An Undercover Odyssey into China’s Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future
Prior colonial rulers – the Spanish in Mindanao, the Dutch in Aceh, the French in Algeria, the Russians in Central Asia – have sought to control their Muslim subjects and defang Islamic sentiments, always failing. Can the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the territory historically known as East Turkestan and renamed Xinjiang by its Chinese overlords, succeed in this task?
One of the biggest questions about the war in Ukraine at this point is what Russian president Vladimir Putin’s exit ramp would look like. He has too much of his standing and prestige invested in this expedition for the United States and its allies to expect him to execute a U-turn and a tail-between-the-legs withdrawal, even if Ukrainian resistance were to continue being as stubborn and effective as it has been so far. For any outcome to be acceptable, Putin has to be able to portray himself, with the aid of his propaganda apparatus, as a winner.
The American-led global order isn’t perfect, but it’s better than the alternatives
The Iraq War was the event that drew me into political consciousness as a teenager in high school. I remember sitting in my biology class as the teacher let us deviate from the day’s material to argue about the imminent U.S. invasion in the Middle East. I felt uneasy about the justifications given for the war, but I was badly outgunned: nearly everyone else felt that President George W. Bush’s case was airtight. I watched the ensuing chaos on the television screens and attended enormous antiwar marches, shouting my lungs off about the pointlessness of the conflict. I’ve probably never felt more politically powerless in my life.
Russian soldiers are posting on social media only to have their identities revealed by facial recognition software.
Tactical Systems Academy, a law enforcement and military training company, tweeted the results of its facial recognition searches to reveal the identities of two Russian soldiers since the invasion into Ukraine began. It specializes in gathering intelligence via open sources, and its clients include the French Armed Forces and several police departments.
A senior FBI special agent has sounded the alarm on the bureau’s investigation into the pipe bombs that were placed outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee buildings the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, suggesting that the investigation has been a low priority and made no real progress.
Thousands are dying from Russian missiles and bombs in the suburbs of Ukraine.
In response, the Biden Administration’s climate-change envoy, multimillionaire and private-jet-owning John Kerry, laments that Russian President Vladimir Putin might no longer remain his partner in reducing global warming.
“You’re going to lose people’s focus,” Kerry frets. “You’re going to lose big-country attention because they will be diverted, and I think it could have a damaging impact.”
From one end of Western Europe to the other, the mass migrations of the last generation or two have turned the words “immigrant” and “refugee” into veritable synonyms for “Muslim.” Thanks to government generosity on a Herculean scale, Muslims by the million have been provided, at taxpayer expense (but without taxpayers ever being consulted), with incomes, homes, furnishings, cars. They’ve been allowed to bring over their family members, who in turn have been allowed to bring over their family members. Some have been grateful; some have even gone on to pursue estimable careers and contribute to the general welfare. Many, however, have responded to all this largesse with a contempt for their hosts – a contempt rooted largely in the Koran’s teachings about infidels – and a staggering sense of entitlement.
Few dispute that the Ukraine crisis brings with it the risk of nuclear escalation. The reverse also might be true: The Ukraine crisis may be the result of a shift in the world’s nuclear balance.
With an economy smaller than the state of Texas, Russia has built strategic weapons superior to many in the American arsenal. These include land as well as submarine-launched hypersonic weapons that can carry nuclear missiles past any American defense, as well as the world’s best air defense system, the S-500. The October 4, 2021, test of Russia’s submarine-launched “Zircon” hypersonic missile was the first-ever underwater firing of a low-altitude weapon that flies at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russian claims. A Russian sub lurking a hundred miles off the American coast could nuke Washington in a flat minute.
The first casualty of war is time. Ask the young soldier at the front when the attack happened, or the old lady in the hospital bed when her home was shelled, and they look at you confused. Was it 24 hours ago, or 48? The days have become one, they tell you.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, time is elastic. It’s close to the border with Russia and the nightly shelling from Russian artillery and warplanes gives no rest. The past two weeks have seemed like an eternity, yet peace can be remembered as if it were yesterday.
If you don't recognise these tactics, then you haven't been paying attention. From Kharkiv's frontline, #Ukraine @dcinfocus and Feras. With thanks to our local team. @BBCNews @BBCWorld Graphic content warning. pic.twitter.com/hhGK1tudpp
— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) March 10, 2022
Volodymyr Zelensky’s former press secretary tweeted then deleted a post on Thursday saying it would be a ‘tragedy’ if Vice President Kamala Harris were to one day be president after she laughed through questions at a press conference in Poland about the refugee crisis in Ukraine.
‘It would be a tragedy if this woman won the presidency,’ Iuliia Mendel, who served Zelensky’s administration from June 2019 until July 2021, wrote on Twitter before quickly deleting the post.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he was forced to deny Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to authorize a no-fly zone over Ukraine citing fears about triggering an escalation from Russian forces.
Speaking to CTV National News Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme, Trudeau confirmed Zelensky asked him directly to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine during a phone call Thursday.
Nothing to see here… just Pete Buttigieg’s husband grooming kids and mocking the pledge of allegiance. https://t.co/Xl0D0XgADU
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 10, 2022
30 months Probation
Resitution $130K
FIned $25K
150 days Cook County Jail.
More to come…
Jussie Smollett sentenced to jail for staging hate crime
CHICAGO – The Jussie Smollett saga has come to an end – for now.
A Chicago judge sentenced the fallen star to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation Thursday for lying to police more than three years after he asked two men to “fake beat him up” and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him in an elaborate scheme to raise his public profile.
The actor then told the court angrily: “I am innocent. . . I did not do this.”
The judge sentencing hate crime HOAXER Jussie Smollett is absolutely FLAMING him right now. 🔥🔥🔥
Just GLORIOUS. pic.twitter.com/uAFvmTXS85
— Danny De Urbina (@dannydeurbina) March 11, 2022
Jussie Smollett sentencing video : pic.twitter.com/GYjDFQHZBO
— Mike (@fuctmind) March 11, 2022
What a lying bastard.
On Sunday morning, at 11 a.m., Patrick Brown will become the fifth candidate to enter the Conservative leadership race. Brown will join perceived front runner MP Pierre Poilievre, former Quebec Premier and PC Party leader Jean Charest, MP Leslyn Lewis and Ontario MPP Roman Baber in the hunt for the top Conservative job.
Dramatic drone footage emerged on Thursday of a Ukrainian ambush on a Russian armoured column just outside Brovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv.
Bellingcat, the specialist open source investigator, said it had geolocated the video, to a lightly inhabited area on the E95 road about 35km (22 miles) from the centre of Kyiv, a direct route to the east of the capital where Russian forces have been trying to mass.
#Ukraine: A huge Russian convoy were struck by the Ukrainian artillery fire in Skybyn, #Kyiv Oblast. As a result, several vehicles were destroyed and damaged. pic.twitter.com/l2jYdByDim
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 10, 2022
#Ukraine: More recent footage from the eyes of the Bayraktar TB2 drone in the hands of the Ukrainian military; another 9K317 Buk-M2 TELAR completely destroyed. pic.twitter.com/y2uUGKil99
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 10, 2022
#Ukraine: Recent video showing claimed Ukrainian fire hitting Russian armour in the vicinity of #Borodyanka.
We estimate that we can see an apparent T-72B3(M) damaged, a BMP-2 destroyed, and another T-72B3(M) totally destroyed. pic.twitter.com/0s7uiZIrT7
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 10, 2022
