianism.

Former Biden COVID messaging aide lands at Disney amid ‘wokeness’ turmoil

From www.foxnews.com
2022-04-06 01:48:50

Excerpt:

The Walt Disney Company has announced Kristina Schake, who had led President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine education efforts, will serve as its executive vice president of global communications.

In her new role, Schake, who also served as global communications director for Instagram, will report to Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Geoff Morrell and “be responsible for the Company’s worldwide communications strategy and operations, while also serving as lead spokesperson,” according to Disney.

“I could not be more pleased to welcome Kristina to Disney and to have her leading communications for the company,” Morrell said in a statement.

Schake was appointed in 2021 by Biden as counselor to the secretary…

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Steele Dosier Becomes Terror to Durham’s DNC Lawyer Target

Freedomist Curator April 7, 2022

It appears that the DNC cybersecurity Clinton lawyer that is finding himself targeted by Special Prosecutor John Durham is hoping that a key part of the evidence that might be counted against him, the Steele Dossier, be excluded from the trial. Michael Sussman is accused of being a covert Clinton operative while seeking to give credibility to the Steele Dossier to government officials.
The slow-going probe of John Durham appears to be building a case that the bulk of the Trump-Russia-Collusion hoax was created and manipulated by Hillary Clinton operatives in 2016, both within and outside of government itself.

Democratic lawyer Sussmann doesn’t want Steele dossier brought up during Durham trial

From www.washingtonexaminer.com
2022-04-05 23:49:13
Jerry Dunleavy
Excerpt:

The Democratic cybersecurity lawyer charged by special counsel John Durham with lying to the FBI about working for the Clinton campaign doesn’t want British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier brought up at the trial following indications from the special counsel that it will be.

Michael Sussmann was indicted last year on charges of concealing his clients, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and “tech executive” Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker when he pushed since-debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. He has pleaded not guilty.

Steele created his now-discredited dossier after being hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign.

Durham appears to be building a case that many collusion claims can be sourced back to Democratic…

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Oregon Governor Must Face Covid-19 Infected Prisoners, Judge Rules

Freedomist Curator April 7, 2022

Governor Kate Brown of Oregon will now have to face prisoners at court over her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the Judge forced healthy and sick inmates to continue to live close to one another while also not offering inmates vaccines, which weren’t widely available until February of 2021.
A magistrate judge has ruled the lawsuit credible and set a class-action eligibility standard. The eligibility standard is that you were a prisoner between February of 2020 and February of 2021 and caught Covid-19 14 days or more after becoming incarcerated. In addition to the Governor being sued, so are key members of her then Covid-19 task force.
The prison is not included in the lawsuit as its actions were mostly required due to the Governor’s orders.

Federal judge grants class-action status to Oregon’s COVID-sickened prisoners

From ktvz.com
2022-04-06 05:16:33

Excerpt:

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has certified a class-action lawsuit in Oregon over state leaders’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic inside its prisons.

A group of adults in custody who contracted COVID-19 first sued the state in April 2020, alleging culpability by Gov. Kate Brown, Corrections Department Director Colette Peters and Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, among other state officials. The lawsuit acknowledges Corrections has taken some measures but argues they have not been enough.

“This really is quite a groundbreaking order, and decision, and it could potentially be a model for advocates in other parts of the country where they’re having similar problems,” Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s National Prison Project, told Oregon Public Broadcasting this week.

In Oregon, 45 people in the Department of Corrections custody have so far died after testing positive for COVID-19, and more than…

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If You Want to Beat Google, Build a Customizable Search

Parker Davis April 7, 2022

The best way to beat Google might not be to do exactly what google does, provide an ai-algorithm-driven search that has some universal, local, and ip-specific search variations. and do what it only does at a very limited level, enable users to create highly customizable search engines that are heavily unique to the users that create them.
You can create your own customizable search engines on google, but the options are significantly limited. A new search engine venture is getting started called Kagi, which will allow users to create fare more powerful, unique search engines than google currently offers. You can sign up for a beta account today.
Not only can you create these highly customizable search engines, you can also own your search data, as opposed to google, which affords you privacy that many these days are earnestly seeking in this culture of censorship.

The Next Google

From dk.b.io

Excerpt:

Why should everyone have the same search experience? We all have our own preferences about how things should look and work.

Kagi is the most customizable search engine ever. You can change everything, from surface level appearances, to the final ranking of results.

“Everybody has different preferences of how they want a search engine to look and feel. Our goal is to provide tools and empower users to do that instead of trying to be smart and creating an average search engine for an average user. There’s no average human.” – Vladimir Prelovac, Founder of Kagi

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