Political Correctness invades U.S. Military: Pentagon lowers fitness requirement for women

Politically correctness has entered the U.S. military.

In October 2020, the Pentagon replaced the Army Physical Test that had served the U.S. military for 40 years with the gender-neutral (the test applies equally to both men and women) Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT).

As the military explains:

The ACFT will strengthen our fitness culture, reduce injuries, and increase Army readiness. The Army’s physical readiness program and physical fitness test must evolve to reduce injuries and empower Soldiers abilities to perform those basic Soldier tasks on an age and gender neutral battlefield. The ACFT drives balanced and appropriate physical training that will reduce overuse injuries and unplanned attrition. As of April 2020, 58,000 Soldiers (equivalent to 13 Brigade Combat Teams (BCT’s)) were non-deployable.

ACFT maximum deadlift

The Army Combat Fitness Test consists of 6 sub-tests:

1. The maximum deadlift: Deadlift the maximum weight possible 3 times. The standard equipment is the 60-pound hex bar and plates.
2. Standing power throw: Throw a 10-pound medicine ball backward and overhead for distance.
3. Hand-release push-ups: Complete as many hand-release push-ups as possible in 2 minutes.
4. Sprint, drag and carry: Conduct 5 x 50 meter shuttles for time – sprint, drag, lateral, carry and sprint. The standard equipment are 2×40-pound kettlebells and 90-pound sled.
5. Leg tuck: Using a climbing bar, complete as many leg tucks as possible; maintain a relative vertical posture while moving the hips and knees up and down without excessive swinging.
6. Two-mile run: Run 2 miles for time on a measured, generally flat outdoor course.

To pass the Army Combat Fitness Test, soldiers must score at least 360 points out of a possible 600. Those who achieve higher scores are more likely to be promoted.

But, as reported by the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, on March 13, 2021 , a Pentagon study showed that:

• Women were failing the ACFT at a rate of 65%, while only 10% of men did.
• Average scores for women were 100 points lower.

The poorer performance of women on the ACFT meant they were less likely to be promoted.

What is the reaction from the Biden Administration’s Pentagon and the Democrat-majority Congress? Instead of improving women’s fitness:

• Congress halted implementation of the test and declared that the test in its current form should not be a factor in deciding whether someone gets promoted.
• The Army launched an independent review into whether the test is fair, and changed the test from gender-neutral to evaluate men and women differently.

Changes expected to be introduced include:

• How core body strength is tested in the leg tuck event. Instead of hanging from a bar and tucking legs to their chest, soldiers will instead be given the option of doing a two-minute plank exercise. Early research showed female soldiers’ scores were improving with the plank option.
• Rather than using their raw scores, men and women would separately be categorized as in the top 1%, top 10%, and so on. That means, women who scored in the top 1% among women would be promoted, even though their raw scores may be lower than those of men.

An Army officer told Military.com that “We have to figure out a way to make it fair to both genders…that accounts for physiological differences,” and insisted that the new test is “a more gender-neutral assessment process because it doesn’t show the raw scores.”

To her credit, Captain Kristen Griest, the US Army’s first female infantry officer, argued that the ACFT should be scored the same for men and women because not doing so would have “insidious impacts on combat effectiveness.” She said critics might call her “uncaring” but “nothing could be further from the truth. To not require women to meet equal standards in combat arms will not only undermine their credibility, but also place those women, their teammates, and the mission at risk.” For in the last analysis, the Army can ignore the differences in combat fitness between men and women, but the differences “may still exist on the battlefield.”

China gave U.S. diplomats anal COVID-19 tests

UPDATE:

The Times UK reports, March 3, 2021, that China has made anal COVID-19 swabs mandatory for all foreign travelers arriving in the country. (New York Post)

The New York Post reports on Feb. 25, 2021 that the Chinese Communist government has used anal swabs to test U.S. diplomats for COVID-19, without Washington’s consent. It is unclear how many diplomats or their family members had been subjected to the procedure.

Anal COVID-19 tests require inserting a swab up to 2 inches into the rectum and rotating several times. A traveler from Australia to China who was tested with anal swabs said the procedure felt like having diarrhea.

A State Department representative told VICE World News that Washington had complained that the invasive procedure was undignified and that “The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it. We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was done in the past.” 

Beijing first claimed that the anal tests had been given “in error,” and that they had assured Washington that diplomats were exempt from the test, which is required for incoming travelers in some parts of China. 

Then Reuters reported that in a daily new briefing on Feb. 25, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denied Beijing had even asked American diplomats to undergo the anal tests: “To my knowledge…China has never required US diplomatic staff stationed in China to conduct anal swab tests.”

But officials in China have used anal swabs to test people it considers at high-risk of contracting the illness, some international travelers and residents of neighborhoods with confirmed cases, according to AFP.

Michelle Pugle reports for Healthline on February 3, 2021 that the Chinese claim the anal swab as a more effective COVID-19 test. Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s  Faculty of Medicine said they found for the first time that people with COVID-19 have active and prolonged gut viral infection, even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms and even after the respiratory infection has cleared. That means anal swab testing could detect COVID-19 cases that the standard nose and throat swabs would miss, because viral traces in fecal samples and anal swabs can remain detectable for longer periods than in those from the respiratory tract. 

But experts in the United States question the use of anal swabs to detect the virus, and caution against taking seriously Chinese University of Hong Kong’s  study or anal swab testing. 

What do they know? Democrats want President Biden to give up sole authority to launch nuclear weapons

What do Democrats know about Joe Biden that we, the American people, should know about a sitting president, who is arguably the most powerful man on Earth?

On Feb. 24, 2021, Fox News’ Audrey Conklin reported that about three dozen House Democrats, including Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), had taken the unusual step of signing a letter “asking President Biden to renounce his sole authority to launch nuclear weapons.”

On inauguration day, the outgoing president passes to his successor what is often referred to as the “nuclear football” — a briefcase containing all the necessary materials to dial up a nuclear strike using a specific code.

The letter to Biden, obtained by Politico, reads:

Vesting one person with this authority entails real risks. Past presidents have threatened to attack other countries with nuclear weapons or exhibited behavior that caused other officials to express concern about the president’s judgment.

While any president would presumably consult with advisors before ordering a nuclear attack, there is no requirement to do so. The military is obligated to carry out the order if they assess it is legal under the laws of war. Under the current posture of U.S. nuclear forces, that attack would happen in minutes.

In a tweet on February 22, Rep. Panetta said  he is “calling on” Biden “to install checks [and] balances in our nuclear command-and-control structure.” 

The letter offered some alternatives to sole nuclear authority, such as requiring the vice president and House speaker to agree with a launch order from the president before it is executed.

If the letter is successful, a precedent would be created for future presidents. 

Having convinced themselves that President Trump was dangerously insane, Democrats previously had expressed concern about his access to the nuclear football. For example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that on January 5, 2021, she had spoken with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley about protecting nuclear codes from an “unhinged president.”

In Biden’s case, as this letter suggests, even Democrats know about and are worried about his senile dementia, signs of which he had displayed before the election. He often struggled to speak, even with pre-written remarks. He avoided hard questions and public events, and rarely hosted a campaign rally.

As an example, appearing on PBS’ News Hour, Biden was incoherent, uttering gibberish:

The Patriot Journal noted that since his inauguration, “We haven’t seen too many public appearances” of Biden. “Some might claim it’s because of the pandemic. But it’s still unusual for a newly-installed president to be seen so little by the country.”

The latest example of Biden’s dementia was on February 22, 2021. While speaking on COVID-19, Biden repeatedly struggled to say the word “milestone”. He froze before the camera and closed his eyes, seemingly defeated. Then he continued in a weak and frail-sounding voice.

Out-performed every presidential challenger in US history… pic.twitter.com/3vFPdBjuTo

— Jason D. Meister 🇺🇸 (@jason_meister) February 23, 2021

If Joe Biden can’t even articulate the word “milestone,” how can he be trusted to do anything else?

No wonder the House Democrats signed the letter asking him to relinquish sole control over the nuclear football — the prelude, perhaps, to invoking the 25th Amendment to replace Biden with Kamala Harris.

Fall in U.S. life expectancy from COVID-19 deaths and long-term health effects

As we get older, our immune system — our body’s defense system — tends to get weaker.

Not only do you have fewer immune cells as you age, the ones you do have don’t communicate with each other as well. That means they take longer to react to harmful germs. Your body also produces fewer immune cells, including white blood cells, which can slow down healing. (WebMD)

The COVID-19 virus especially targets the elderly with aging immune systems, and those already ill with pre-existing conditions.

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rachel Nania reports for the AARP on October 30, 2020 that:

• 95% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were among people who were 50 or older, even though people under age 50 accounted for the majority of reported coronavirus cases.
• About 8 in 10 deaths were among people 65 and older.

A year of COVID-19 has had its toll in life expectancy.

Dennis Thompson reports for HealthDay, Feb. 18, 2021, that a new report by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), published in the Vital Statistics Rapid Release, found that average life expectancy in the United States took a drastic plunge during the first half of 2020. Overall U.S. life expectancy dropped to 77.8 years, down one full year from the 78.8 years estimated in 2019.

To put those numbers in context, it made headlines when average U.S. life expectancy, after years of steady increases, dropped by just 0.2 years between 2014 and 2015.

The NCHS report also found that life expectancy varied much more widely when gender and ethnicity were taken into account:

• Black male life expectancy dropped by 3 years (71.3 to 68.3)
• Hispanic males lost 2.4 years of life expectancy (79 to 76.6)
• Black females had a 2.3-year decline (78.1 to 75.8)
• Hispanic females had a 1.1-year decline (84.4 to 83.3)
• By comparison, white males had a decline in life expectancy of 0.8 years (76.3 to 75.5), while white women had a 0.7-year decline (81.3 to 80.6).

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, noted that during the pandemic America lost more people than it did during the entire span of World War II, including deaths both in combat and on the home front: “We had over 400,000 people die in the five-year period of World War II, and we’ve done that in one year. That should get people’s attention. And it’s not over yet.”

Benjamin said that the nearly three-year decline in life span among Black Americans is especially troubling: “These are enormous differences in life expectancy. It’s a big deal to lose a year, but to lose three years, that’s staggering.”

Jesse Schold, director of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute’s Center for Populations Health Research, pointed out that life expectancy for all Americans likely also took a hit because of other factors, including:

• The pandemic prompted people to forgo health screenings that would have caught potentially life-threatening illnesses. 
• People who had lost their jobs and in lockdown were more likely to eat poorly, drink more alcohol and use drugs. In fact, overdoses have increased during the pandemic.

Add to the above factors this: Some sick people avoided going to the hospital for treatments because they were afraid of getting the coronavirus in the germ-filled hospital setting.

COVID-19 is a demon virus.

The fall in U.S. life expectancy is expected to continue because many people who contracted COVID-19 have long-term health problems that can ultimately limit their life span.

From U Miami Health News:

For many who contract the novel coronavirus, the manifestations of the disease tend to the mild and moderate, with improvement in a couple of weeks. But for those who survive COVID-19 after intubation and a long hospital stay, the health ramifications may last long after they are discharged.

COVID-19 is showing itself to be much more than respiratory disease. It can affect organs beyond the lungs — from the skin to the kidneys — potentially creating long-term health issues.

(1) Heart:

According to Robert Myerburg, M.D., a cardiac electrophysiologist at UHealth, some viral infections may affect the heart long-term as a result of leaving behind some of their viral DNA, potentially causing continuing heart damage. Myerburg said that many COVID-19 related cardiac problems are “secondary” to pulmonary issues, but the effects are nevertheless serious on our tickers and cardiovascular system, resulting in a variety of conditions, from heart failure to heart rhythm problems to clotting.

There is also some emerging evidence regarding direct coronavirus infections in the heart:

• UHealth cardiologists estimate that about a third of their coronavirus patients develop myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that reduces the organ’s ability to pump blood.
• In addition to arrhythmias, a patient can suffer from chest paint, shortness of breath, and fatigue.
• Doctors are also noting cases of abnormal clotting, including those in large vessels such as deep vein thrombosis in the legs and lungs, and smaller clots in smaller vessels in multiple organs. A clot can cause strokes, lung blockages, and heart attacks, sometimes resulting in death. Most worrisome? This unusual clotting is happening even while patients are on blood thinners.

(2) Kidney:

Early reports suggest that up to 30% of hospitalized coronavirus patients develop moderate to severe kidney injury. Many of them already suffered from conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, that make them more susceptible to kidney disease. Nephrologist Oliver Lenz, M.D., said: “But even in the absence of underlying kidney disease patients with severe COVID-19 may develop acute kidney failure and require dialysis.”

(3) Digestive tract:

COVID-19 sometimes presents with abdominal pain and diarrhea as well as nausea and vomiting and loss of appetite. In one small and unpeer-reviewed study, GI issues were not nearly as common as respiratory and heart symptoms, but they appeared to last longer than expected, with 10% reporting they still had diarrhea for the three weeks in which they were followed.

While there’s little data about long-lasting GI issues, doctors warn that patients with chronic digestive conditions, such as digestive cancers, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and liver diseases, might be more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

(4) Brain and neurological system:

Just as COVID-19 damages other organs, scientists have discovered that the virus can also cause neurological problems, from seizures to hallucinations to mental confusion. This could be a result of oxygen starvation or the aftermath of the cytokine storm when the body’s immune system overreacts to the virus.

Reports cite cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an affliction that can lead to temporary paralysis, as well as dizziness, headaches, temporary loss of smell and taste, agitation, and confusion. However, there is no data, whether such symptoms, tracked during the course of the disease, will prove to be permanent.

All of which might explain the puzzling forecast by a military-aviation website of economic collapse & massive depopulation for the U.S. by 2025.

For those who still doubt the reality of COVID-19, here is a video from Todd Herman, who regularly guest-hosts on the Rush Limbaugh radio talk show:

UPDATE (Feb. 20, 2021):

This is an outrage.

The lab in Wuhan, China, from which the virus had leaked in Fall 2019, is approved for U.S. taxpayer funding for animal research until January 2024, the National Institute of Health told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is at the center of widespread speculation that COVID-19 could have entered the human population in China due to an accidental lab leak. Researchers at the lab were studying bat-based coronaviruses prior to the outbreak, a project partially backed by 600,000 in U.S. taxpayer funds routed to the lab through the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance. (Epoch Times)

Congressman reveals real reason for 6,000 National Guard troops in D.C.

Some 26,000 National Guard troops were sent to Washington, D.C., ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, following the storming of the Capitol building on Jan. 6. (See Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald’s important essay, “The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot“.)

6,000 of the troops have remained in D.C., ostensibly to provide “assistance such as security, communications, medical evacuation, logistics, and safety support to state, district, and federal agencies,” a National Guard spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.

Although the current plan is to keep those 6,000 troops until mid-March, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly half a billion dollars, according to an internal DHS memo, National Guard troops could remain in Washington, D.C., until at least this fall.

The memo from Robert Salesses, assistant secretary for homeland defense and global security, which was obtained by Fox5, also said that the National Guard troops could be supplemented by reserve and even active military personnel, despite the fact that:

1. A federal statute known as the Posse Comitatus Act, enacted in 1878, forbade the use of the U.S. military as a posse comitatus or for law enforcement purposes without the approval of Congress.
2. In 2013, a directive from the US Secretary of Defense prohibits the use of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps for domestic law enforcement.

From the DHS memo:

If it’s not possible to sustain at the current level with NG personnel, we need to establish the number of NG personnel (DCNG and out-of-state) we can sustain for an extended period — at least through Fall 2021 — and understand additional options for providing DoD support, to include use of reserve personnel, as well as active component.

In a tweet on Feb. 11, 2021, PBS News Hour reports that Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) revealed the true purpose of the National Guard troops.

Lieu said (1:21 mark):

“And he [President Trump] does not say the one sentence that matters. He does not say the one sentence that would stop future political violence — ‘The election was not stolen.’ He still hasn’t said that sentence. That is why National Guard troops in full body armor still patrol outside.“

“‘The election was not stolen.’ He still hasn’t said that sentence. That is why National Guard troops in full body armor still patrol outside,” Rep. Lieu says, pointing out that in former President Trump’s statements on and after Jan. 6. there is no acknowledgment of wrongdoing. pic.twitter.com/AONEcGFxYc

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) February 11, 2021

A government that is afraid of its own people is a government that lacks confidence in its legitimacy or right to rule.

Former CIA Robert Steele on NATO wanting war with Russia

Robert David Steele is a former CIA officer.

Below is his blogpost of November 9, 2018, “While Moscow Talks About Treaties, the Deep State is Starting World War III“:

I make it a point to check the Russian International Affairs Council pages regularly, and I was not disappointed when I found President Igor Ivanov’s article, “Road to Nowhere,” as published also in The Moscow Times.[i]Everything stated in this article is in my view correct.

HOWEVER, there is nothing in this article about the possibilities, in the next three weeks, of World War III starting because the Deep State owns the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and two of the Deep State’s top servants – Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg (Norway) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Curtis Scaparrotti (USA), have in my speculative view, planned the exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE (TRJE18),[ii] in such a way as to make possible a first strike against Russia after a NATO GLADIO false flag operation[iii] takes place with one and perhaps more simulated Russian attacks manufactured as a Casus belli.[iv]

I am especially worried about the long guns now in Norway, in violation of the Norwegian Constitution in my view, each capable of delivering nuclear munitions,[v] and about the MK-41 launching systems deployed during the varied NATO exercises (over 15 of them) this past year – each easily repurposed for firing banned ground-based cruise missiles.

We have three rogues at NATO, the third being Kay Bailey Hutchison, a woman who may have inadvertently revealed that the Deep State (not President Donald Trump and probably not Secretary of Defense James Mattis either) is planning a first-strike on Russia this year, before Russia completes its modernization program in 2020-2022.[vi]

I am an old spy, and I ran a false flag operations for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). I am intimately familiar with both the nature of such operations, and the frequency with which they are done both within NATO’s normal sphere of operations – the Red Guard terrorists in Italy were a NATO false flag operation – and across the USA, where 9/11 was planned by the Zionists with the direct embrace in 1990 of George H. W. Bush and then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, and executed by the Zionists with the protection of de facto President, titular Vice President, Dick Cheney in 2001.[vii] Since the modification of the Smith-Mundt Act under President Barack Obama, legalizing the telling of lies to the US public,[viii] false flag operations by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have become a staple in the USA – generally faked deaths but with some real deaths, we have had a series of false flag events, from Sandy Hook[ix] to the most recent Pittsburg Synagogue event.[x] Under Obama these were intended to justify the eventual confiscation of all guns; under President Trump they appear to be a budget-building exercise toward a full police state and because of the President’s more pressing issues, such as the denuclearization of the Middle East,[xi] have not been subject to his guidance.

As a former Marine Corps infantry officer – indeed the Commandant of the Marine Corps today was a lieutenant one year senior to me in Battalion Landing Team 3/4 where he served as a company commander while I served as the S-1/Adjutant – I am deeply troubled by General Bob Neller’s telling his Marines to expect “a big-ass fight” with Russia.”[xii] This is alarming. General Neller, whose past assignments include that of President, Marine Corps University, is an extremely intelligent and balanced person. His saying that, in Norway, which is now armed to the teeth and receiving a portion of the largest arms shipment from the US to Europe since Kosovo,[xiii] is alarming.

I am certain in my heart that NATO GLADIO is planning one or more false flag operations as part of TRIDENT JUNCTURE. I am deeply worried that TRIDENT JUNCTURE includes the distribution of nuclear artillery munitions to US forces now deployed.

It is my personal view, given the most delicate matters before all of us at this time, that President Vladimir Putin should express directly to President Donald Trump his concern when they meet in Paris on Sunday 11 November, the anniversary date of the end of World War I, which was itself started by a false flag event.

Although a formal meeting is not planned, President Putin is perfectly capable of whispering in President Trump’s ear, when they meet to shake hands, and in English, “We should talk–you may have lost control of Scaparrotti and he could be planning to start a war without your permission.”

It merits comment that our two Presidents, and General Secretary Xi Jinping, are reported to have agree that they would not allow themselves to be manipulated into starting WWIII.[xiv] What none of them may have foreseen was the combination of Deep Staters Stoltenberg, Scaparrotti,[xv] and Hutchinson – all as crazy and fanatical as former NATO Commander Philip Breedlove[xvi] – going rogue.

If I were President of the USA today, I would recall Scaparrotti for consultation and keep him in Washington, while mandating the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from all countries bordering on Russia. I believe Presidents Putin and Trump are being “set up” for a confrontation that will scale out of control because the Americans in charge of NATO lust for war and have arranged a pretext for war.

I will end by recollecting the shared confidence between President John F. Kennedy, before he was assassinated by the Deep State, and Premier Nikita Khrushchev – both agreed that the greatest enemies to peace were their own generals.[xvii] I believe that most Russian generals and many American generals no longer lust for a war between our two countries but I also believe that NATO is the weak link in the fragile peace that we have right now.

Please, President Putin, whisper in our President’s ear on Sunday, “We should talk–you may have lost control of Scaparrotti and he could be planning to start a war without your permission.”

---

[i] Igor Ivanov, “Road to Nowhere,” Russian International Affairs Council, 1 November 2018.

[ii] Editors, “Exercise Trident Juncture 2018,” Wikipedia, undated, accessed 8 November 2018.

[iii] Editors, “Operation Gladio,” Wikipedia, undated, accessed 8 November 2018. See also Fred Burks (Ed.), Prescription for a World Crisis. Global Outlook, Issue 13 Annual 2009, False Flag Operations, How Wars Are Started By False Flag Operations (Global Outlook, 2009), a summary review is free online; and Robert David Steele, False Flag Attacks: A Tool of the Deep State (Trump Revolution Book 12) (Earth Intelligence Network, 2017), also free online.

[iv] Editors, “BARBAROSSA 2.0: NATO OPENS THE BALTIC FRONT,” Katehon, 23 June 2017. As a professional intelligence officer with integrity (the same cannot be said for most of my peers), I personally destroyed John Brennan’s attempts to fabricate the Russian threat in relation to the 2016 elections, and I am offended by those who would ignore the predatory nature of US power on behalf of the Deep State these many past years while exaggerating the Russian threat – as President Putin once noted, the USA has 1,000 bases around the world, Russia has – at the time – three.

[v] A concerned Norwegian citizen submitted to me an essay that was published, with comments by myself and Benjamin Fulford, as Robert Steele, “Has the Deep State Used NATO to Make War with Russia Inevitable? Should President Trump Recall General Scaparrotti & Suspend Trident Juncture by 15 November? Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 7 November 2018, updated 8 November 2018.

[vi] Editors, “‘We’d take out Russia’s nukes,’ US NATO envoy says, claiming ‘banned’ missiles are being developed,” Russia Today, 2 October 2018.

[vii] Robert David Steele (Ed.), Memoranda for the President on 9/11: Time for the Truth — False Flag Deep State Truth! (Earth Intelligence Network, August 2018 )

[viii] James Fetzer, “Barack Obama paved the way for Sandy Hook by nullifying the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948,” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 31 August 2018, as also included in Robert David Steele, Memoranda for the President on Sandy Hook: Is FEMA A False Flag Fake News Terrorist Node? (Earth Intelligence Network, September 2018.

[ix] Robert David Steele, Memoranda for the President on Sandy Hook: Is FEMA A False Flag Fake News Terrorist Node? (Earth Intelligence Network, September 2018.

[x] Robert Steele, “Synagogue False Flag — BULLSHIT — FEMA Legalized Lies UPDATE 17: Synagogue Business as Usual…No Bio-Hazards?” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 27 October 2018 Updated to 8 November 2018.

[xi] I was the first to report in the English language on the agreement to denuclearize the Koreas, and was called a lunatic by conventional minds who do not understand the unique possibilities of direct communications between General Secretary Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump, and President Vladimir Putin. Robert Steele, “Is Zionism Over? From Korea to Syria to the Latest #GoogleGestapo Purge, President Donald Trump’s Divorce from Zionism Appears Increasingly Possible,” American Herald Tribune, 4 March 2018. President Trump is doing his best to be responsible in the face of the still-entrenched Deep State across the US economy, government, and society.

[xii] Jonas E. Alexis, “General Robert Neller to US troops: Expect “a big-ass fight” against Russia,” Veterans Today, 26 December 2017.

[xiii] Editors, “US delivers largest ammunition shipment to Europe since bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999,” Russia Today, 27 October 2018.

[xiv] Supra Note 5, as related to the author by Benjamin Fulford. Publisher of Weekly Geo-Political News and Analysis, Tokyo, Japan.

[xv] Apart from his being honored by the Atlantic Council, during which visit he no doubt received confirming instructions to do his best to justify a war with Russia, Scaparrotti’s depictions of Russia border on the insane. See for instance Ciaran McGrath, “Russia is using EVERY trick in Putin’s book to overthrow West: NATO chief SHOCK warning,” Express (UK), 21 March 2018; Editors, “US General: Russia Destabilizing International Order (VIDEO: 3:10),” Associated Press, 20 March 2018; Henry Holloway, “‘We need to be ready to FIGHT’ US general wants MORE troops for showdown with Russia,” The Daily Star (UK), 3 May 2017; and Oli Smith, “World War 3 warning: US ramps up ‘war-capabilities’ as top general puts Russia ‘ON NOTICE’.” Express (UK), 15 October 2018;

[xvi] Berto Jongman, “General Breedlove is Dr. Strangelove?” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 6 March 2015; Mongoose, “General Breedlove, USAF (Ret) Conspired Against Barack Obama on Ukraine & Russia,” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 12 July 2016; and Mongoose, “Is General Philip Breedlove A Traitor?” Phi Beta Iota Public Intelligence Blog, 1 August 2016.

[xvii] I cannot recollect the source. For a very fine discussion of the problem on the US side, see Robert Dallek, “JFK vs. the Military,” The Atlantic, JFK Issue, 2013. As best I can tell, we have three groups of generals in the US military: those that are committed to the Deep State and the military-industrial complex; those that are simply trying to finish their careers and retire; and a very small but extraordinarily powerful and covert group that selected Donald Trump to be president and be the face of a counter-coup against the Deep State that began the day after 9/11. WWIII has already started in one sense – the war in the shadows between good and evil – but in another sense, the conventional sense, WWIII could be triggered by NATO GLADIO false flags and a US general all too eager to pull the trigger on nuclear artillery with or without presidential authority or a Congressional declaration of war.

 

While U.S. accuses Russia of hacking, Chinese took down the Internet

According to Bloomberg, Internet-connected CCTV cameras made by a Chinese firm, Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology Co., were infected with malware that allowed hackers to takeover “tens of millions” of devices to launch the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

A Chinese security camera maker said its products were used to launch a cyber-attack that severed internet access for millions of users, highlighting the threat posed by the global proliferation of connected devices.

The attackers hijacked CCTV cameras made by Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology Co. using malware known as Mirai, the company said in an e-mailed statement. While Xiongmai didn’t say how many of its products had been infiltrated, all cameras made before September 2015 were potentially vulnerable.

The attack, which took down sites including Twitter, Spotify and CNN for long stretches, underscored how hackers can marshal an increasing number of online gadgets, collectively known as the Internet of Things, to disrupt the internet on an unprecedented scale.

“Mirai is a huge disaster for the Internet of Things. XM have to admit that our products also suffered from hacker’s break-in and illegal use,” Xiongmai said in its e-mail.

Security professionals have anticipated an increase in attacks from malware that target connected gadgets. In Friday’s instance, hackers launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack using tens of millions of malware-infected devices connected to the internet, according to Kyle York, Dyn’s chief strategy officer.

Also, U.S. military warns that Chinese-made Lenovo computers pose cyber spy threat:
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/military-warns-chinese-computer-gear-poses-cyber-spy-threat/

Wayne Madsen Report, Oct. 12, 2016

The United States, stung by the rapid deterioration in relations with its longtime ally, the Philippines, now stands on the precipice of losing another strategic ally in Asia. Reports that the much-revered king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has sat on the throne for 70 years and is 88-years old, is gravely ill have prompted a belief that Thailand will join the Philippines in rejecting American dictates.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, the former mayor of Davao City in Mindanao, stunned the Obama administration by cozying up to China in the South China Sea maritime dispute. Duterte followed up his independent foreign policy by inviting China and Russia to establish bases in the Philippines, canceling further U.S.-Philippines military exercises in the region, and calling President Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” Durtete also told the United States, “Do not treat us like a doormat because you’ll be … We aren’t ‘little brown brothers of America.'”

The Obama administration’s trouble with Duterte began after U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg began interfering in the domestic affairs of the Philippines, including the election that propelled Duterte into office. Goldberg has a history of involving himself in the affairs of countries where he is posted. In 2008, the Bolivian government of President Evo Morales expelled Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador, for stoking secessionist movements in four Bolivian provinces. In August of this year, Duterte called Goldberg a “bakla” son-of-a-bitch. Bakla is Tagalog for “gay.”

Upon the Thai king’s death, what has happened in the Philippines could see an instant replay in Thailand. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, the heir to the throne, is known to be close to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, both of whom were ousted in military coups engineered by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Thaksin was overthrown in 2006 and Yingluck in 2014. Yingluck, who was accused of corruption by Thailand’s “anti-graft” agency, saw essentially the same treatment as meted out to Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo.

Thaksin and Yingluck continue to enjoy wide support from the largely rural-based “Red Shirt” movement of Thailand. Vajiralongkorn is not popular with the loyal subjects of his father. In order to garner support for his reign, Vajiralongkorn may have to conclude a pact with not only Thaksin and Yingluck but also the Red Shirts, among whose ranks are a number of anti-monarchists. The Red Shirts are also opposed to American hegemony over Thailand and are suspected of receiving support from China.

Today, rather than use tanks and military juntas to overthrow leaders it does not like, the CIA relies on phalanxes of lawyers and judges, all controlled by the CIA, to bring about “constitutional coups.” This has been a hallmark of the Obama administration and could be called the “Obama Doctrine.” This doctrine proves more than anything else that Obama is nothing more than a product of CIA talent-spotting and grooming over the three decades he spent in Indonesia, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Pakistan, New York, and Chicago.

The Obama Doctrine has not been lost on Duterte and will not be lost on future King Vajiralongkorn. Bhumibol, who was born in the United States, succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol. At 9:00 am on June 9, 1946, Bhumibol visited his brother in his bedroom at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. At 9:20 am, a shot rang out from the king’s bedroom. Ananda was found lying face up in bed with a fatal gun shot wound to the head. The cause was determined to be accidental suicide caused by the young king playing with a loaded pistol.

The U.S. ambassador to Thailand was Edwin Stanton. Ironically, his namesake, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, continues to be accused of involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Ambassador Stanton worked with the Japanese-appointed Regent of Thailand, Pridi Banomyong, who ruled the country while Ananda was in exile during World War II and who became prime minister after the war, to absolve Bhumibol and the United States and Britain of any involvement in the king’s death. The British Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, thought Ananda was a “pathetic” figure and not worthy of being a king. In any event, after Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram, the pro-Japanese military leader of Thailand during the war, overthrew Prime Minister Pridi in 1947, the government charged two royal pages with the assassination of the king. Both the pages were ultimately found guilty and executed.

Stanton had successfully convinced Prime Minister Pridi that Communists disguised as students, Buddhist monks, journalists, and academicians were invading Thailand with the intent of overthrowing the monarchy. Stanton’s warnings were a ruse and none of the reports of Communist “infiltration” were true.

Many people in Thailand know that it was the pre-CIA Office of Strategic Services (OSS) that carried out the assassination of Ananda with the connivance of U.S. ambassador Stanton, U.S. chargé d’affaires Charles Yost, the British MI-6 station in Bangkok, and the OSS chief in Bangkok James “Jim” Thompson. After “officially” leaving the OSS, Thompson founded the Thai Silk Company, Ltd., which helped to revitalize Thailand’s war-ravaged silk industry. Thompson was also a notorious pedophile whose house guests in Bangkok always included a number of Thai and Burmese children. The house, itself, was adorned with a number of phallic statues. Authors Truman Capote; Somerset Maugham; and Margaret Landon, the author of Anna and the King of Siam, upon which the movie “The King and I” was based. were among Thompson’s famous guests in Bangkok. In 1967, Thompson, who knew where many of the CIA skeletons were buried, disappeared without a trace in the Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaya.

Since King Ananda’s assassination by the OSS and MI-6, Thailand has been ruled by a series of CIA-installed and Thai military-backed puppets, with only a very few exceptions.

For seventy years, the Thai people have only been able to whisper about the events of 1946. With the king’s passing, there will be scores that will have to be settled with the United States and Philippines President Duterte has shown Thailand that Asian nations that have long been under the jackboot of Uncle Sam can also kick out from their countries the bearded caricature who, for Asians, represents militarism, pedophilia, and subversion.

The loss of the Philippines and Thailand to Obama’s grand militaristic design for Asia, known as the “Pivot to Asia,” will represent the final nails in the coffin of America’s 70 year suzerainty over East and Southeast Asia.

Someone is learning & practicing how to take down the Internet

Bruce Schneider is an expert in cyber-security, the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient, an IBM Company, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center, and a board member of Electronic Frontier Foundation — an organization defending our rights in the digital world.

In a blog post, Schneider sounds the alarm that in the past year, the websites of major companies that provide the Internet’s basic services repeatedly have been attacked, each time more sophisticated than the last, which suggests “someone” is practicing how to take down the Internet by learning from the companies’ defensive moves.

Below is Bruce Schneider’s blog post of Sept. 13, 2016, “Someone is Learning How to Take Down the Internet“:

Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet. These probes take the form of precisely calibrated attacks designed to determine exactly how well these companies can defend themselves, and what would be required to take them down. We don’t know who is doing this, but it feels like a large nation state. China or Russia would be my first guesses.

First, a little background. If you want to take a network off the Internet, the easiest way to do it is with a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS). Like the name says, this is an attack designed to prevent legitimate users from getting to the site. There are subtleties, but basically it means blasting so much data at the site that it’s overwhelmed. These attacks are not new: hackers do this to sites they don’t like, and criminals have done it as a method of extortion. There is an entire industry, with an arsenal of technologies, devoted to DDoS defense. But largely it’s a matter of bandwidth. If the attacker has a bigger fire hose of data than the defender has, the attacker wins.

Recently, some of the major companies that provide the basic infrastructure that makes the Internet work have seen an increase in DDoS attacks against them. Moreover, they have seen a certain profile of attacks. These attacks are significantly larger than the ones they’re used to seeing. They last longer. They’re more sophisticated. And they look like probing. One week, the attack would start at a particular level of attack and slowly ramp up before stopping. The next week, it would start at that higher point and continue. And so on, along those lines, as if the attacker were looking for the exact point of failure.

The attacks are also configured in such a way as to see what the company’s total defenses are. There are many different ways to launch a DDoS attack. The more attack vectors you employ simultaneously, the more different defenses the defender has to counter with. These companies are seeing more attacks using three or four different vectors. This means that the companies have to use everything they’ve got to defend themselves. They can’t hold anything back. They’re forced to demonstrate their defense capabilities for the attacker.

I am unable to give details, because these companies spoke with me under condition of anonymity. But this all is consistent with what Verisign is reporting. Verisign is the registrar for many popular top-level Internet domains, like .com and .net. If it goes down, there’s a global blackout of all websites and e-mail addresses in the most common top-level domains. Every quarter, Verisign publishes a DDoS trends report. While its publication doesn’t have the level of detail I heard from the companies I spoke with, the trends are the same: “in Q2 2016, attacks continued to become more frequent, persistent, and complex.”

There’s more. One company told me about a variety of probing attacks in addition to the DDoS attacks: testing the ability to manipulate Internet addresses and routes, seeing how long it takes the defenders to respond, and so on. Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical Internet services.

Who would do this? It doesn’t seem like something an activist, criminal, or researcher would do. Profiling core infrastructure is common practice in espionage and intelligence gathering. It’s not normal for companies to do that. Furthermore, the size and scale of these probes — and especially their persistence — points to state actors. It feels like a nation’s military cybercommand trying to calibrate its weaponry in the case of cyberwar. It reminds me of the US’s Cold War program of flying high-altitude planes over the Soviet Union to force their air-defense systems to turn on, to map their capabilities.

What can we do about this? Nothing, really. We don’t know where the attacks come from. The data I see suggests China, an assessment shared by the people I spoke with. On the other hand, it’s possible to disguise the country of origin for these sorts of attacks. The NSA, which has more surveillance in the Internet backbone than everyone else combined, probably has a better idea, but unless the US decides to make an international incident over this, we won’t see any attribution.

But this is happening. And people should know.

A reader of Schneider’s blog-post, Random Guy 17, wrote this interesting comment:

“An attack on a service is best done by an attacker that doesn’t need that service. You don’t pull the plug on the power company that supplies your own home/business.

With that in mind, a closed, not highly Internet enabled country makes the most sense- like China.”

It should be noted that in two weeks, on October 1, control of the Internet — specifically, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) — will pass from U.S. administration to a multilateral body, most likely the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU). (Breitbart)

-StMA

International tribunal rejects China’s territorial claims in South China Sea

China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea were dealt a blow today when in a landmark ruling, an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, rejected Beijing’s claims.

Six regional governments have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, waters that are rich in fishing stocks and potential energy resources and where an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year.

South China Sea – China’s claims

The AP reports that China claims vast areas of the South China Sea have been Chinese territory since ancient times and demarcated its modern claims with the so-called nine-dash line, a map that was submitted under the U.N. treaty.

In 2013, under a U.N. treaty governing the seas, the Philippines had asked The Hague for arbitration on a number of issues it had with treaty co-signee China, on the grounds that China’s claims infringe upon the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

On July 12, 2016, the five-member panel from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, unanimously ruled against China. The tribunal also found the following:

• Any historical resource rights China may have had in the South China Sea are nulled if they are incompatible with exclusive economic zones established under the U.N. treaty signed by both China and the Philippines.
• China had violated its obligations to refrain from aggravating the regional dispute while the settlement process was ongoing.
• By building up artificial islands in the Sea, China had caused “permanent irreparable harm” to the coral reef ecosystem.
• China had violated the Philippines’ maritime rights by:
  • Disrupting Philippine’ oil exploration at Reed Bank.
  • Disrupting fishing by Philippine vessels within the country’s exclusive economic zone, and failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone at Mischief Reef and Second Thomas Shoal.

China, which boycotted the entire proceedings, immediately rejected the ruling as a “farce” and “a US-led conspiracy,” and declared it does not accept the panel’s jurisdiction. Beijing regards bilateral talks with the other claimants as the only way to address the South China Sea disputes.

China’s foreign ministry declared that “the award is null and void and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it,” and that “China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards.” The ministry repeated China’s often-expressed stance that the Philippines’ move to initiate arbitration without China’s consent was in “bad faith” and in violation of international law.

The editor-in-chief of China.org.cn writes:

The U.S. actions near China, particularly those on the South China Sea issues, are part of its Asia-Pacific Rebalance strategies. Its intentions are no more than containing China to preserve its interests in the Asia-Pacific region and its global hegemony.

The U.S. motives are apparent to the world, especially to the Chinese people. The current China is nothing like the country it was one hundred years ago. Any act that tries to violate China’s territorial sovereignty will fail.

Although the tribunal has no power of enforcement, nor can its findings reverse China’s actions, nevertheless the ruling constitutes a rebuke with the force of the international community’s opinion. A professor of Asian political economy said the ruling could be a “transformative moment” in the region. Speaking outside the Peace Palace in The Hague, Leiden University professor Jonathan London said the decision will “give countries with a common interest in international norms something to point to and to rally around.” He said they can say to China: “Look, here are the results of an international organization that has found that your claims have zero historical basis.”

The tribunal’s decision also gives heart to small countries in Asia that have helplessly chafed at China’s expansionism, backed by its military and economic power.

In Manila, dozens of rallying Filipinos jumped for joy, wept, embraced each other and waved Philippine flags after news of their victory. One held up a poster that said: “Philippine sovereignty, non-negotiable.”

Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay hailed the ruling as a “milestone decision” and “an important contribution to ongoing efforts in addressing disputes in the South China Sea,” and called on “all those concerned to exercise restraint and sobriety.” For his part, Philippines’ former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who helped oversee the filing of the case at Hague, said the ruling underscored “our collective belief that right is might and that international law is the great equalizer among states.” He urged that the ruling be accepted by all relevant countries — without exception — in order to maintain international order “so that we can work together on how remaining issues can be peacefully resolved.”

Vietnam’s government also welcomed the ruling. Just today, Vietnam accused Chinese vessels of sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in disputed waters. Nguyen Thanh Hung, a local fisheries executive in the central province of Quang Ngai, said two Chinese vessels chased and sank the Vietnamese boat around midday Saturday as it was fishing near the Paracel islands. The five fishermen were rescued by another trawler around seven hours later.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the tribunal’s decision is “final and legally binding” and that the two sides should comply with it. He said in a statement that “Japan strongly expects that the parties’ compliance with this award will eventually lead to the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea.”

The disputes have also increased friction between China and the United States. Washington has ramped up U.S. military presence in the region as China expands its navy’s reach farther offshore.

At a news conference in Afghanistan where he was meeting with U.S. commanders, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the ruling is an opportunity for everyone in the region to act in a sensible way in accordance with the rule of law in order to settle disputes. The United States has not taken sides in the South China Sea disputes but has worked to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight in the region.

See also:

• Former CIA deputy director: Absolute risk of US-China war over South China Sea
• China stakes claim to South China Sea by building islands in the Spratlys
• PLA officer says China must establish Air Defense Identification Zone in South China Sea

A single European military begins with merging of German-Dutch armies & navies

Formed in 1993, the European Union (EU) is a political-economic union of 28 member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Until now, the EU has been a confederation — a union of nation-states in specific and agreed-on areas, such as defense (NATO), economic cooperation and a common currency, wherein each member state retains its sovereignty. A mark of a sovereign nation-state is its possession of an independent military.

But with the merging of the militaries of Germany and the Netherlands — in spite of disagreements among EU members on refugee-migrant policy (see, for example “Sweden slams shut its open-door policy towards refugees“), and the UK’s upcoming Brexit referendum on leaving the EU — the beginning of an EU military is taking shape.

Donna Edmunds and Raheem Kassam report for Breitbart, April 20, 2016, that the German and Dutch armies and navies are poised to “merge”, creating the nucleus of the longed-for goal of a pan-EU military force.

As German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leye said in a speech last year, “The European Army is our long-term goal, but first we have to strengthen the European Defense Union. To achieve this, some nations with concrete military cooperation must come to the fore – and the Germans and the Dutch are doing this.”

To date, the merging of the German and Dutch military consists of:

• Last year, German command took over the Dutch 11th Airmobile Brigade.
• Last month the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade was subsumed into the German 1st Armored Division.
• The two countries are sharing the Netherland’s largest war ship, the Karel Doorman, and aim to merge its two naval powers into one unified navy within the next two years.
• That leaves the Netherlands with just the 13th Mechanized Brigade to its name, along with special forces and military infrastructure, but the plan is to accelerate towards a merger of these entities within the next few years, Germany’s Sachsische Zeitung confirms.

That is just the beginning. According to insiders, the Czech Republic has entered talks to bring its army under German control, with the Poles also considering to be part of the plan. But there are skeptics about the latter, doubting whether the new Polish Government would go down the same route.

As Britain prepares to go to the polls on June 23 to vote on whether or not to remain within the EU, UK Independence Party (UKIP) Defense spokesman Mike Hookem MEP warns that if the UK opts to remain in the EU, the British military forces will not be able to resist the same fate: “The EU is moving towards a common defense and foreign policy regime with an EU army as the goal. While Britain remains in the EU, we cannot escape being part of this dangerous setup. The EU was supposed to be about corralling Germany military dominance in Europe. That aspiration has clearly died and just as Germany now politically dominates the EU, this latest move with the Dutch army shows that in time Germany wants to expand and control as much as it can militarily.”

Hookem warns that the EU Army will not be a benign force, dedicated only to the defense of the Union, pointing out that there has already been lobbying in European circles for intervention in Libya. Indeed, European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker has said, “You would not create a European army to use it immediately… But a common army among the Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union.”

UKIP’s leader Nigel Farage had previously issued multiple warnings that were mostly dismissed by the British political establishment and media classes. Most notably, then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in a live debate with Farage ahead of the 2014 European Elections, called Farage’s claims a “dangerous fantasy,” and that “The idea there’s going to be a European army, a European air force, it is simply not true”.

In September last year the Telegraph reported that German chancellor Angela Merkel expected British PM David Cameron to “drop his opposition to an EU army in exchange for supporting Britain’s [EU] renegotiation”. Cameron did drop his opposition, in exchange for a widely mocked “renegotiation” deal with the European Union.