Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Hezbollah Aims To Escalate Tensions Leading To A Full-Scale War


Hezbollah aims to escalate tensions leading to a full-scale war
Israel Kasnett 



According to Col. (res.) Eran Lerman, deputy director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and a former deputy director of the Israeli National Security Council, one possible scenario involves an Israeli response that could be “a painful but contained strike on something (or someone) of high value to Hezbollah, coupled with a demonstrated ability to obliterate Lebanese infrastructure, sending the message that ‘We can do to you what we did to the Houthis.’”

“Then, or rather concurrently, leveraging Hezbollah’s internal problem with the Druze to push them off north of the Litani River, possibly enabling the evacuated to return [to their homes in northern Israel],” said Lerman.

Israel’s response, he added, is “intimately related to the Iranian nuclear issue, which is becoming acute and may lead to sudden action.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday visited the site of the tragedy in Majdal Shams, together with Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar.

In his remarks, Netanyahu said, “These children are our children; they are the children of us all. The State of Israel will not, and cannot, ignore this. Our response will come and it will be severe.”

That response is what has the global community on edge. The US and France have expressed their wish to see a calming of tensions to prevent an all-out war.

Meanwhile, several airlines have canceled flights in and out of Lebanon and several countries have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

Whether or not the United States would back Israel in the event of an all-out war is still unclear, but in June, CNN reported that senior American officials had assured Israel that Washington is prepared to “fully back” its ally in the event of a further escalation on the northern border.

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Rumors Of War: Top 3 Proxy Wars To Determine WWIII


The Top 3 Proxy Wars To Determine WW3 and Reshape the World Order



Today, I will closely examine the most important proxy wars of World War 3, which I believe will be decisive in determining who wins the overall conflict and gets to shape the new world order.

Proxy wars are a method by which major powers fight their battles indirectly, using smaller nations or groups as stand-ins rather than confronting each other directly.

Major powers support, equip, and finance smaller groups or nations in a proxy war to fight against a common adversary. This support can include military training, weapons, funding, and other resources. The critical point is that the major powers do not engage directly in combat.

There are numerous ongoing proxy wars in World War 3.

However, the ones I believe will prove decisive will be in Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Middle East. The other proxy wars are peripheral in comparison.

Proxy War #1: Taiwan

Recently, China performed a two-day military exercise around Taiwan, named Joint Sharp Sword-2024A, as a response to what it calls Taiwan’s separatist acts.

This drill involved the Chinese air force and navy completely surrounding the island of Taiwan with ships and warplanes. It aimed at testing their combat readiness for a full-scale attack.

Many believe the drills are practice for an invasion.

This show of force comes just after Taiwan’s new President, Lai Ching-te, took office. Lai once expressed support for Taiwan’s independence.

If Taiwan officially declared independence, it would be tantamount to declaring war with China.

The unofficial status quo maintains an ambiguous stance on Taiwan’s sovereignty; they aren’t declaring independence (yet), nor are they committing to reunifying with China.

Lai’s presidency is significant in the context of the already strained China-Taiwan relations. A new president with pro-independence sympathies could be the tipping point that causes China to act....

Proxy War #2: Ukraine

Ukraine has been the arena of choice for NATO & Friends to confront Russia for many years.

To briefly summarize, the US has been spending many billions meddling in Ukraine long before the current conflict broke out in February of 2022.

It has been estimated that the US spent around $5 billion on “democratization” in Ukraine before 2022. What that means is covert mischief executed through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which are simply fronts for the CIA.

A partial list of the culprits includes USAID, the National Democratic Institute, and the International Republican Institute, as well as nominally nongovernmental organizations like Freedom House, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

It all culminated in the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s corrupt pro-Russia government in 2014, which a corrupt pro-US government replaced. It sowed the seeds for the current conflict.

As I write this, in mid-2024, the conflict in Ukraine appears to be reaching a tipping point....


In response to NATO & Friends supplying arms to Ukraine, Putin recently announced that Russia will start supplying arms to countries in conflict with the US and other NATO countries.

Dmitry Medvedev is a former Russian president and prime minister. He is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council and recently said this regarding the new policy:

“Now, may the United States and its allies experience firsthand the direct use of Russian weapons by third parties....Their enemy is the US, which means they are friends to us.”

There is little doubt that the countries and groups to receive Russian arms that Medvedev was referring to would include those in the Middle East, which is the third key proxy war of World War 3. An influx of Russian arms in the Middle East could tip the balance in this crucial region.

When you consider everything regarding Ukraine, it seems that a negotiated settlement that is mainly favorable to Russia will eventually be reached.

Here’s the bottom line.

All signs point to an eventual Russian victory in Ukraine and another critical World War 3 proxy war that will end in favor of BRICS+. If that happens, it will likely permanently alter the geopolitical landscape of Europe.

Proxy War #3: The Middle East

I think it’s clear the proxy wars in Ukraine and Taiwan are likely to end in favor of BRICS+.

That’s why I expect NATO & Friends will make their last stand to scuttle the emergence of a multipolar world order and preserve the US-led world order in the Middle East.

In my next article, I’ll examine the Middle East in-depth and how I think it will play out.

Here’s the bottom line.


I think the Middle East will be the decisive battleground that determines who wins WW3 and gets to shape the new world order.

The stakes could not be higher.


The first of the 2024 emergency declarations on avian influenza appeared on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) website

Nobody Noticed the Start of the Bird Flu Emergency



The first of the 2024 emergency declarations on avian influenza appeared on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) website on July 18, 2024.1 There was no news release, nothing was posted on social media and no news outlet picked up the story. It was a stunning silence for such a significant development in public health policy.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra had determined that the avian influenza A (H7N9) virus posed a “significant potential for a public health emergency” that could “affect national security or the health and security of United States citizens living abroad.” The declaration allowed for the emergency use authorization of diagnostic tests2 for detecting H7N9 in humans.

Other than the radio silence, the other thing that was odd about the July 18, 2024 post was that, instead of creating a new emergency, it resurrected a 2013 declaration for the last known human H7N9 outbreak3 that took place in China, where intermittent human infections occurred between 2013 and 2019. During that span of six years, there were a total of 1,568 human cases that claimed 616 lives. There was said to be at least one case of human-to-human H7N9 transmission.4

In July 2024, the only place in the world impacted by H7N9 was a single poultry farm in the Terang area of Victoria, Australia.5,6 No human cases had been reported there yet.

Does the emergency use authorization of an H7N9 test mean that is going to change? Will H5N1 and H7N9 be said to combine into a new pandemic virus, as a 2021 headline on Bill Gates’ GAVI.org, “The next pandemic: H5N1 and H7N9 influenza?”7 ominously suggested?

There had never been H5N1 in Australia before, but scientists were forecasting the arrival of the virus8 with migrating birds from Antarctica in the coming months and they were concerned that it could threaten the 40,000 little penguins on Phillip Island. Would the next images coming out of Australia be the tiny dead bodies of the world’s cutest penguins, followed by the frightening news of a new bird flu virus the world has never seen before?

In 2005, then-U.S. President George Bush and health officials warned about the possibility of a human bird flu pandemic, which could “kill 1.9 million people and hospitalize another 9.9 million.”9,10 Yet after nearly two decades, this prediction still has not materialized. No one in the U.S. has ever died from bird flu, and while there have been annual outbreaks in previous years, no human casualties have been reported.

In fact, every instance of fearmongering about a potential bird flu pandemic has turned out to be false. This is why I wrote my book, “The Great Bird Flu Hoax,” as I became so convinced by the evidence AGAINST the possibility of a bird flu pandemic.

So, with H7N9 now being declared a “public health emergency,” will the situation be different this time? I don’t think so.

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Lebanon's Cabinet To Meet Wednesday Morning


Lebanon's Cabinet Says Will Meet Wednesday Morning to Discuss Israel's Strike on Beirut
Sputnik



The cabinet of ministers of Lebanon will convene a meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, the office of Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday. 
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it carried out a strike in the southern suburb of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, targeting a "commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians."

"The cabinet of minister will meet tomorrow morning, at 8:30 [05:30 GMT], Wednesday, 31.07.2024, at the Grand Serail [the government palace] to discuss the emergency," the office said on X.

The office said in a separate post that Mikati condemned the Israeli airstrike on the Haret Hreik municipality in the Dahieh suburbs south of Beirut and called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel.

"The criminal act committed this evening is a link in a series of aggressive operations that have affected civilians and a clear and unequivocal violation of international law and international humanitarian law. We call on the international community to act on its responsibilities and compel Israel to cease its aggression and threats and implement international resolutions," the office quoted Mikati as saying.

The caretaker prime minister added that Lebanon reserves the right to take all measures to deter Israeli aggression. He added that he convened the meeting of the Lebanese cabinet to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Caretaker Minister for Displaced Persons Issam Charafeddine told Sputnik that by shelling Beirut, Israel was attempting to shift the responsibility for further escalation in the region and its consequences on to the Hezbollah movement.




Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Dozens Killed In India’s Landslides


Dozens Killed In India’s Landslides
Stefan J. Bos



Indian rescue workers struggled to find survivors Tuesday after landslides caused by torrential rains in southern India killed at least 49 people, officials said.

“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Several sources said the landslides hit hilly villages in Kerala state’s Wayanad district early Tuesday, destroying numerous houses and a bridge. 

Images published by the National Disaster Response Force showed rescue crews trudging through mud to search for survivors and carrying bodies out of the area on stretchers.

Homes were caked with brown sludge, and the force of the landslide’s impact scattered cars, corrugated iron, and other debris around the disaster site.

India’s army said it had deployed more than 200 soldiers to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.

Kerala state excise minister M.B. Rajesh said more than 250 people had been rescued so far.

COMPENSATION OFFERED

Modi’s office said the families of victims would receive a compensation payment of $2,400 (200,000 rupees).

More rainfall and strong winds were forecast in Kerala on Tuesday, the state’s disaster management agency said.

The latest tragedy highlighted concerns about India’s infrastructure. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi told lawmakers that the scope of the devastation was “heartbreaking.”

“Our country has witnessed an alarming rise in landslides in recent years,” he added. “The need of the hour is a comprehensive action plan to address the growing frequency of natural calamities.”

The number of fatal floods and landslides has increased in recent years in the crowded, mainly Hindu nation of some 1.4 billion people. 

Scientists fearing climate change say global warming exacerbates the problem, while other experts link the fatalities to urbanization.

Monsoon rains across the region from June to September offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies. They are vital for agriculture, the livelihoods of millions of farmers, and food security for South Asia’s nearly two billion people.

But they also bring destruction in the form of landslides and floods