May 9, 2026

World

Auto Draft

Deadly explosion at Eidgah mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan

From www.dailytelegraph.com.au
2021-10-03 21:57:17

Excerpt:

A blast has killed several people in a crowd outside the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque during a funeral service in central Kabul.

A bomb blast at the entrance of a mosque in Kabul has killed civilians.

Thought to be a roadside bomb near the Eidgah mosque gates, the explosion took place during a memorial service being held for the mother of the Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

People in bloodied clothing were seen arriving at the nearby Kabul Emergency Hospital on Sunday.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the blast, a Taliban spokesman said.

Read Full Article

Pentagon Chief Says Rapid Folding of Afghanistan

Afghan army collapse took US by ‘surprise’: Pentagon chief

From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2021-09-28 17:39:59

Excerpt:

 

WASHINGTON: Top US military leaders acknowledged on Tuesday that the Taliban’s rapid takeover in Afghanistan took them by surprise and expressed concern the Islamic regime has not broken ties with al-Qaida.
“We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation,” defense secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuation.
“The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away – in many cases without firing a shot – took us all by surprise,” he said. “It would be dishonest to claim otherwise.”
Austin said the United States had provided the Afghan military “with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them.”
“Over the years, they often fought bravely,” he said. “Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers died. But in the end, we couldn’t provide them with the will to win. At least not all of them”, he said.
The Pentagon chief said the United States “did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in their senior ranks.”
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States did not have a “full wholesome assessment of leadership morale and will” of the Afghan armed forces.

Read Full Article

Auto Draft

France and Greece hedge their bets with a new defence pact

From www.economist.com
2021-10-01 01:07:51

Excerpt:

 

KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, Greece’s prime minister, cast it as a love story. “History…wants us together,” he told Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, in Paris on September 28th. “So does geography.” He serenaded Mr Macron with tales of Ionian seafarers landing in Marseilles and the French Philhellenes who backed Greece’s war of independence. Mr Macron said that Greece was “a civilisation that has inspired us and enabled us to be ourselves”. Then the two leaders consummated their courtship with what they are calling a “strategic” defence pact.

Listen to this story

Your browser does not support the <audio> element.

Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.

The Franco-Greek relationship has been forged in rivalry with Turkey, which last year squared off with Greek warships around Cyprus, and with French ones off Libya. An anti-Turkey bloc, including France, Greece, Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has gradually taken shape. Mr Mitsotakis, eager to secure French support and bolster his own armed forces, had already agreed to buy 18 Rafale warplanes from France in January, at a cost of €2.5bn ($2.9bn), and six more in September. Now he will also buy three new French frigates, with the option of one more.

That is a boon for Greece’s navy, which has just 13 ageing frigates against Turkey’s newer fleet of 16. It is also a well-timed consolation prize for Naval Group, the majority-state-owned French arms firm which Australia turfed out of a lucrative sub marine contract on September 15th as part of its AUKUS pact with America and Britain. Naval Group is building the new frigates in Brittany; Greece is supposed to take delivery of its first in 2025.

 

Read Full Article

Russia Calls for U.S. Expulsion from Syria

US Occupation of Areas in Syria Unacceptable: Russian FM – World news

From www.tasnimnews.com
2021-09-26 05:56:00

Excerpt:

 

Lavrov said at  a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings that  there is  one remaining hotbed in Syria, in Idlib, and there is no problem in combating terrorism there as “our military sites  and those of the Syrian army come under  attacks in the de-escalation zones and we will not allow this issue to continue”.

In the same context, Lavruv condemned US occupation of the two areas of al-Tanf and al-Rukban in Syria, describing it as “unacceptable”, SANA reported.

He also condemned Western counties’ insistence on the mechanism of delivering aid to Syria without obtaining the acceptance of the Syrian government.

 

Read Full Article

Iran Buckles As Turkey’s Influence Grows in Azerbaijan

The unholy triumvirate known as Turkey, Russia, and Iran that has dominated most of the outcomes in Syria has always had a tenous hold on its union, but that potential is becoming even more strained as Iran begins to see a different type of triumvirate forming in the region to the north of Iran, Azerbaijan, where Turkey has now gained a foothold after equipping Azerbaikanis in their recent dust-up with Armenia with killer drones that tilted the balance of power to the Azerbaijanis significantly.

As you might imagine, given the fact that Turkey, through Erdogan, sees itself as the apex of a worldwide Muslim caliphate, Iran is none too keen to see this contender for the caliphate throne gain influence to their northern frontier.  The dynamics of Syria are sure to become a bit more unstable as the tension between Iran and Turkey grows.

File:Azeris in Iran.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Iran Increasingly Alarmed By The Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis

From greekcitytimes.com
2021-09-27 14:40:04

Excerpt:

 

Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, tensions between Iran and the emerging Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis have significantly escalated. It is now glaringly obvious that Iran grossly miscalculated the new reality that would emerge with Azerbaijan capturing Armenian-held territories in the South Caucasus.

A major motivating factor of Azerbaijan’s insistence on controlling Nagorno-Karabakh is the Greater Pan-Turkic project, where Turkey sees itself as the domineering center of a sphere of influence stretching from Istanbul to Western China. Rather than dealing with this project, which supports Turkic separatist ideals in Iran, Tehran decided on pan-Islamic optics and continually congratulated and praised Azerbaijan’s capture of historically-demographically-culturally Armenian territories.

 

Read Full Article

Auto Draft

Iran’s nuclear program has crossed ‘all red lines’: Israel PM

From www.france24.com
2021-09-27 21:40:14

Excerpt:

 

Issued on:

United Nations (United States) (AFP)

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday Iran had breached all the “red lines” aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons program, but that Israel “will not allow” Tehran to get the bomb.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Bennett claimed the Islamic republic had in recent years taken “a major leap forward” in its nuclear production capacity and ability to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

“Iran’s nuclear weapon program is at a critical point, all red lines have been crossed,” said Bennett, who took office in June.

“There are those in the world who seem to see Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal, or they have just become tired of hearing about it,” the 49-year-old premier told the world body.

“Israel doesn’t have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Iran responded rapidly, with its ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, saying on Twitter that Bennett’s speech was “full of lies.”

“That regime is in no position to discuss our peaceful program when it has hundreds of nuclear warheads,” he said.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, said Friday that it expected talks to resume soon on reviving a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back its program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The agreement started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.

– After Netanyahu –

Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in power from 2009 until June, was among the world’s fiercest critics of the accord, regularly condemning it at international forums and cheering former US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw.

Bennett, a foreign policy hawk who heads…

 

Read Full Article

EU Picks France Over America in Submarine Conflict

After the United States essentially negated a multimillion dollar deal with France and Australia when it gifted Australia better submarines than the ones Australia was set to buy, the EU has take the side of France in the affair ,who remains a disgruntled broker.

The mere choice of taking a public side by the EU is news in and of itself, but choosing France over America while doing so is a pretty strong message that Europe no longer wishes to mostly reflect American foreign policy.

This most likely is the fruit of a perception from Europe that America no longer represents the fundamental economic power of the world anymore.  With China, and even India, rising in economic signficance, opportunities for economic winfall are increasingly no more overwhelmingly American.

EU backs France in submarine dispute, asking: Is America back?

From www.reuters.com
2021-09-21 12:21:00

Excerpt:

 

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers expressed support and solidarity with France on Monday during a meeting in New York to discuss Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with Paris in favor of a U.S. and British deal.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting on the sidelines annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region where China is the major rising power.

Australia said last week it would cancel an order for conventional submarines from France and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a security partnership with those countries under the name AUKUS. read more

“Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement,” Borrell said.

The decision enraged France and earlier on Monday in New York French Foreign…

 

Read Full Article

63 African Penguins Killed by Cape Honeybees

A swarm of Cape honeybees in South Africa attacked a colony of penguins, stinging them in their eyes.  The assault left over 60 penguine dead.  The penguins in question are African penguins.

Dozens of endangered penguins killed after being stung in the eyes by swarming honeybees

From www.livescience.com
2021-09-21 13:02:12

Excerpt

In a bizarre incident, 64 endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have been killed in South Africa after being stung in and around their eyes by Cape honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis).

Rangers from the South African National Parks organization (SANParks) discovered 63 of the 64 dead penguins among a colony near Cape Town in Table Mountain National Park on Friday, Sept. 17. African penguins are a protected species in South Africa and are currently listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with around 42,000 mature individuals globally.

“The deaths occurred suddenly sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning,” SANParks said in a Facebook post. “No external physical injuries were observed on any of the birds.”

Read Full Article

Auto Draft

Perm State University Shooting Leaves at Least Eight Dead

From www.thedailybeast.com
2021-09-21 16:34:14

Excerpt:

 

A gunman who killed at least eight people on a university campus in Russia Monday morning has reportedly been identified as a student. According to AP, the gunman was injured when he was detained at Perm State University, and Russia’s TASS news agency reported that he’s enrolled as a student at the school. The university said in a statement that the unidentified gunman used a non-lethal weapon that appeared to have been modified to fire live ammunition. TASS reported that some students and staff were seen leaping from windows to escape the gunfire, and there are between six to 14 wounded people. Perm is about 700 miles east of Moscow and the university is home to 12,000 students.

Read it at AP

 

Read Full Article

A Pandemic of Lies and Authoritarian Oppression

America’s latest aspirant to Caesar’s crown, one Joseph Biden, loves to talk about a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” But the real pandemic is a pandemic of lies and authoritarian oppression, as witnessed in part in this undercover video. In this video, it becomes clear that, in this Federal hospital that allegedly serves the Native American community, all efforts bend toward concealing any and all connections between the jab and negative side effects, including death.

This doesn’t prove that, statistically speaking, the side effects don’t outweigh the benefits, but it calls into question whether due diligence is being used in sussing out the ACTUAL side effects. What is more, the entire regimen of lockdowns, censorship, criminalization, mandates, and masks, and all the other things, all tend to feature two key things: they aren’t slowing the virus appreciably as the goalposts keep being moved and they only tend to make the ruling class wealthier and more powerful than the working class who produce the wealth.

If this video of this hospital is anything approaching the norm, that’s bad news for the entire population who, based on the claims in the video, may be being forced to use a medical treatment that is ineffective and whose potential side-effects are not truthfully reported. At the very least, in this community of Native Americans in this hospital, the people are not being served with honesty and integrity. Perhaps the fact this is a Native American community has made this careless and dishonest approach acceptable to the Feds.

Fauci funded the pandemic genesis, even if unintentionally, and he should be investigated and, if reasonable cause is found, tried for mass manslaughter. See Sky News Australia’s news report on the true origins of this virus. From the beginning we were lied to.

Whether or not you get the jab is up to you, but that doesn’t change the fact we are facing a pandemic of authoritarianism as opposed to a pandemic of the unvaccinated as one of our more divisive and shrill presidents has claimed. The vaccine isn’t living up to its promise and every goalpost so far, every promise, has turned into a new goalpost and a broken promise.

Perhaps we are being lied to, perhaps we are facing uncertainty due to an evolving threat that emerged thanks to US funding of forbidden research in a Chinese lab, or perhaps we are simply dealing with widespread incompetence by the Federal Government. Whatever the case, human dignity and human rights are being eroded and, like the Patriot Act which was allegedly aimed at Islamists abroad and which has now been aimed at domestic opponents of the ruling class, nobody expects these newly minted authoritarian powers to be relinquished.

It is argued, and perhaps not without merit, this pandemic was a crime of gross negligence by the very people who now want total control as a “solution” to their crime and as a means of covering it up.

Fear truly is, as said in Dune, “the mind killer”, and fear of this virus is driving people mad. This virus should be taken seriously, it’s no joke, and yet it isn’t in any way a justification for an authoritarian overreach that isn’t even working. It is probable that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the cost, but coercion, shaming, and not being perfectly transparent will continue to make any desire to see more than, say, 80% of the population become vaccinated unlikely.

On the other hand, if it is achieved at the expense of the Bill of Rights and if such precedence stands and if these authoritarian powers remain in place like the Patriot Act, then what good has been achieved? You have survived a virus only to become a slave. Many would prefer to take their chance with the virus and death than to be reduced to a cog in a machine they cannot control.

Is this video typical or an outlier? We don’t know. But we do know that incompetence and broken promises by the Federal Government is severe and that these draconian measures aren’t working. We do know our government has a long history of suppressing truth and conducting gross crimes against humanity or simply covering up horrible mistakes.

If we want people to be vaccinated we have to have transparency and honesty at every level and we have to always, carefully, weigh our reactions to do the least harm possible to human dignity, human flourishing, and human rights. If indeed this virus is unpredictable and frustrating in its evolution, we should avoid sounding certain and making threats and promises based on that certainty. To claim certainty and use fear and promises to gain compliance and then to say “my bad, but, hey, it’s impossible to predict this thing’s course” is totally unacceptable.

The people, all people, even the doubters and squeamish, deserve to be treated with honor, respect, and honesty. Villainizing them and possibly criminalizing them and gathering authoritarian powers you will never surrender even after this ends is a wholly inhumane and unethical response that warrants the very fear and resistance the ruling class and their phony press are so upset about.

Main

Back FREEDOM for only $4.95/month and help the Freedomist to fight the ongoing war on liberty and defeat the establishment's SHILL press!!

Are you enjoying our content? Help support our mission to reach every American with a message of freedom through virtue, liberty, and independence! Support our team of dedicated freedom builders for as little as $4.95/month! Back the Freedomist now! Click here