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How the US government is thwarting peace efforts in Ukraine and Israel

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From LifeSiteNews

By Frank Wright

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh warns of political repercussions for the Biden administration’s handling of the international crises in Europe and the Middle East.

To get to the news these days, you have to look beyond the facade of mainstream media. No major outlet in the West has reported the findings of Seymour Hersh, made in aĀ postĀ on Substack on March 21, which claim that the United States government is determined to prevent peace in Ukraine.

Citing an anonymous ā€œAmerican official,ā€ Hersh wrote ā€œofficials of the Biden administration, working with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, continue to rebuff any chances of significant progress in peace talks.ā€ Referring to his earlierĀ report, which documented ongoing talks between the U.S. and Russia, Hersh says his source is ā€œkept abreastā€ of this dialogue concerning a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine. According to the unnamed mole, peace was within reach, and the U.S. moved to prevent it with a threat to turn off the money supply to Ukraine.

We were on the verge of a reasonable negotiation several months ago before Putin’s re-election and Zelensky’s military degradation.

The U.S. leaders got wind of the possibility and gave Zelensky the ultimatum – ā€˜No negotiations or settlement or we won’t support your government with the $45 billion in non-military funds.’

This is the amount that Ukraine receives now, aside from military aid, to support its government. Without it, Zelensky’s regime would collapse. This was an ultimatum – but why did the U.S. issue it? The source explained:

Biden has staked his presidency on meeting the Russian threat to NATO and outsmarting the monster, and he will not change course now, under any circumstances, and the end is inevitable.

Does this end justify the means? The source gave a sobering assessment of the Biden administration’s willingness to risk a war with Russia, to save face at home: ā€œThere is no road to victory for Ukraine, and it will end with Putin as an historical icon in Russia, having recovered a national jewel [Kharkov] from the West.ā€

What Russia has gained, it is going to keep, said the source. ā€œThe reality,ā€ he said, is ā€œthat the lands in disputeā€ – four oblasts formerly in Ukraine’s control and Crimea – ā€œfrom north to south and east to west all are Russia’s. So stop talking about it and make a deal.ā€

This may be news to many ā€œnews-believersā€ in the subject nations of the U.S. Empire, but it is well known in government circles. Aside from Hersh’s report, a grim assessment that ā€œUkraine could fall very quicklyā€ is reported to have fueled French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent outbursts, which saw him threaten to send French troops to fight Russia.

Panic in the EU

Macron isĀ reportedĀ by Politico to have made that remark at a dinner in Paris on Tuesday, March 19. It followedĀ leaksĀ from French intelligence which said Ukraine could not win the war, was running out of men to conscript, and that the French army were ā€œmajorettesā€ compared to that of the Russians.

Germany and other EU nations were quick toĀ distanceĀ themselves from Macron’s rhetoric, fearing the direct entry of NATO troops into Ukraine could lead to a nuclear war.

Added to this picture, again largely excluded from the news, is the obvious fact that the sanctions intended to weaken Russia haveĀ backfired. In reality, the one beyond the official narrative, the actions of the Biden administration have been a catastrophic failure.

ā€œThis is the world the Biden administration fostered,ā€ says Hersh, quoting anĀ EconomistĀ report that shows how Russia has not only weathered the storm of sanctions, but has in the process emerged a champion of a strengthening system, parallel to that controlled by the U.S.

According toĀ The EconomistĀ on March 14:

Russia’s economy has been re-engineered. Oil exports bypass sanctions and are shipped to the global south. Western brands from BMW to H&M have been replaced with Chinese and local substitutes… Dissent at home has been strangled.

This last line could apply equally to the situation in the West, whose propaganda apparatus overmatches anything seen in the Soviet Union. Our ā€œhypernormalizationā€ – the state of unreality created by state propaganda – differs in one other important regard. Toward the end, most of the people in the Soviet Union knew their government was lying to them.

Biden, Trump, and the end times

Hersh claims that the predicament created by the Biden administration will likely see its undoing in the next election.

ā€œIts refusal to seek a middle ground in the Ukraine war, along with its inability to check Israel’s continued assault in Gaza, will become a political liability in Biden’s campaign against Donald Trump, who warns of unending violence if he loses the presidential election in November.ā€

Trump’s own remarks on Israel have caused much concern amongst those convinced of his pledge to ā€œend the forever warsā€ – a vow he repeated on the campaign trail inĀ January.

Yet his ambiguity on Israel has seen him criticized by Jewish groups, as PBSĀ reportedĀ on March 22.

Trump’s stance on both Israel and Ukraine – that neither war would have happened had he been president – is shaded by moves to appease the over 30 million Christian Zionists who PBS says lie at the core of his support. PBS said of Trump’s previous tenure:

Trump pursued policies that were popular among American Christian Zionists and Israeli religious-nationalists, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Jewish settlements in occupied territories.

PBS also noted his family connections to the Jewish community:

His daughter Ivanka is a convert to Orthodox Judaism, and her husband and their children are Jewish. The couple worked as high-profile surrogates to the Jewish community during Trump’s administration.

Finally, the report touched on the evangelical Zionists:

Trump’s core supporters include white evangelicals, many of whom believe the modern state of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy. Prominent evangelicals who support Zionism have also been criticized for inflammatory statements about Jewish people.

This huge constituency includes many Christian Zionists who support the Armageddonist notion of ushering in the ā€œJewish Messiahā€ – through the sacrifice of red heifers and the rebuilding of the Jewish Third Temple on the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

This process is underway, with five red heifersĀ arrivingĀ in Israel in September 2022, expedited by U.S. Zionist ChristianĀ groupĀ Boneh Israel, and a large altar was constructed in Jerusalem to perform the diabolical ritual to usher in ā€œthe End Times.ā€

CBS NewsĀ reportedĀ from the site on March 5, 2024.

 

Beyond the end?

With the sitting president mired in a disaster of his own making, and his successor with ties to a group dedicated to sparking Armageddon, the story beyond the mainstream media is all about the end times. The end of the Biden administration, the end of the war in Ukraine, and perhaps the end of the world if the factions of insanity succeed in provoking an escalating war with Russia or in the Middle East.

Hersh’s article ends with what could read as the epitaph for the one-term wonder Joe Biden.

The best that Biden has come up with is continued, if so far empty, talk about a ceasefire in Gaza, and a commitment that no American soldiers will be sent to the front in Ukraine.

The president also promises that the United States will keep on paying for Ukrainians to fight and die in a proxy war that could be ended.

Added to this is the fact that the Biden administration continues to supply Israel with military hardware, without which it could not continue its war. As retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak BrikĀ saidĀ of the U.S. in November,Ā ā€œThe minute they turn off the tap you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability… Everyone understands we can’t fight this war without the United States.ā€

Brik has returned with an assessment of Israel’s war which dovetails with that provided by Hersh on Ukraine. It has been a defeat, both in military and in diplomatic terms.

ā€œWe have already lost the war with Hamas, and we are also losing our allies in the world at a dizzying pace BrikĀ saidĀ to Israeli news outletĀ Ma’ariv, on March 24.

The realization is growing that the current model of U.S. power is determined to prevent the outbreak of peace. With little promise in the White House but more of the same, the hope is that in November, this will change. Yet, here are forces at work which would prefer that the end times come for us all.

What is needed is a clear statement on the future of Ukraine, of relations with Russia and the state of Israel from a man who once promised he could stop it all. We have a leaderless U.S. in the thrall of an election cycle. Instead of resignation to the end times, we need to hear some serious talk about what comes next. Our future depends upon an alternative to business as usual.

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International

No more shoes off: Trump ends TSA’s decades-old rule

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Quick Hit:

The Trump administration is phasing out one of the most despised airport security policies in America: the requirement to remove shoes during TSA screening.

Key Details:

  • Passengers will no longer be required to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints in coming weeks.
  • The change is rolling out at Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Cincinnati, Portland, Philadelphia, and Piedmont Triad airports.
  • White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the policy reversal on Tuesday morning.

Diving Deeper:

The Trump administration announced it is ending the much-loathed Transportation Security Administration rule requiring passengers to remove their shoes during security checks, a mandate that has frustrated Americans since its introduction nearly two decades ago.

The change is being implemented first at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Portland International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, and Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina, according toĀ CBS News. The policy will expand to additional airports nationwide in the coming weeks.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared the news on X,Ā posting, ā€œBig news from [the Department of Homeland Security]!ā€ Tuesday morning. A TSA spokesman toldĀ The New York TimesĀ that ā€œTSA and DHS are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance the passenger experience and our strong security posture,ā€ suggesting the policy change is part of broader improvements under President Trump’s leadership.

The policy to remove shoes was first instituted in 2006, stemming from the December 2001 attempt by Richard Reid, known as the ā€œshoe bomber,ā€ to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami. Reid was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to terrorism charges, but critics have argued the policy punishes every American traveler for the actions of one terrorist nearly 25 years ago.

Before the update, travelers in the TSA PreCheck program were already exempt from removing shoes, belts, and jackets. Now, under President Trump’s directive to reduce pointless regulatory burdens, the policy is being eliminated for all travelers.

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Daily Caller

USAID Quietly Sent Thousands Of Viruses To Chinese Military-Linked Biolab

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From theĀ Daily Caller News Foundation

ByĀ Emily Kopp

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shipped thousands of viral samples to a lab in Wuhan over the course of a 10-year program even though it had no formal agreement with the lab in place, according to previously unreported documents.

TheĀ documentsĀ showĀ that USAID funded the exportation of 11,000 samples from Yunnan Province, where some of the closest relatives of the COVID-19 virus circulate, to Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, with no apparent plan for ensuring the samples were not misdirected to bioweapons and remained accessible to the U.S. government.

AĀ $210 million USAID public health program called PREDICT, steered by the University of California-Davis, collected viral samples in countries throughout the globe but lacked long-term storage when funding dried up, according to rudimentary plans in 2019.

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USAID’s sample dispensation plan for China is sparse: ā€œNo need [sic] information from Yunnan. They were never an official lab partner for PREDICT. All samples they helped collected [sic] are sent to, tested, and stored in Wuhan.ā€

The ā€œlabā€ refers to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). WIV was a close partner of USAID contractor EcoHealth Alliance and a slated partner for a PREDICT-like program supported by theĀ State Department. The lab has poorĀ biosafety practicesĀ andĀ tiesĀ to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).Ā 

One of the closest known relatives of the COVID virus isĀ among the viruses sampledĀ with USAID funding.

ā€œInvestigations involving USAID’s former funding of global health awards remain active and ongoing,ā€ a senior State Department official said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. ā€œThe American people can rest assured knowing that under the Trump Administration we will not be funding these controversial programs.ā€

TheĀ internal documentsĀ were obtained through a FOIA lawsuit brought by U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit newsroom and public health research group.

The shuttering of USAID – which was officially completed Tuesday – has ignited a debate about its net impact on global health. A study inĀ The LancetĀ projected an association between a dropoff in USAID funding and 14 million deaths based on an epidemiological model.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Tuesday that USAID spending has often undermined rather than strengthened American interests.

ā€œBeyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,ā€Ā Rubio said. ā€œDevelopment objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown.ā€

The now-defunct agency’s connection to the Wuhan lab complicates its global health legacy.

ā€œThe USAID $210 million contract for PREDICT should have included contractual terms that required all samples, or at least copies of all samples, be transferred to and stored by a US government facility,ā€ said Rutgers University molecular biologist Richard Ebright told the DCNF. ā€œThe PREDICT grift did none of this.ā€

UC Davis did not respond to a request for comment. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Did USAID Fund COVID’s Ancestor?

Many of the viruses stored at the lab in Wuhan may have been sampled with U.S. funding yet remain out of reach for U.S. government entities investigating the origins of COVID.

The samples were set to be preserved for testing – with human samples preserved for 10 years – the documents show. But the documents suggest that requirement was never incorporated into a formal contract with USAID.

The two scientists supervising the samples were: Ben Hu, a virologist at the WIV, whoĀ reportedlyĀ became sick with COVID-like symptoms in 2019; and Peter Daszak, a scientist who wasĀ debarredĀ from federal funding after the U.S. government deemed him a threat to public safety for inadequate oversight of the research in Wuhan.

Hu and Daszak did not reply to requests for comment.

The documents show PREDICT contractors discussing viral samples taken from wildlife and stored in India, Liberia, Malaysia, the Republic of Congo and China. Some of the samples were stored in virus-transport media (VTM), which allows researchers to store live viruses for later use in the lab.

ā€œIt’s not rocket science to require a contract and supporting paperwork which establishes a relationship, testing protocol, and chain of custody, when one is sending out lab samples,ā€ said Reuben Guttman, a partner at Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC who specializes in ensuring the integrity of government programs, in an interview with the DCNF. ā€œIn any scientific endeavor, you need confidence in your results. That requires paperwork to prove your methodology is sound.ā€

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