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Watch: New Batch Of Stealth Fighters Delivered To Russian Aerospace Forces

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Watch: New Batch Of Stealth Fighters Delivered To Russian Aerospace Forces

Russia’s state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced a new batch of Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighters had been delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to EurAsian Times

“A new batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets has been delivered under a major contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. This aircraft is the future of Russian military aviation, embodies advanced technologies and design solutions. It has super maneuverability, is barely noticeable, can destroy air and ground targets, detect the enemy from long distances and operate in network-centric warfare,” Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec, the Russian state-owned technology company, said in a statement. 

UAC didn’t elaborate on how many Su-57 were delivered in the latest batch. Still, some on Twitter who posted images of the jets speculated at least four. 

In May, two Su-57s were delivered to Russian Aerospace Forces. It’s believed 6 to 15 Su-57s are already operational. Over the next five years, Russia plans for 76 Su-57 fighters. 

Russia’s first stealth-capable fighter plane will eventually replace fourth-generation MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft though production is very slow. Perhaps the tweet explains why… 

For all the times Moscow touts its new weapon systems, these fifth-generation fighters have been widely absent from Ukrainian airspace since the invasion. 

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 20:00

Of Economic Crises & Pandemics: Facebook As Fact, Government As Truth, Big Pharma As God

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Of Economic Crises & Pandemics: Facebook As Fact, Government As Truth, Big Pharma As God

Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardian.org,

If events since March 2020 have shown us anything, it is that fear is a powerful weapon for securing hegemony. Any government can manipulate fear about certain things while conveniently ignoring real dangers that a population faces.

Author and researcher Robert J Burrowes says:

…if we were seriously concerned about our world, the gravest and longest-standing health crisis on the planet is the one that starves to death 100,000 people each day. No panic about that, of course.”

No panic because the controlling interests of the global food system have long profited from a ‘stuffed and starved’ strategy that ensures people unnecessarily go hungry when corporate profit rather than need dictates policies.

US social commentator Walter Lippmann once said that ‘responsible men’ make decisions and must be protected from the ‘bewildered herd’ – the public. He added that the public should be subdued, obedient and distracted from what is really happening. Screaming patriotic slogans and fearing for their lives, they should be admiring with awe leaders who save them from destruction.

During COVID, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern urged citizens to trust the government and its agencies for all information and stated:

Otherwise, dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth.”

In the US, Fauci presented himself as ‘the science’. In New Zealand, Ardern was ‘the truth’. It was similar in countries across the world – different figures but the same approach.

Like other political leaders, Ardern clamped down on civil liberties with the full force of state violence on hand to ensure compliance with ‘the truth’. Those who questioned the COVID narrative – including world-renowned scientists – were smeared, shut down and censored.

It was an internationally orchestrated campaign involving governments, the big tech companies, media and the WHO, among others.

The EU Times reported on 17 December 2022 that the US Centers for Disease Control worked with social media to censor facts and information about COVID that ran afoul of official narratives.

The organisation America First Legal noted in a press release that the fourth set of documents it released – obtained from litigation against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – revealed:

…further concrete evidence of collusion between the CDC and social media companies to censor free speech and silence the public square under the government’s label of ‘misinformation’.”

Twitter ran a ‘Partner Support Portal’ for government employees and other ‘stakeholders’ to submit posts that it would remove or flag as ‘misinformation’ on its platform.

The US government was actively working to ‘socially inoculate’ the public against anything that threatened its narrative. Big tech corporations monitored and manipulated users for the purposes of censoring unapproved information and pushing government propaganda. Facebook sent written materials to the CDC in which it talked of censoring more than sixteen million ‘pieces of content’ containing opinions or information the government wanted suppressed.

AFL noted that the CDC was “collaborating with UNICEF, the WHO and IFCN member and leading civil society organisation Mafindo” to mitigate ‘disinformation’. Mafindo is a Facebook third-party fact-checking partner based in Indonesia and funded by Google.

AFL states:

What is clear is that the United States government, big tech platforms, and international organizations were fully entangled in an intricate campaign to violate the First Amendment, to silence the American people, and to censor dissenting views.”

The CDC’s mask guidance policies for school children were also shown to be driven by politics rather than science.

Across all the major Western nations, there was a clamp down on dissent and a massive censorship campaign to justify a policy framework of social and economic lockdowns, masking, distancing and state intrusion into almost every aspect of private life.

The findings of AFL indicate how centres of power can and do act in unison when they need to. The fact that it involved a worldwide campaign shows something huge was at stake.

The official narrative was about protecting populations from a deadly virus. And any dissent that did seep into the edges of mainstream discourse (like Tucker Carlson on Fox News or a few presenters on Talk Radio in the UK, for instance) tended to focus on politicians going too far on lockdowns and restrictions and being caught up in their egotistical lust for power and control.

Such a superficial explanation avoided a deep, critical analysis of the situation. Indeed, any focus on big finance’s – Wall Street and the City of London – role in this was conspicuous by its absence.

In March 2022, BlackRock’s Rob Kapito warned that a ‘very entitled’ generation of people would soon have to face shortages for the first time in their lives as some goods grow scarce because of rising inflation. BlackRock is the world’s most powerful investment fund.

Kapito talked about the situation in Ukraine and COVID being responsible for the current economic crisis, conveniently ignoring the inflationary impact of the trillions pumped into imploding financial markets in 2019 and 2020 (dwarfing the crisis of 2008).

The war in Ukraine as well as COVID are being used to explain the roots of the current economic crisis. But COVID policies were a symptom not a cause of the crisis – they were used to manage what by late 2019 was regarded as an impending economic meltdown. Draconian COVID policies had little to do with a public health emergency.

That much is made clear in the article A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Systemic Collapse and Pandemic Simulation by Professor Fabio Vighi.

On 15 August 2019, BlackRock issued a white paper instructing the US Federal Reserve to inject liquidity directly into the financial system to prevent “a dramatic downturn”. The message was unequivocal:

An unprecedented response is needed when monetary policy is exhausted and fiscal policy alone is not enough. That response will likely involve ‘going direct’.”

It also stated the need to find ways to get central bank money directly in the hands of public and private sector spenders while avoiding hyperinflation.

Six days earlier, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) had in a working paper called for “unconventional monetary policy measures” to “insulate the real economy from further deterioration in financial conditions”.

Vighi’s shows why the hegemonic class reacted so severely to a public health issue that impacted a minority of the population. This response only makes sense when viewed within the context of economics.

Come late 2019 and especially 2020, pumping trillions into the financial system followed by lockdowns (to prevent hyperinflation) were used as the “unconventional monetary policies” that the BIS had called for on 9 August 2019.

Did you really think the authorities cared so much about something that mainly affected the over-80s and those with severe comorbidities that they would lock down the entire global economy?

Did they really care so much about ordinary people, especially unproductive labour – the working class old and working class infirm – when through the years of imposed austerity, we saw the working classes being treated with utter contempt?

And did those who imposed restrictions and lockdowns really believe there was a ‘deadly’ virus on the loose?

Think of booze parties at Downing Street, Neil Ferguson’s breaking of lockdown rules to carry on an extra-marital affair, Matt Hancock breaking his own COVID rules with his lover, maskless world leaders gathering in London while their servants wore masks, various US political leaders ignoring their own rules and the public theatre of Fauci et al masking up for TV cameras then maskless as soon as they were off camera.

While such people tyrannised populations with fear and lockdowns, it is clear they themselves were unworried about ‘the virus’.

After embarking on a massive anti-Russia media propaganda campaign earlier this year to garner public support for Ukraine, the centres of power in the West are now sending billions of dollars of the public’s money into the coffers of the likes of weapons manufacturers Raytheon and Boeing.

Such corporations are more than happy to profit from sacrificing the lives of ordinary Ukrainians in the geopolitical quest to weaken and balkanise Russia so that US interests can gain a dominant, strategic foothold on the Eurasian landmass.

And while billions of dollars are being spent to achieve this, a wholly unnecessary ‘cost of living’ crisis (resulting from reckless economic neoliberalism which has finally imploded) is being imposed on working people in the Western countries – regarded as mere collateral damage when it comes to economic policies, war and corporate profit. The result is misery and poverty and the demonisation of some of the (now striking) workers who were lauded as ‘heroes’ during COVID.

But – of course – the powers that have so much demonstrable contempt for the lives of ordinary people at home and abroad will close down the entire global economy to protect their health!

Those who believe this are testament to the power of propaganda.

COVID-related policies were wholly disproportionate to any risk posed to public health, especially when considering the way ‘COVID death’ definitions and data were often massaged and how PCR tests were misused to scare populations into submission.

And the big winner has been Big Pharma, an industry with a track record of dirty tricks, false advertising and death and injury resulting from its products. If, say, Pfizer were an individual, given its corporate crimes, it would be serving a lengthy prison sentence with the proverbial key being thrown away.

But corporations with lengthy corporate rap sheets across many sectors are promoted to the public as being trustworthy and dependable. When governments partner (conspire) with such enterprises, they are conspiring with criminal recidivist companies. And when people purchase stock in them, the same applies.

Given the reference to the global food system at the beginning of this article, of particular interest are the crimes of Dupont and Bayer (see the Powerbase website), and Monsanto and Cargill (see the Corporate Research Project (CRP) website).

And, of course, Pfizer and its disturbing corporate rap sheet also appears on the CRP site.

These immensely wealthy corporations spend millions each year funding various groups and lobbying governments and international bodies. Little wonder that they wield tremendous influence and, in one way or another, become ‘trusted partners’ of governments, the WHO, the WTO and the like.

In Pfizer’s case, trusted so much as being granted ‘emergency use authorisation’ to have its ‘vaccines’ brought to market and then forced on the public via the coercive policies of governments.

Returning to Lippmann, since early 2020 so many people have feared for their lives and have admired with awe leaders who supposedly saved them from destruction. Even now as reports on vaccine injuries, vaccine inefficacy and increased mortality rates since the jab rollouts are largely taboo within the mainstream media, the public are being kept on message as the WHO and Big Pharma work towards a global treaty that will strip all their rights come the next economic meltdown or ‘pandemic’.

This article was written over the Yuletide period, an increasingly secular celebration stripped of religious connotation. These days, ‘in Big Pharma we trust’ might be more apt along with blind faith in a Zuckerberg-esque fantasy metaverse where Facebook is fact, government is truth and Big Pharma is God.

Because (heaven help us) that we should be left to think for ourselves!

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 18:20

Andurand Sees Oil Demand Soaring As Much As 4MM b/d In 2023

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Andurand Sees Oil Demand Soaring As Much As 4MM b/d In 2023

When sitting down to make forecasts about 2023, perhaps the biggest wildcard is what happens to the price of commodities in general, and oil in particular, after China fully reopens following its current “post covid-zero” hiccup which may lead to even more chaos but which will promptly reverse in a few weeks time.

Here, estimates vary, but few are as optimistic as iconic oil hedge fund trader Pierre Andurand, who said that global oil demand could soar as much as 4% at some point next year if the world fully emerges from Covid restrictions.

In a series of overnight tweets, Andurand said that consumption has been lagging long-term trends and, boosted by a switch to oil from gas, may increase by 3 million to 4 million barrels a day in 2023. As a reminder, Andurand’s main commodities fund has crushed the competition this year, rising about 50% in 2022.  Andurand is among several fund managers who made huge profits betting that supply-chain disruptions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to jumps in oil and other commodities.

Andurand (who in March incorrectly predicted that oil would hit $200 by year-end as Biden’s drain sends the SPR to record lows) caveated that the oil demand surge will be limited by the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, which are displacing about 600,000 barrels a day of fuel use, but net demand will still be more than enough to offset this drop.

Having been bearish on oil for much of 2021 and 2022 despite its relentless march higher, Wall Street banks now widely expect that crude prices, trading near $82 a barrel in London, will advance next year as sanctions squeeze Russian supplies.

That said, the bullish mood isn’t unanimous and as Bloomberg notes, veteran analyst and PIRA founder Gary Ross at Black Gold Investors tweeted on Wednesday that oil market balances are “weak” and will deteriorate further in early 2023 as US storms curb refinery operations.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 18:00

West Point Begins Removal, Alteration Of Confederate Memorials On Campus

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West Point Begins Removal, Alteration Of Confederate Memorials On Campus

Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has commenced the removal and modification of 13 Confederate memorials and symbols on its campus at the direction of the Department of Defense.

Cadets walk across ‘The Plain’ before the Oath of Allegiance ceremony during Reception Day at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on June 27, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The modifications—recommended by the congressionally mandated Naming Commission and subsequently approved by the Defense Department in October—were to begin over the school’s holiday break, which started on Dec. 18.

“Academy leaders and key stakeholders developed a comprehensive plan to ensure that historical artifacts will be professionally and respectfully handled during the execution phase,” the school said in a Dec. 19 statement. “Memorabilia removed during this process will be relocated to appropriate sites, including museums or other suitable venues.

According to a letter (pdf) signed by Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, items to be placed in storage includes a portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that hung in the academy’s library, Jefferson Hall; a stone bust of Lee from Reconciliation Plaza; and a bronze triptych from the main entrance of Bartlett Hall.

Meanwhile, the portrait and the stone bust of Union Gen. Ulysses Grant that have traditionally accompanied those of Lee will be moved to Grant Hall.

By Spring 2023, the school also intends to replace a quote from Lee displayed at Honor Plaza and begin refacing select stone markers at Reconciliation Plaza with modified language and images.

Several streets, buildings, and areas around the West Point campus are also slated to be renamed, including Lee Road, Beauregard Place, Hardee Place, Lee Barracks, Lee Housing Area, and Lee Child Development Center.

We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” Gilland wrote in the letter. “In the case of those items that were class gifts (specifically, Honor Plaza and Reconciliation Plaza), we will continue to work closely with those classes throughout this process. Any costs associated with the Commission’s recommendations will be resourced within the Department of Defense.”

The History

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, was founded in 1802 under President Thomas Jefferson.

The school churned out hundreds of graduates who fought for both the Union and Confederate armies, including Grant, in the class of 1843 and Lee in 1829.

Lee, who became commander of the Confederate Army toward the end of the Civil War, graduated second in his class at West Point and later served as the school’s superintendent from 1852 to 1855.

Calls for Revisions

Established under the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2021, the Naming Commission was created to assign, modify, or remove names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia within the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederacy or those who voluntarily fought for the Confederate Army.

On Aug. 29, the eight-member commission submitted Part II of its final report to Congress (pdf), which addressed assets of the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy.

“Throughout the [West Point] grounds, plaques adorn almost every building and entrance, honoring the names and lives of West Point graduates who demonstrated exceptional devotion to the defense of the United States and the advancement of its ideals,” the commissioners wrote in their report. “Commemorating the Confederacy alongside those graduates honors men who fought against the United States of America, and whose cause sought to destroy the nation as we know it.”

In defending their recommendations relating to assets named after Lee, the commissioners noted that the general turned down the opportunity to serve as the top field commander for the Union Army, opting instead to join the Confederates.

“The consequences of his decisions were wide-ranging and destructive,” they added. “Lee’s armies were responsible for the deaths of more United States Soldiers than practically any other enemy in our nation’s history.”

As for the triptych, the commissioners called for the removal of the names of several Confederate soldiers. Additionally, acknowledging that the triptych’s depiction of a hooded Ku Klux Klansman did not fall under their purview, the commissioners also encouraged the secretary of defense to “address DoD assets that highlight the KKK in Defense Memorialization processes and create a standard disposition requirement for such assets.”

“The Commissioners do not make these recommendations with any intention of erasing history,” the commissioners noted. “The facts of the past remain and the Commissioners are confident the history of the Civil War will continue to be taught at all service academies with all the quality and complex detail our national past deserves. Rather, they make these recommendations to affirm West Point’s long tradition of educating future generations of America’s military leaders to represent the best of our national ideals.”

Reactions

West Point’s announcement has been met with mixed reactions from those who have served in the nation’s armed forces, with some supporting the changes and others decrying them.

Read more here…

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 17:40

Watch: Chinese Fighter Threatens US Spy Plane Over Regional Waters, Coming Within 20 Feet

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Watch: Chinese Fighter Threatens US Spy Plane Over Regional Waters, Coming Within 20 Feet

The US Indo-Pacific Command on Thursday revealed a prior close-call, dangerous incident between US and Chinese military aircraft. Specifically the direct aerial encounter from last week, now confirmed for the first time, disrupted the operations of a US Air Force spy plane while flying over international waters of the South China Sea.

The US military statement said a RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft was intercepted by a Chinese PLA Navy J-11 fighter jet on Dec.21, with the Chinese aircraft having come within a mere 20 feet of the US surveillance jet, forcing the US plane to take quick evasive maneuvers.

Screenshot from inside US spy plane cockpit of video released by US Indo-Pacific Command.

The Indo-Pacific Command statement begins by describing that “On Dec. 21 a People’s Liberation Army – Navy J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, which was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace.”

“The PLAN pilot flew an unsafe maneuver by flying in front of and within 20 feet of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” it continues.

The US statement added: “The U.S. Indo-Pacific Joint Force is dedicated to a free and open Indo-Pacific region and will continue to fly, sail and operate at sea and in international airspace with due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law. We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law.”

The Pentagon released video of the “unsafe intercept” over the South China Sea…

Dramatic video released by the Pentagon the same day shows the Chinese J-11 fighter come terrifyingly close to the American aircraft, as the footage taken by a US pilot directly from within the RC-135 cockpit shows.

These types of close proximity intercepts have happened before over waters off China, but sill remain very rare, and we should add serious – given the potential for aerial collision or incident at a moment US-China tensions are on edge especially over Washington’s defense support to Taiwan. One prior 2017 incident even involved Chinese fighters reportedly giving a US plane the “Top Gun treatment”, something the US pilot in this latest close-call was at least thinking…

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 17:22

SBF Was Meeting With Senior White House Officials Shortly Before FTX Collapse

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SBF Was Meeting With Senior White House Officials Shortly Before FTX Collapse

FTX founder and accused crypto-crook Sam Bankman-Fried met with senior White House officials on at least four occasions in the months leading up to his firm’s massive implosion, Bloomberg reports.

Sam Bankman-Fried following a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee hearing in Washington, DC.Source: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

On Sept. 8, SBF met with senior Biden adviser Steve Ricchetti in a previously unreported encounter, White House officials familiar with the matter said. The meeting was “the latest in a handful of sessions,” according to the report.

Bankman-Fried had at least three others previously disclosed in White House visitor logs. They include one April 22 and another May 12, each with Ricchetti, and one a day later, on May 13, with Bruce Reed, another senior Biden aide, officials confirmed. The final meeting is recorded in logs as two meetings held back-to-back, but was one meeting, officials said. Some of the prior White House meetings included others from FTX. -Bloomberg

What’s more, Bankman-Fried’s brother, Gabriel, held a March meeting of his own and was also at the May 13 meeting – bringing the total number up to five meetings that involved one or bother brothers. 

According to one source, “politics” were not discussed despite SBF being a Democrat megadonor credited as a major factor in President Biden’s 2020 win. Instead, the brothers allegedly talked about general matters related to the ‘crypto industry and exchanges,’ as well as “pandemic prevention related to the foundation, Guarding Against Pandemics, run by Gabe Bankman-Fried,” according to an official.

SBF now faces several criminal charges related to the collapse of FTX. His ties to Washington have come under the microscope since the collapse of his exchange – as Bankman-Fried gave millions of dollars to Democratic politicians – becoming the party’s second-largest individual donor in the 2022 session.

One person familiar with the meetings, speaking on condition they not be identified, said that politics was not discussed at the White House meetings.

While Bankman-Fried, or SBF as he’s known, lived in the Bahamas, he made frequent trips to Washington — testifying before Congress and meeting with key regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as with White House officials. -Bloomberg

According to US prosecutors, SBF allegedly conspired with others to use corporate funds and shadow donors for political contributions, and illegally commingled billions of dollars of customers’ funds lent to his trading arm, Alameda Research.

 

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 17:20

Brazil Bans Firearms From Capital Ahead Of Lula’s Inauguration

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Brazil Bans Firearms From Capital Ahead Of Lula’s Inauguration

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes issued a temporary firearms ban in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, on Wednesday ahead of the Jan. 1 inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva.

The decision was made as a precautionary measure, according to the judge, and will last until Jan. 2, the day after the inauguration.

Those who violate the ban risk being arrested. Members of law enforcement and security forces are exempt from the ban, as are those employed by private security companies.

Specifically, the temporary ban suspends licenses that allow hunters, marksmen, and collectors to carry guns and ammunition in the region.

In his ruling, de Moraes said the ban was needed to ensure public safety after a rise in the number of “terrorist groups financed by shameless magnates” committing crimes in recent weeksCNN reported.

Incoming Justice Minister Flavio Dino said that da Silva’s team had requested the gun restrictions be put in place. Dino also praised the move for bolstering security at the inauguration.

Tensions have been running high in Brazil since da Silva’s victory against conservative incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was certified on Dec. 12. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters across the country have been protesting the results of the election over claims of fraud and calling for the military to intervene.

Lawyers for Bolsonaro later challenged the outcome of the election and requested that the electoral authority invalidate the votes cast on some of the country’s electronic voting equipment.

That challenge was rejected by de Moraes. Bolsonaro has not yet conceded the results of the election.

Brazilian President and reelection candidate Jair Bolsonaro (L) in Brasilia, Brazil, on Oct. 2, 2022. (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images); Former president of Brazil and candidate of the Worker’s Party Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 2, 2022. (Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)

Registered Gun Owners Rise in Brazil

The number of registered gun owners in Brazil jumped six-fold to about 700,000 under Bolsonaro’s efforts to relax gun laws, beginning in 2019.

Shortly before the ruling to ban guns in the capital, police arrested a 54-year-old gas station manager over his alleged planting and possession of explosive devices at Brasilia International Airport.

The suspect allegedly told police that he planned “to provoke a military intervention and the decree of a state of siege to prevent the installation of communism in Brazil.”

Da Silva and his Workers Party led Brazil for two terms from 2003 to 2010, during which he implemented a string of social justice policies, including anti-hunger and income-transfer programs in which the government subsidized electricity and food prices and transferred cash to the poor.

He also helped establish relations with other BRICS countries: Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

However, he was banned from returning to power in 2018 after he was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption at the state-owned oil and petrol company, Petrobrás. He was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison following an investigation into the scheme.

Throughout his time in prison, da Silva maintained his innocence and called the case against him politically motivated. His conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court when seven of 11 justices agreed that he should be tried in the state in which he lives as opposed to the state in which he was accused.

A new trial has not yet been scheduled in court regarding the charges.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 15:20

JPMorgan Sued By Virgin Islands Over Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Sex-Trafficking Operation

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JPMorgan Sued By Virgin Islands Over Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Sex-Trafficking Operation

The US Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan Chase for allegedly reaping financial benefits from Jeffrey Epstein’s pedo sex-trafficking operation and failing to report suspicious banking activity.

Over more than a decade, JPMorgan clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan belatedly complied with federal law,” said US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George in a Thursday complaint reported by CNN.

The new lawsuit comes less than a month after Epstein’s estate settled with George for over $105 million dollars, along with an agreement that the estate will liquidate Epstein’s islands and cease business operations in the region.

“Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan,” reads the filing.

The lawsuit claims that JPMorgan Chase failed to make proper regulatory filings that could have tipped off the government to Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking ring of underage girls through private islands he owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In particular, the government argues that JPMorgan Chase should have given Epstein closer scrutiny as a client after he entered a guilty plea to soliciting prostitution with a minor in Florida in 2008. -CNN

The bank had no comment as of Wednesday evening.

The lawsuit comes after two anonymous Epstein victims slapped JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank with civil lawsuits which claim that the banks enabled and benefited financially from Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

According to the civil suit, JPMorgan is accused of having “provided special treatment to the sex-trafficking venture, thereby ensuring its continued operation and sexual abuse and sex-trafficking of young women and girls.”

“Without the financial institution’s participation, Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme could not have existed,” the filing continues.

Epstein was awaiting trial in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of operating a sex trafficking ring between 2002 – 2005 across several properties, when he was found dead in his prison cell.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 15:00

Fiji’s New Pro-Bitcoin Prime Minister Ponders Legal Tender Bill: Report

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Fiji’s New Pro-Bitcoin Prime Minister Ponders Legal Tender Bill: Report

Authored by NAMCIOS via BitcoinMagazine.com,

Newly elected Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is pro-Bitcoin and is reportedly considering pushing a bill to adopt BTC as legal tender in the country…

Pro-Bitcoin politician Sitiveni Rabuka recently took office as the new Prime Minister of the Pacific Islands of Fiji. Now, it seems the new PM is actively considering the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender there.

While Rabuka himself hasn’t been very public about his opinions on Bitcoin thus far, Lord Fusitu’a, a noble and former member of parliament of neighboring nation Tonga, has reportedly confirmed that the Fijian politician is a bitcoin bull.

“The new PM is definitely pro-Bitcoin,” Lord Fusitu’a assured Cointelegraph.

Lord Fusitu’a also shared the news on Twitter.

“A new pro-#Bitcoin friendly Prime Minister in the South Pacific. Fiji’s newly elected Prime Minister @slrabuka,” Lord Fusitu’a wrote, tagging Rabuka.

In the second part of his tweet, Lord Fusitu’a hinted at the legal tender legislation.

“Let’s go 2 for 2 – BTC Legal Tender Bills for the Pacific in 2023,” the tweet reads, hinting at Tonga’s own Bitcoin legal tender legislation that could reportedly go live as early as Q2 2023.

The Bitcoin dream first started brewing in Tonga right after El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law came into effect.

Now, Fiji could be next in bringing BTC under its definition of legal tender. Lord Fusitu’a told Cointelegraph that Fiji’s new Prime Minister “asked to meet with me which we did via zooms since last year to walk him through step by step, how he could adopt bitcoin legal tender.”

Both countries could benefit tremendously from bitcoin adoption in two specific areas; remittances and mining.

Remittances sent to Fiji accounted for 11.3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, per World Bank data. Tonga’s situation is even more dramatic –– remittances were a whopping 45.5% of the nation’s GDP in 2021.

When it comes to mining, both countries can take advantage of their geology. Being volcanic islands, there is a lot of opportunity to experiment with and profit from bitcoin mining. Moreover, Fiji also boasts significant hydro capacity.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 14:50

Russia’s Engels Airbase Attacked For 3rd Time This Month

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Russia’s Engels Airbase Attacked For 3rd Time This Month

Russia’s Engels airbase has been targeted for a third time this month by Ukraine’s military, resulting in Russian anti-air defenses being activated to take out an inbound projectile. 

Engels airbase is located in the Saratov region and crucially is at a distance of over 600km from the Ukrainian border. “The air defense system has been activated in the Engels district,” regional governor Roman Busargin said of the Thursday incident. 

Busargin described that an “unidentified object” had been destroyed, adding that there is no further threat to civilian safety. He didn’t indicate whether the object was a drone or missile, but it comes after a deadly Monday attack involving a Ukrainian drone. 

Via Ukraine Battle Map/Twitter

No casualties are being reported from the Thursday attack, but Monday’s drone assault left three Russian servicemembers dead, according to state news agencies, after an enemy drone was reportedly intercepted, causing debris came down on bystanders below. 

“On December 26, at around 01:35 Moscow time, a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region,” the Russian defense ministry said in a prior statement.

Many outside observers doubted Russia’s intercept story, given also local videos seemed to show explosions more consistent with a direct hit.

On Dec.5 Ukraine’s military mounted simultaneous drone assaults on an air base in Ryazan, in western Russia which hosts nuclear-capable strategic bombers, and also Engels base.

That initial Engels strike had constituted the deepest the Ukrainians had ever attacked inside of Russia proper.

Feeling emboldened by a handful of successes, including prior attacks and bombings in Crimea, Ukraine forces will likely try to continue hitting targets inside Russia, also as their capability grows given they have been supplied with ever-longer range rockets from the US and NATO countries.

Russia for its part is continuing to ramp up major missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure. Over 120 missiles launched Thursday has left even Lviv in far western Ukraine in the dark, along with about half the capital city and other places like Kharkiv and Odesa. The Pentagon has indicated that Patriot anti-air batteries could be shipped in as little as six months, even though it typically takes one-year minimum to train personnel on how to operate them.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 14:20