Killing Gonzalo Lira's Voice

Appreciating Valor,

  For the past few years Gonzalo Lira was podcasting from Ukraine about COVID bioweapons, US government policy under Trump, and Biden, Victoria Nuland, build up to the Ukraine war, then life in Kharkiv (Kharkov), Ukraine. He was jailed and released, then jailed much longer, beaten, tortured, and released for a month before trial. He was tracked and watched, as the Ukrainian SBU wanted to see who their "Russian spy" contacted, then he was picked up trying to cross into Hungary last summer, imprisoned, and finally died of longstanding, untreated pneumonia in prison a few days ago. The US government was "aware", and never took any action to benefit Lira, presumably because he was like Julian Assange to them, but snarkier. We start with an overview of his journalism, offensive to the Ukraine and US governments.

  RIP Gonzalo Lira
They Kill Journalists, Don't They? Ukraine does not only kill the Russians as the "best investment" for the Cabal; it also removes unpleasant witnesses for us.

RIP Gonzalo Lira

  Gonzalo did podcasts sometimes with Dima at Military Summary Channel, and contacted Dima last July,]seeking a way out of Ukraine. Dima spends the first 12 minutes telling the story.  New Details About The Death Of Gonzalo | Missile Strike. Military Summary And Analysis For 2024.1.13

  Aleks at Black Mountain Analysis lays out the context:

  The bottom line here is, and this has to be clear to all of us: If a nation is in an existential war, there will certainly be no hostile-minded journalism, blogging, etc., within this nation. I mean in no nation of the world. Not in the USA, not in Europe, not in Asia, nowhere. Don’t get me wrong; this is not my opinion or what I wish. Certainly not, as I blog as well! This is how processes are designed to not let any factor undermine the military efforts.
  If you go back to WW2 and research how Western countries dealt with enemy citizens and journalists during the war, this is exactly how it would be nowadays as well. If you ask today's authorities whether it would be this way, they would immediately deny it.

Gonzalo Lira [i]

Simplicius, US Launches Strikes on Yemen, and Other Updates

  Well, the big news is now that Biden has for the first time publicly signaled his support for finally using those mythical seized Russian funds:
These are the $300B foreign exchange reserves that Russia had sitting in European banks. But experts have warned such an illegal seizure would open up the pandora’s box that would be the final undoing of the dollar. These are sovereign wealth funds. That means they are the money of the Russian central bank. And as we all know, no matter what happens between the ‘mice and men’ of governments and their peons, central banks exist on a higher plane of order. They are a class unto themselves, to an extent. And when ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry’, the schemes of central bankers can never deviate. For a central bank to seize the sovereign wealth fund of another major central bank is akin to two of the largest crime families in a major Godfather film declaring war on each other...

..Will they actually do it? I still contend not. I believe it is the same desperate blather and they will remain too fearful to pull the trigger, using it merely as another measure to pump wind in Ukraine’s sails and offer hollow and ephemeral ‘hope’. But this is one of the last resorts currently being discussed.
  Ultimately remember that Russia has the same amount of assets it can seize from the West, so the ‘exchange’, were it to happen, would be nothing more than the West illegally robbing its own people of $300B which they could not legally convince their populace to give them for Ukraine...

..In the last report we learned about Russia adapting RBK-500 cluster munitions, now we have full confirmation they are also using 1500kg Fabs as well as even ODAB-1500 thermobarics. Today Shoigu visited the UMPK assembly line, giving us a rare firsthand look at some of the innovations being done in real time: [embedded video] ...

..Unfortunately, despite these advances, Russian troops are not in too much better a position. Ukraine’s own drone mastery is soaring to new heights and Russian vehicles are being overwhelmed by them on almost every front when going on assault...

..US apparently took losses and is now trying to cover them up after Ansar Allah forces claimed to have downed a US plane as well as hit a ship [2 US sailors are missing.]  The “plane” was at least in part corroborated, though it appeared to be a heavy-class drone... 

..Both Tesla and Volvo announced a total cessation of production due to supply disruption problems..

US Launches Strikes on Yemen, and Other Updates

  Complex Systems Won’t Survive the Competence Crisis
The core issue is that changing political mores have established the systematic promotion of the unqualified and sidelining of the competent.

  Elon Musk recently shared this Palladium Magazine article on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. This article by Harold Robertson was originally published at Palladium Magazine on June 1, 2023.

..Whereas publicly-traded corporations nearly uniformly push diversity, privately-held businesses vary tremendously based on the views of their owners. Partnerships such as the Big Four accounting firms and top-tier management consultancies are high-status. High-status firms must regularly proclaim extensive support for diversity. While the firms tend to be highly selective, partnerships whose leadership is overwhelmingly white and male have generally capitulated to the zeitgeist and are cutting standards to hit targets. Firms often manage around this by hiring for diversity and then putting diversity hires into roles where they are the least likely to damage the firm or the brand. Somewhat counterintuitively, firms with diverse founders are often highly meritocratic, as the structure harnesses the founder’s desire to make money and shields them from criticism on diversity issues.
  The most notable example of a diverse meritocracy is Vista Equity Partners, the large private equity firm founded by Robert F. Smith, America’s wealthiest black man. Robert F. Smith is one of the most vocal advocates for and philanthropists to historically black U.S. colleges and universities. It would be reasonable to expect Vista to prioritize diversity over competency in its portfolio companies. However, Vista has instead been profiled for giving all portfolio company management teams the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test and ruthlessly culling low-performers. Given the amount of value to be created by promoting the best people into leadership roles of their portfolio companies, one might imagine this to be low-hanging fruit for the rest of private equity, yet Vista is an outlier. Why Vista can apply the CCAT without a public outcry is obvious.

Complex Systems Won’t Survive the Competence Crisis

  World Economic Forum declares "Disinformation" to be World's Greatest Threat. ​  “1,490 experts across academia, business, government, the international community and civil society” looked at all of the world’s military, economic, and environmental threats and concluded that the greatest threat to humanity is too much free speech. https://jonathanturley.org/2024/01/12/world-economic-forum-declares-disinformation-to-be-the-worlds-greatest-threat/

  Timofey Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Club , Here’s why the signs of a new world order are becoming increasingly obvious
The majority of the world is no longer willing to accept Western diktat. That heralds a revolution.

​  Never before has the injustice shown to the interests of the majority of the world’s countries been so effectively offset by the benefits that have accrued to virtually everyone from globalization. One might even say that the state of affairs known to us as the liberal world order was, in its nature and content, a transitional phase between the absolute tyranny of the European empires of the 19th century and the new international order that is only now emerging. And it is coming to pass precisely as a response to the inevitable process of the emergence of a multitude of sovereign states.​..

..BRICS was undoubtedly the main phenomenon in international politics in 2023. The decision to expand in August 2023 makes it a community of large and medium-sized states in 2024. What is important is how BRICS, with its new membership and evolving partnerships with other powers, will move towards its main objective in the global economy – to provide a safety net to keep globalization afloat at a time when its former leaders in the West can no longer fully perform these functions. Creating alternative financial mechanisms and limiting the monopoly position of the US dollar are no longer seen as ways to destroy the old world order, but as necessary tools to prevent the global economy from falling into chaos. https://swentr.site/news/590471-signs-of-new-world-order/

Millions of Yemenis take part in mass rallies to condemn US-UK aggression https://en.ypagency.net/316030

  Kremlin: US and British strikes on Yemen are illegitimate

  The Kremlin on Friday condemned the United States and the United Kingdom for military strikes against Yemen.
“From the point of view of international law, they are illegitimate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the strikes on Friday.
“We condemn them,” he told reporters, when asked to comment on the strikes. “They are illegitimate under international law. This is our position,” Peskov added.
  He pointed out that the UN Security Council had earlier passed a US-drafted resolution condemning attacks in the Red Sea by the Yemeni Armed forces and demanding an immediate end to them.  Eleven UN Security Council members voted for the document, while four countries, including Russia, abstained.
  “We abstained. The countries that carried out the attack sought to justify their actions as lawful. However, they failed because the resolution adopted does not grant anyone the right to carry out strikes,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed. https://en.ypagency.net/316046

  Erdogan slams US, British strikes on Yemen  [Notably bland protest, though.]   Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed the US and British strikes on Yemen.
The US and UK have used disproportionate force in Yemen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
Speaking to reporters after performing Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan criticized the attacks on Yemen by the US and UK.
  “All of these actions involve the use of disproportionate force. Israel is also using disproportionate force in Palestine,” he said.
“We receive information from various sources that the Houthis have made a very successful defense, provided a successful response, against both the US and the UK,” he said. https://en.ypagency.net/316043

All UK, US interests in region are legitimate targets: Yemeni Council UK and US presence in the Red Sea violates International Law, and the Republic of Yemen is responsible for dealing with it appropriately. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/all-uk--us-interests-in-region-are-legitimate-targets--yemen

War on Gaza: Israel blames Hamas for 23,000 Palestinian deaths at ICJ
Israel's legal representatives argue that there is 'no genocide' taking place in Gaza and deny Israel bombed hospitals https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-israel-second-day-south-africa-genocide-case-icj-hearing

  Genocide Experts Discount Israeli Legal Arguments   Faced with a detailed documentation of statements made by top-level Israeli officials about their intent to “destroy” Gaza residents and “flatten” the enclave, legal experts observed that attorneys representing Israel on Friday at the International Court of Justice appeared to simply ignore the mounting evidence that the government is committing a genocide.
  Thomas MacManus, a state crime lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, said the ICJ, which has held two hearings this week regarding South Africa’s complaint accusing Israel of genocidal violence and intent in Gaza since it began its bombardment in October, likely noticed a “massive disconnect” between Israel’s claim that it is trying to protect civilian lives with the reality on the ground. https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/12/genocide-experts-discount-israeli-legal-arguments/

  South Africa: Israel failed to respond to our genocide evidence   South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, who is leading the South African delegation to The Hague, said that Israel has failed to respond to the evidence presented against it for committing genocide in Gaza.
  Ronald Lamola emphasized his country’s commitment to legal facts and the evidence presented.
He added that Tel Aviv seems unable to condemn the actions of its soldiers, stressing that the statements of its officials cannot be ignored. https://en.ypagency.net/316057

  Directly complicit in specific acts of genocidal targeting of Palestinian civilians? BIDEN ADMIN DEPLOYED AIR FORCE TEAM TO ISRAEL TO ASSIST WITH TARGETS, DOCUMENT SUGGESTS
Guidance for officers deployed to Israel appears to show the U.S. military providing intelligence for airstrikes in Gaza.

  “I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise the Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” said President Joe Biden three days after the Hamas attack.
  But several weeks later, on November 21, the U.S. Air Force issued deployment guidelinesOpens in a new tab for officers, including intelligence engagement officers, headed to Israel. Experts say that a team of targeting officers like this would be used to provide satellite intelligence to the Israelis for the purpose of offensive targeting... ..Past presidents have issued several executive orders banning the U.S. government from carrying out or sponsoring assassinations abroad. This ban has been interpreted to include wartime targeting of civilians, according to a recent Foreign Affairs article by Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser for the State Department who now works for Crisis Group.
  And the so-called Leahy law, a set of budget amendments named for Sen. Patrick Leahy, requires the U.S. government to vet foreign military units for “gross violations of human rights” when providing training or aid to those units. Several progressive members of Congress have raised concerns that U.S. aid to Israel — both before and during the present war — violates that requirement.   “For air advisory missions, which I imagine involve intelligence sharing and training, specific domestic legal restrictions such as the Leahy law and the assassination ban would likely come into play,” McBrien said. But the Leahy vetting process is “reversed” for Israel; rather than vetting Israeli military units beforehand, the U.S. State Department sends aid and then waits for reports of violations...
https://theintercept.com/2024/01/11/israel-air-force-targeting-intelligence/

  Israeli army ordered mass Hannibal Directive on 7 Oct: Media
An investigation from Israel's leading newspaper indicates Israel deliberately killed many of its own civilians and soldiers during Hamas' Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to prevent them being taken captive back to Gaza   The Hebrew edition of the paper (Yedioth Ahronoth) wrote on 11 January that “one of the revelations revealed in the investigation is that at noon on October 7, the IDF [Israeli army] ordered all of its combat units in practice to use the ‘Hannibal Procedure’ although without clearly mentioning this explicitly by name.”   The order was to stop “at all costs any attempt by Hamas terrorists to return to Gaza, that is, despite the fear that some of them have abductees,” the paper wrote.
The Times of Israel described how the Hannibal procedure, or directive, "allows soldiers to use potentially massive amounts of force to prevent a soldier from falling into the hands of the enemy. This includes the possibility of endangering the life of the soldier in question in order to prevent his capture.”... ..Hamas used the Toyota pick-up trucks and motorcycles with which they entered Israel, as well as cars stolen from the settlements, to take Israeli captives back to Gaza. Some were also taken to Gaza on foot and even in carts pulled by tractors by other Palestinians who crossed into Israel after the Hamas fighters breached the border fence.
  According to Yediot Ahronoth, about a thousand “terrorists and infiltrators” were killed in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip.
But the paper added it is not clear at this time how many of the Israeli abductees were killed due to the activation of the Hannibal directive:
  “In the week after the attack, soldiers of elite units checked about 70 vehicles that were left in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip. These are vehicles that did not reach Gaza, because on the way they were shot by a combat helicopter, an anti-tank missile or a tank, and at least in some cases everyone in the vehicle was killed.”
  As journalist Dan Cohen reported, the Israeli military killed Efrat Katz, age 68, as she was being taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza on a cart pulled by a tractor on 7 October. Her daughter, Doron Katz-Asher, and two granddaughters, Raz, age 2, and Aviv, age 4, were also in the cart. Doron Katz-Asher later told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Israeli army opened fire on the tractor, injuring her two daughters and killing her mother, Efrat... ..80-year-old Carmela Dan and her 12-year-old autistic granddaughter Noya both vanished on the morning of 7 October. The family assumed both were taken captive by Hamas. But two weeks later, Israeli authorities announced their bodies “were found near the border fence,” Foreign Policy reported.
  On 19 October, Carmela’s niece told NBC News, “There was an operation by the Israeli army some days ago at this point to retrieve bodies, and we believe that it took them time to run what we know to be three DNA tests and to identify that it was both of them.”
  In another widely reported case, an Israeli brigadier general, Barak Hiram, acknowledged to the New York Times that he gave an order on 7 October for a tank commander to open fire on a home in Kibbutz Be’eri to kill Hamas fighters, even though 14 Israeli captives were barricaded inside the home as well. https://new.thecradle.co/articles-id/18512

  100 days of war in Gaza: Biden fails to achieve basic policy goals
US efforts to cobble together a plan for post-war Gaza lay bare the contradictory goals the administration has failed to resolve   The US's top diplomat came to Israel this week carrying a message from Washington's regional allies: Israel's neighbours are prepared to invest in Gaza's security and reconstruction.
  "But it is essential to them that there also be a clear pathway to the realisation of a Palestinian political state," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
  By holding out to Israel the carrot of regional buy-in for the post-war fate of Gaza, Blinken seemingly tried to leverage the US's Arab partners and Turkey to sway Israel in a way that the Biden administration has been unable, or unwilling, to do alone...
.."Since 7 October, the US has prioritised above all else Israel's right to defend itself," said Brian Katulis, senior fellow and vice president of policy at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. "But most of its other goals are incomplete. “The administration's weakest link remains reaching some sort of consensus on a Gaza endgame." ... ..Biden's pledge to give Israel the military tools it needs to "finish the job" against Hamas is now followed by a campaign promise that he is "doing all that he can" so Israel can "significantly get out of Gaza"... ..US officials defended Biden's embrace of Israel as a practical way to give the US more leverage to shape Israel's military campaign and respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but little progress has been made on that front... .."Secretary Blinken and President Biden had been right to insist on two things: a reduction in the unacceptable levels of civilian casualties, and much more cooperation when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance," Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said after a visit to Egypt's Rafah crossing into Gaza. "We've not seen that," he said... ..US efforts to produce a workable plan for post-war Gaza lay bare the competing and contradictory goals the administration has been unable to resolve at the 100-day mark of the war... .."There is a fundamental difference with Israel over the role of the PA in Gaza. After 100 days, the US still hasn't been able to square that difference," David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a previous assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs.
  Further muddying the waters, the PA's ageing political leaders say they are open to a national unity government that includes some Hamas factions in Gaza... .."There is a tremendous disconnect between the administration and what's happening globally," Freeman said. "I think the war has destroyed US credibility abroad. That has real-world consequences when you consider the war in Ukraine and competition with China. Other countries are going to sit these things out."... ..A million Palestinians are crammed into the town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where water-borne diseases are spreading and people have been forced to sleep, and defecate, on the street... ..Israel was blamed for the recent killing of the deputy political leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, in a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah stronghold. A few days later, Israel assassinated Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force.
"The US is stuck in an escalation trap," Freeman said. "Israel is openly courting an expansion of the war with these assassinations."...

.."The administration is in a better place than they think they are," James Jeffrey, a former senior US official now at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told MEE.
  Jeffrey said those who believe the US could dictate terms to Israel to end the fighting overestimate the US's leverage with an ally that has fought three wars with its Arab neighbours and decades of lower-level conflicts with Palestinian fighters since its founding. "If we pull our support from Israel, let me tell you, they will keep fighting. And that's not because of some plot by Bibi [Netanyahu] to stay in office, that's because the Israeli public realises that 7 October presented the spectre of an existential crisis to Israel's future," he told MEE.  [US withdrawal of "support" would be a dream scenario, but the Israeli lobby won't allow it.]
  He says the US has achieved its goal of giving Israel the space to push its offensive against Hamas while staving off a widening war.
"Biden is holding his nose against protests about civilian Palestinian casualties because he wants Hamas degraded," Jeffrey said. "As do our Arab allies, although they can't say it in public." https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-100-days-gaza-war-biden-fails-achieve-basic-policy-goals

  They might need to "officially" get rid of him if he cannot be made "presentable". Stories are dropping off; still no picture of the man in 2024. Lloyd Austin Remains Hospitalized - And Should Absolutely Be Fired For Hiding Condition https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lloyd-austin-remains-hospitalized-and-should-absolutely-be-fired-hiding-condition

​  Pepe Escobar , Year of the Dragon: Silk Roads, BRICS Roads, Sino-Roads   Taiwan will remain the prime not-yet-engaged battlefield. Roughly, it’s fair to argue that the majority of the population of Taiwan does not want unification; at the same time, they don’t want an American-engineered war.
​  They want, essentially, the current status quo. China is not in a hurry: Deng’s master plan pointed to reunification sometime before 2049.
The Hegemon, on the other hand, is in a tremendous hurry: it’s all about Divide and Rule, all over again, promoting chaos and destabilizing China’s inexorable rise. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/01/12/year-of-the-dragon-silk-roads-brics-roads-sino-roads/

​  Meryl Nass MD, the "Soft Coup to Hard Tyranny" slide series from her lectures around the world.

You asked for higher quality versions of my slides and I have complied. Here is my talk today and a few of my remarks. *You need to go to the substack website to see almost all of it*

Dr. Nass notes more WHO advice for suckers who will "never get an even break". WHO advice: Keep boosting every 6-12 months

WHO advice: Keep boosting every 6-12 months

Chilled (took this picture of Jenny picking the last tomatoes with her ungloved hand as the hard freeze blows in)