Sri Lanka has told hundreds of thousands of Russians and some Ukrainians staying in the country to escape the war that they must leave in the next two weeks, immigration officers said.

The immigration controller issued a notice to the tourism ministry asking Russian and Ukrainian people staying on extended tourist visas to leave Sri Lanka within two weeks from 23 February.

Just over 288,000 Russians and nearly 20,000 Ukrainians have traveled to Sri Lanka in the last two years since the war began, according to official data.

Commissioner-General of Immigration said the “government is not granting further visa extensions” as the “flight situation has now normalised”.

However, the office of president Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered an investigation of the notice to the tourism ministry in an apparent bid to prevent diplomatic tensions.

The president’s office said that the notice had been issued without prior cabinet approval and the government had not officially decided to revoke the visa extensions, reported the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror.

The exact number of visitors who extended their stay beyond the typical 30-day tourist visa duration remains unclear.

However, concerns have been raised over thousands of Russians and a smaller number of Ukrainians staying in the country for an extended period of time and even setting up their own restaurants and nightclubs.

Tourism minister Harin Fernando told Daily Mirror that the ministry has been receiving complaints of some Russian tourists running unregistered and illegal businesses in the southern part of the country.

Raids were conducted by the authorities following discussions with the Immigration Department, he said.

It comes amid a furious social media backlash over Russian-run businesses with a “whites only” policy that strictly bars locals. These businesses include bars, restaurants, water sports and vehicle hiring services.

In a bid to boost tourism and recover from its worst economic crisis since 2022, Sri Lanka began granting 30-days visas on arrival and extensions for up to six months.

In April 2022, the nation defaulted on its $46bn (£36 bn) foreign debt. The economic crisis triggered violent street protests for several months and ultimately culminated in the resignation of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three months later.

Source: Independent

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All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday (31 March).

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

In July Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation came into effect on 1 January 2024.

Compulsory military service has long been a sensitive issue in Russia, where many men go to great lengths to avoid being handed conscription papers during the twice-yearly call-up periods.

Conscripts cannot legally be deployed to fight outside Russia and were exempted from a limited mobilisation in 2022 that gathered at least 300,000 men with previous military training to fight in Ukraine – although some conscripts were sent to the front in error.

In September Putin signed an order calling up 130,000 people for the autumn campaign and last spring Russia planned to conscript 147,000.

Russian attacks

Russian shelling killed at least three people in different regions of eastern Ukraine on the front of the more than two-year-old war against Russia, local officials said, and two more in Lviv region, far from the front lines.

In the centre of the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russia’s intensifying assaults on energy and other infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said a strike targeted civilian infrastructure in the evening.

Regional news outlets said aerial bombs had been dropped on different areas of the region. No injuries were reported.

Earlier on Sunday, heavy shelling killed a man in the town of Borova, southeast of Kharkiv, local prosecutors said.

Police in Donetsk region, in Ukraine’s southeast, said Russian shelling hit 14 towns and villages, with two dead reported in Krasnohorivka, west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

Russian forces captured the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk region last month and have since made small gains, but the situation along the 1,000-km front has changed little for months.

Attacks on infrastructure have extended well beyond the front line and Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozitskyi said two bodies were pulled from rubble after on such strike by cruise missiles. Rescue work continued through the day at the site.

Over the border in Russia’s Belgorod Region, a frequent target of Ukrainian shelling, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a woman was killed when a border village came umder attack.

Reuters could not independently confirm accounts of military action from either side.

Source

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The U.S. military should reassess its force posture in Europe and reduce its reliance on revolving door-style unit rotations, a major think tank’s analysts concluded in a Monday report.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ transnational threat team based their study on official documents, open-source materials and interviews with subject-matter experts.

The report’s authors recommend that the Army abandon the rotational armor brigade deployment model that “eats up … the Army’s force structure and long-term readiness.” Currently, two armor brigades are deployed to Europe. Instead, the report said, the service should permanently station an Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland to replace one rotational unit and eliminate the remaining rotation altogether.

An Army Times investigation found that tank brigades and enlisted tank crew members were at higher risk of suicide than other soldiers in recent years, due in part to a decade of high operational tempo fueled by such non-combat deployments. The service once had armor brigades in Europe, but they were removed in the early 2010s.

Currently, the Army maintains a large presence of rotational forces in Europe. V Corps’ forward headquarters in Poznan, Poland oversees the three temporarily deployed brigade combat teams, which includes one light infantry brigade in addition to the two armor brigades. Other rotational forces include division headquarters, a combat aviation brigade, fires assets and sustainment units.

But the short-tour model has consequences, the report’s authors argued. They cost more money in the long-term compared to permanent bases, and they are less integrated into the continent’s culture and defense network. The deployment-based model negatively impacts soldiers, too — the authors said evidence suggests they “separate military personnel from their families,” causing “low morale” that can spawn “discipline issues and increased divorce rates.”

Army spokesperson Col. Roger Cabiness II told Army Times, however, that “forward basing of an ABCT is not a simple task.” Doing so would require diplomatic and legislative approvals both at home and abroad.

Despite efforts to reduce their operational tempo, the Army’s armor units continue to deploy at a high rate to fulfill the Europe requirements. The 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team cased its colors Monday, signifying its departure for an eight- or nine-month Europe rotation. The Iron Brigade’s new mission is beginning roughly 16 months after returning to Fort Carson, Colorado from another Europe deployment that wrapped in December 2022.

The report’s authors also recommended that the Air Force station an additional F-16 squadron in Germany; increase anti-submarine warfare capability and air defense forces; bolster stockpiles of prepositioned equipment and ammunition; and continue modernization, cyber, space and security cooperation efforts.

Source: Army Times

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We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing U.S. Navy SEALs have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased. The search and rescue operation for the two Navy SEALs reported missing during the boarding of an illicit dhow carrying Iranian advanced conventional weapons Jan. 11 concluded and we are now conducting recovery operations.

During this expansive search operation, airborne and naval platforms from the U.S., Japan, and Spain continuously searched more than 21,000 square miles to locate our missing teammates. Search assistance was also provided by Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, University of San Diego – Scripts Institute of Oceanography, and the Office of Naval Research – Oceanographic Support. Out of respect for the families, no further information will be released at this time.

“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, USCENTCOM Commander.

Source

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Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team noted that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, in 2012 made “baseless claims” that ballot machines switched votes to Democratic incumbent Barack Obama from Republican challenger Mitt Romney, and during his 2016 campaign claimed that a loss to Democrat Hillary Clinton would be the result of fraud.

“The defendant’s false claims about the 2012 and 2016 elections are admissible because they demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like, as well as his motive, intent and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power,” prosecutors argued in the filing.

The case in Washington federal court is one of four criminal prosecutions facing Trump as he seeks to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. Trump continues to argue that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud, a false claim that was rejected by multiple courts, state reviews and members of Trump’s own administration.

Smith’s evidence also includes statements from Trump during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns in which he refused to commit to accepting the elections’ results.

Trump is scheduled to stand trial beginning in March on charges that he interfered in the counting of votes and sought to block Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. Prosecutors have accused Trump of spreading “destabilizing lies” about widespread voter fraud to sow distrust in the election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of seeking to damage his 2024 campaign.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Smith’s filing.

Source: Reuters

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Our lives are being maneuvered and we are being manipulated by unelected, insidious forces, toward objectives not necessarily in the people’s interest.

Now that the so-called “pandemic”, declared by the mysterious self-appointed World Health Organization, and followed obediently by governments everywhere, has been decreed “finished”, we should devote a moment to introspection, considering who is running the show and for whose benefit, as governments gaily abdicated their vested responsibility to govern.

Pandemic is over? I hope they told those killer viruses who destroyed the population of Europe and North America. What? Oh, just 1% mortality? And that 1% mostly old, sick, fat folks riddled with comorbidities? How interesting. Get a booster.

Cui bono? Who benefited from the mammoth lockdowns, forced injections, prescription of powerful, deadly medications and jamming of lethal respirators down the throats of elderly, often demented patients? Have people forgotten already how hospitals became like prisons, and families often had to get a court order in order to force them to release a family member, or halt medications they did not approve of: “Remdesivir” (which nurses used to refer to as “Run! Death is near!”) causes kidney failure, and was being prescribed to patients already diagnosed with … kidney failure. Then, in mid-2022 the WHO suddenly did a volte-face and recommended against it.

Who is the WHO, and how have previously sovereign states obligingly sacrificed their independent judgment to it? Advertising itself as “Working with 194 Member States across 6 regions and on the ground in 150+ locations, the WHO team works to improve everyone’s ability to enjoy good health and well-being.” Founded in 1948 as an arm of the fledgling United Nations, like any unimpeded bureaucratic monster, the World Health Organization has swollen to gargantuan proportions, and has a gargantuan appetite, which can only be sated with a gargantuan budget … Do you see where this is going?

Our hidden masters who pull the strings of the governments and corporations adhere to the time-honored principle of “Never let a crisis go to waste” and if the crisis is a tempest in a teapot, well then, use the obedient media to whip up fear and panic among the buffaloed masses, so a flu variant becomes a humanity-destroying monster. Yes, I’m talking about the recent wave of flu infections – oh sorry, “Covid-19”. Give it a scary Hollywood name.

Do you, dear readers, recall those dramatic early-on videos of Wuhan citizens keeling over dead from the mystery virus (which many pranksters loved to tease the Chinese by calling it “Wu-Flu”)? Strangely enough, that horror movie never played out in the rest of the world, or am I mistaken? Are there videos of pedestrians strolling along in Düsseldorf, or Chicongo, or Osaka, and then toppling over kaput? No? I wonder why.

If you are a conspiracy theorist, you might well wonder whether total social control over the masses was not the real goal, from the outset. “Scare them half to death with a mystery medical panic – then sell them the potentially lethal poison to finish the job” may have been the motto of “Big Pharma”, whose money-glazed tentacles stretched through every aspect of medicine, academia, Government… turn on your computer; check out the video montages called “Brought to you by Pfizer” on YouTube, to see how money doesn’t just talk – it never shuts up. Billions were lathered around, so that many more billions could be squeezed from the public purse.

Big Pharma makes big billions – government does what government does: extend control over each and every citizen, with a “digital ID”. For your own good and public health! See how it works?

Yes, this is no “conspiracy theory”, no. Yes, it is a conspiracy by the World Economic Forum, with its 15-minute cities, no more automobile or steak for your family, Buster – shut up, sit still in your locked-down flat and eat those bugs.

The Critical Difference: “Dying from Covid-19” in that corner, vs. “Dying with Covid-19” in this corner. The first combatant? Miniscule. Around 1%, which statistically signifies “margin of error”. The second refers to those poor souls already riddled with comorbidities, obese, polluted by their junk food and smokes. They were 75% toward Death’s Door anyway – why not give them that “extra push” with Mengele-injections and forced intubation?

Note how the medical establishment, swimming in money from Big Pharma at this point, strongly discouraged any discussion of natural immunity, in their rush, their amazing rush to inject an experimental gene therapy into toddlers, teenagers, anybody within range – most of whom were more than willing to be lab rats for Big Pharma. Experimental Animals’R’Us!

Those not afflicted with memory loss will recall the Presidents and Prime Ministers and Health Poobahs guaranteeing that with the magical jabs we would not fall ill with the dreaded Covid. That story changed because it had to. Then it became “Oh yes, you can still get Covid but it is milder than if you’d not been injected”. The story shifted at each point, as celebs and politicos got their arms pumped with gene therapy on television while grinning … Or was it? Not saline solution perhaps, for those “in the know”?

Hey, look over there – it is American Defense Secretary Colin Powell – you know, the dude holding up the bag of yellow powder which was Saddam Hussein’s nuclear bomb instant mix. Colin Powell had been vaxxed out the kazoo, with multiple boosters, and Colin Powell is what cynical docs refer to as “room temperature”: he ain’t movin’, folks, that feller’s daid.

Early on, strange, unexpected, painful results were being reported from injections of the “vaccine”, which earned its “quotation marks” from being the beneficiary of a refreshened definition of what a vaccine was and was not. Rabies, smallpox, tetanus, polio and so on: prepared from weakened or dead viral matter. That’s what defines “vaccine”.

mRNA: experimental gene therapy, never submitted to proper double-blind trials to ascertain long-term effects. Thus, mysterious cases of athletes collapsing during play (and not infrequently dying on the spot), morticians reporting mysterious fibrous wads found in the blood vessels of autopsies, cases of myocardia and pericardia, conditions inflicting permanent and irreversible damage on the heart muscle, appearing in 15-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and being called “mild…”, “rare” or “…inconsequential”.

Astoundingly-low rates of Covid-19 infection reported from Africa (mostly by Japanese researchers, who were much less compromised or bought off by the global authorities). Was that linked to their steady use of Nobel Prize-winning Ivermectin? No, nothing to see here, move along now, forget about the horse dewormer. Such a propaganda campaign for the miracle jabs and against a cheap prophylactic.

Oh wait, a new variant has been reported, so you need a booster, Buster.

That never seemed to happen with traditional killers. There is not relentless “booster campaign” for tetanus or polio. (Rabies, yes, get your kitty her shots every six months.)

Who were these mysterious authorities to whom governments around the world were sacrificing their decision-making to? Let’s take a close look at WHO, and the sinister money-lubed forces behind it.

Money plays a role, from the git-go. Oh, you have heard those lyrics before?

Consider the “regulatory capture” factor, something the inconvenient Covid-heretic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about. In the much-trumpeted democratic republics, where vox populi is supposed to be championed and held up as a model, mass mandates, lockdowns, a fear campaign, media control, non-conforming physicians threatened with the loss of their careers – all played a part, singing a melody trumpeted by mass media, all crooning “Get the jab, safe and effective”.

Was that true? has a part, and last but not least, allowing unelected bodies that shouldn’t even exist at the federal levels, make decisions that negate our inalienable rights, also having “democracy” decide issues of science.

“Rest homes” for the elderly became extermination camps, with stratospherically-soaring death rates – and not from the effects of the coronavirus. Every death that could be attributed to this “flavor-of-the-month” disease yielded $13,500 to hospitals, often teetering on bankruptcy before the great money-spinner appeared on the scene (too many indigent patients – obese lazy smokers living on grease, sugar and preservatives – not able to pay their bills).

Apart from the millions suffering permanent damage or even-more-permanent death from the fancy, untested “vaccines”, there is the big issue of “truth decay”. Loss of trust in the medical establishment is no joke. When the customers start to balk at what the purported “experts” are prescribing for them, and going to court to fight the institutions, you know something is wrong.

1918 “Spanish Flu” death rate = 35%. 2019 “Wu-Flu” death rate = ~1%, and that includes many deeply-unhealthy citizens already at death’s door.

Vaccine injuries: oh let’s not talk about that. There isn’t time. All line up for your 43^rd booster now, before yet another profitable variant is screamed out over the TV, and that 43^rd turns out to be ineffective.

Actual scene in government hospital, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia: uncle is ailing, has been quite weak and sick for several years. Now he picks up the dreaded <tee hee> “Covid-19” virus, and how does that happen? With a PCP test the inventor of which claimed repeatedly cannot correctly diagnose this type of viral infection. Check out inventor Kary Mullis.

Uncle turns up his toes, buys the farm, checks out, leaves the building, is “lights out”, abandons this mortal realm.

Immediately after the family is told of his death, a smiling hospital employee in a white smock shows up and says “Hey, if you’ll sign right here on the dotted line – we’re going to give you sixty million Rupiah! [equivalent to US$ 4000 at the time of writing this essay]

The grieving family is bewildered at this. Money? For our dead uncle? No thanks, Hank. They edge away, suspicious, knowing full well that nobody gives away free money these days without expecting something in return.

In return? Oh yes: the hospital would have been paid Rp 180 million for that “certified death from Covid-19”, taking away a handsome Rp 120 million ( = US$ 8000) as a reward. What’s going on here? Families of patients dying from typhus, diabetes, heart failure, cancer – they’re not offered bribes to sign. Unless the above-mentioned illnesses can miraculously be re-diagnosed as the coronavirus.

Doesn’t something stink? Have we forgotten the Nürnberg Trials of 1947, where Nazi doctors were experimenting on hapless prisoners with all sorts of dangerous, even lethal, substances? The ultimate casualty is the trust of the public. Millions upon millions of citizens are backing away, avoiding hospitals, consulting with Dr. Google on the sly when their family physician smiles, frowns and dispenses medical wisdom.

Trust is lost. As any experienced businessman can assure you, that’s a big one, as trust is exceedingly difficult to ever repair again.

Follow the money. Be alert to the creeping control.

Who voted for WHO? Nobody did, that’s who. You’re being handled and WHOdwinked – and you’re paying for it.

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The bodies of Mr Langlois and Dominique Marchand were discovered on Friday, reportedly in a burnt-out vehicle.

The couple had been missing for a day from an eco-resort they owned on the island. 

Mr Langlois founded Softimage, an animation software firm whose product was used in major blockbuster films. 

Three foreign nationals and one Dominican have been taken into custody over the incident, according to Dominica News Online, which cited Dominica’s National Security and Legal Affairs Minister Rayburn Blackmoore. 

“This type of terrible crime and the brutality in this crime is something we cannot ignore and we cannot allow those responsible to go unpunished,” the minister said, according to Dominican media. 

The BBC has contacted Dominican national police for comment. 

Responding to reports that one of the four being questioned by police is an American citizen, a spokesperson for the US Department of State told the BBC: “We are aware of reports of the arrest of a US citizen in Dominica. 

“Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time.”

Little information was available about the deaths. 

The Daniel Langlois Foundation, a philanthropic organisation created by the entrepreneur in 1997, said in a statement on Monday that the couple “died in tragic circumstances” on 1 December.

“In the coming weeks and months, details of the exact circumstances of their passing will be revealed as the Dominican police authorities and justice system proceed to the investigation,” the statement said. 

The foundation said Mr Langlois’ “stellar career left a profound influence on contemporary cinema”.

Mr Langlois worked as a director and animator in the Canadian province of Quebec before founding Softimage in the 1980s. Its 3D animation software was used in the production of major film hits including Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Titanic. 

In 1994, the company was sold to Microsoft for a reported $130m (£85m). 

Three years after that sale, Mr Langlois shared an Academy Award in the scientific and technical category for Softimage animation components. 

He maintained his involvement in the arts and film industries, including as president of the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, an independent film festival in Montreal. 

More recently, Mr Langlois and Ms Marchand ran an eco-friendly resort, Coulibri Ridge, in Dominica and established the Resilient Dominica Project to help the island following Hurricane Maria, which killed 65 people and devastated the local economy.

Ms Marchand worked with an animal charity, the Humane Society of Dominica, the foundation said. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge called Mr Langlois “a visionary in digital technologies and cinema”.

“His legacy reflects his innovative spirit. My thoughts are with his loved ones,” she wrote.

Source: BBC

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Frankfurt (3/12 – 12)

The relatively rapid cohesion of disparate nations, historically competitive or even at war with one another, into the European Union came about in part because of the ongoing threat from the Soviet Union. The specter of a tank invasion from Warsaw Pact nations, today forgotten, was such a reality that the German government kept a major portion of its gold bullion across the Atlantic.

The USSR, an ally in World War II after being double-crossed by Hitler – remember the “Non-Aggression Pact signed in Moscow by von Ribbentrop and Molotov – was soon appraised as a danger in itself when, at the conclusion of hostilities, it ringed itself with unwilling “satellites”. After having suffered under brutal Nazi rule, Poland, Czechoslovakia and others found themselves subservient to Moscow, often occupied by Russian troops.

Thus in 1949 NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was established as an intergovernmental military alliance, encompassing 29 European countries and two North American ones. In fact it was an American creation and continues until today under US domination. Its primary purpose was stated as follows: “to safeguard the security of its members and promote peace and stability in Europe.”

A wry summary of the purpose of NATO is “…to keep the Americans in, the Germans down, and the Russians out”; this is often attributed to Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, the first NATO Secretary General. The quote has since become a common way to describe the dynamics of NATO. The Federal Republic of Germany continues to host American military bases, nearly 40,000 American troops and nuclear weapons, just as it did during Post-WW II Occupation.

The common belief of military strategists is that a paranoid, expansionist USSR, under the tyranny of Joseph Stalin, would inevitably be at war with the democratic nations of the west. Some Soviet leaders and military may have assumed the same, although it never came to pass. The politicians talk tough, but those in charge of the weapons of mass destruction are justifiably terrified of them.

American nuclear weapons were stationed in Europe, pointed at the Soviets, in case of a sneak attack; the French, having decided to refrain from joining NATO, since President Charles de Gaulle considered it too much of an American-dominated organization, had their own, a “Force de Frappe”, part of a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for “dissuasion”, the French term for “deterrence”.

With the exception of some strongly-anti-Communist military men, nuclear war was generally considered to be impractical, as even a small number of detonations could effectively paralyze any nation, and airtight defense against nuclear attack was simply impossible, once ICBMs proliferated. At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, General Curtis LeMay urged President Kennedy to launch an all-out attack on the Soviets; Kennedy mused, out loud, “Can I afford to lose twenty million voters?” that being a conservative estimate of the deaths that would result from a Russian retaliatory attack on the US mainland.

Following the totally unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, notable as a colossal failure on the part of western intelligence organizations to anticipate, NATO was faced with finding a new raison d’etre to justify its enormous budget – mostly born by the Americans, whose military-industrial complex is the single greatest support for a deindustrialized economy, once manufacturing was offshored to the People’s Republic of China, Korea, Vietnam and other cheap-labor countries.

The much-abused Finland joined NATO in April 2023, in part because of the conflict in Ukraine. The clever Europeans, offering tempting goodies including economic benefits and modern weaponry, have managed to lure in former Soviet satellites Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary (members since 1999), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria (all joining in 2004). It is clearly a valiant attempt at a historical “containment” of Russia – including the “oddball member” of Türkiye, a ferociously Islamist republic dedicated to the conquest of an infidel Europe, not to mention a diehard enemy of fellow NATO member Greece.

The clearly-stated American objective, in the words of a Pentagon document, is “total spectrum dominance”, with the USA as the single superpower on the face of the planet. Russia, possessing some 6000 nuclear weapons on land and at sea, is an inconvenient obstacle to the achievement of this goal; the unexpected rise of the People’s Republic of China as a military and naval force, financed by the profits from export sales across the globe, adds another challenge to American dominance. China never had a blue-water navy; it has a respectable one now, thanks in part to the Russians, as NATO has unexpectedly pushed the two legacy adversaries into a marriage of convenience.

The “Special Military Operation” of the Russian Federation in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, in response to reported repression and slaughter of Russian speakers in the Donbass from 2014, has been a godsend to both NATO and the western military-industrial complex, with a ready market for its tanks, helicopters, 155mm shells and other armaments. The trigger for the Russian invasion was the clearly-stated stance of Ukraine to become a member of NATO, which Russia considers an existential threat: no way will they countenance nuclear missiles three minutes’ flight from the Kremlin. While the Americans are cheering Ukraine on (while sending no soldiers to fight there), the Europeans, perhaps with a memory of what it was like to be bombed, are less enthusiastic about approving Ukrainian membership: Article 5 of the Mutual Defense Agreement states that an attack on any NATO member will require all the rest to pile in and retaliate. Europe does not fancy turning into a radioactive ashtray. The United States of America simply cannot imagine it, never having been bombed to bits.

“’Equipment that defends America and is made in America. Patriot missiles for air defense batteries, made in Arizona. Artillery shells manufactured in 12 states across the country, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas. And so much more,’ the politician stated. ‘You know, just as in World War II, today patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom.’

“Ukraine has been striking Russian logistics hubs using Lockheed Martin’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, that are partially made in Lufkin, Texas — a city of 34,000 people that saw its paper mill and foundry close over the last two decades.” [case study in deindustrialization.]

“It is represented by Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, a Ukraine aid supporter, who said Friday that the U.S. has an obligation to protect Ukraine under its post-Cold War security commitments.

“The U.S. has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers that fire GMLRS and are made in Camden, Ark., a town of about 10,000 people that is 100 miles south of Little Rock.

“Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, who represents Camden, said critics of government spending can be surprised to know some of that spending is going back to communities like his.”

In the opinion of many of these fine folks, killing Russians is a great idea, particularly when it is such a profitable one. That Russia will escalate with nuclear weapons, obliging NATO to do the same, is dismissed as ridiculous.

As ever, to understand the deep dynamics of the situation, simply “follow the money”.

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The decision – approved in a split 2-1 vote by judges – is likely to be appealed before the Supreme Court, kicking off a fresh row over voting rights in the chamber. 

Lawyers in Arkansas were appealing against a new congressional map – approved by the Republican dominated state legislature – which they said minimised the power of black voters. 

But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the claim, ruling that only the US Attorney General – not individual citizens – can pursue cases under the Voting Rights Act.

Under Section 2 of the landmark legislation it is illegal to discriminate against voters based on race.

As the extremely close 2024 election heats up, black voters in several states across the south, including Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, have filed lawsuits accusing the states’ lawmakers of diluting their voting power by redrawing maps along racial lines, which is known as racial gerrymandering. 

In September, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of black voters in Alabama who sued the state for violating Section 2, and ordered state lawmakers to use a new map with an additional black-majority voting district.

The move was seen as a major victory for black voters in the state and some argued that it signalled a policy shift from the majority-conservative Supreme Court.

However, if the Arkansas ruling is upheld, black voters in other states could lose their ability to challenge instances of racial discrimination in voting.

It would impose higher hurdles on those seeking to tackle alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act by forcing them to convince the US attorney general in Washington DC to pursue the case. 

In his dissent on Monday, Chief Judge Lavenski Smith observed that “rights so foundational to self-government and citizenship should not depend solely on the discretion or availability of the government’s agents for protection”. 

Adding to the confusion is a recent decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this month, the court upheld the rights of citizens to take claims under section 2 when hearing the case brought by activists challenging Louisiana’s new congressional map.

Where voters are divided 

Voting rights advocates have long accused Republicans, particularly those in Deep South states like Arkansas, Alabama and South Carolina, of creating congressional maps that weaken the power of black voters. 

Although gerrymandering has been used by both Democrats and Republicans in the past, in the south it has often targeted black or other minority populations.

That has led to a number of legal challenges brought by black voters who say these new maps strip them of a fair chance of electing their preferred candidates. Historically, voters of colour have been most likely to vote Democrat. 

Momentum had swung in the favour of these challengers earlier this year, starting in Alabama.

In June, the US Supreme Court sided with a group of Alabama activists who said the state’s new congressional map was designed to reduce the voting power of black citizens. The court ordered the Republican-dominated legislature to redraw a map to create two predominantly black congressional districts. 

The map, drawn by a court-appointed expert, created two voting districts with nearly 50% or above 50% black voting populations. 

For the first time in Alabama history, the move could lead the state to elect two black Congress members.

“It’s a long time coming,” said Beverly Cooper, a Mobile, Alabama resident, told the BBC. “Now we have an opportunity to actually have representation in Congress and can elect those who recognize and know what our needs are.”

She added that the move granted black voters “an opportunity to have a different stake than what we’ve had in the past”.

However, the opportunity didn’t arrive for Mrs Cooper and other black voters in the state without Republican-led resistance. 

When a lower court had found that Alabama’s old map diluted black voting power, state lawmakers appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which also sided with the voters.

The court then ordered Alabama’s majority-Republican legislature to draw a new map that increased black voting power. The state’s lawmakers failed to do so. The court then appointed someone else to do it instead, prompting judges on the case to say they were “deeply troubled” by the state’s behaviour.

Elliot Mincberg, senior counsel at Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, said the legal drama was a “classic example” of “massive resistance”, a term coined in the 1950s to describe how southern states resisted court orders to desegregate.

“It became known under the term massive resistance of just resisting everything that the federal courts ordered no matter what, and trying to retain the old system,” Mr Mincberg said.

Several other states, when faced with similar orders to redraw their congressional maps, have mounted equally stiff legal opposition. 

In Florida, a state judge ruled in September that a redistricting map promoted by Republican lawmakers was unlawful and needed to be redrawn because it decreased the strength of black voters in one district. The case now sits in a federal appeals court.

And a similar case out of South Carolina now sits before the Supreme Court, who must decide if they agree with a lower court’s ruling that the state’s map is racially discriminatory. 

A surprise ally… for now

The Supreme Court’s Alabama ruling gave black voters an unexpected dash of hope, a hope which could be short lived, in light of the Arkansas ruling. 

Voting-rights advocates are paying close attention to these cases to see if the country’s top court will further strengthen the Voting Rights Act – or if its decision in Alabama was a one-off.

“[Alabama] was particularly surprising from a court that, for a number of years, has weakened the Voting Rights Act,” Mr Mincberg observed. 

In 2013, the court voted 5-4 to remove a protection provided by the Voting Rights Act which required federal approval for voting laws changes made by states with a history of voting discrimination. 

It’s the historical tug-of-war for voting rights equality that feeds into Howard University political science professor Mr Boyd’s “gloomy” outlook over the Supreme Court’s future decision making. 

The Supreme Court has already expressed scepticism over allegations of racial gerrymandering in the South Carolina case. 

If the Arkansas case makes it to the country’s top court, and the conservatives adopt the thinking of lower courts, it could hinder black voters’ ability to fight for voting rights equality.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, supported by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, has already questioned whether private parties could take cases under the voting rights act in a 2021 opinion. 

But Mr Boyd remains hopeful, even if Alabama is an outlier. 

“[The Alabama case] reveals that America still has the possibility of becoming a nation for all people, regardless of their race, gender, creed, or religious status.”

Source: BBC

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The French president said on Sunday that his government would submit a draft text to France’s highest administrative court over the coming week, with the aim of making abortion rights constitutional by the end of the year.

“In 2024, the right of women to choose abortion will become irreversible,” he wrote on social media.

The announcement follows a promise made by Macron on 8 March, International Women’s Day, when he tweeted in response to the overturning of federal abortion rights in the US last year: “A universal message of solidarity to all women who today see this right violated: France will engrave in its Constitution the freedom of women to have recourse to abortion.”

The resolution was overwhelmingly backed in the national assembly last November before being passed in the senate in February, despite opposition from rightwing parties, which argued that France’s abortion rights were not at risk.

The revision of the French constitution is a laborious process requiring either a referendum or approval by at least three-fifths of both houses of parliament.

To avoid a referendum, the government presented its own bill, rather than one originating among lawmakers, meaning Macron can convene a special congress of both houses. Such congresses meet at the Palace of Versailles.

Abortion in France was legalised in 1975 and several laws enacted since then have aimed to improve the conditions for abortions, notably by protecting the health and anonymity of women, as well as lightening the financial burden of the procedure.

An opinion poll last year showed that 89% of respondents wanted abortion rights to be better protected under the constitution.

Anticipating the end of the process, the minister for gender equality, Bérangère Couillard, said on X: “This is a victory for all women and a strong symbol sent to other countries of the world where our rights are losing ground.”

According to government figures, 234,000 abortions were carried out in France last year.

Several political parties, from the left to centrists, began pushing for abortion rights to be written into the constitution after the US supreme court’s decision in June 2022 to overturn the Roe v Wade ruling of 1973, which recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalised it nationwide.

In September last year, Hungary’s far-right government made it obligatory for women to “listen to the foetal heartbeat” before they can access a safe abortion.

In Poland, which has some of the harshest abortion laws in Europe, allowing pregnancies to be ended only in the event of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s health or life, restrictions were tightened further in 2020 when the country’s constitutional tribunal ruled that abortions on the grounds of foetal defects were unconstitutional.

Although abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, accessing the procedure is extremely difficult owing to the high number of gynaecologists who are moral objectors. Italy’s far-right government, which came to power last October, is against abortion, although the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said the law would not be changed.

Source: The Guardian

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