dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

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INDECLINE is an American activist collective founded in 2001. It is comprised of graffiti writers, filmmakers, photographers, and full-time rebels and activists. Indecline focuses on social, ecological, and economical injustices carried out by American and international governments, corporations, and law enforcement agencies. INDECLINE is not an anarchist group, according to its website.

The Easter eggs are located at parks and surrounding neighborhoods including but not limited to the following locations:

• Garfield Park

• Stanton Park

• Lovejoy Park

• Meridian Hill Park

• Rose Park

• Logan Circle

• Kalorama Park

• Farragut Square

https://wset.com/news/local/group-places-easter-eggs-containing-kool-aid-packets-around-dc

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 4, 2021, 11 p.m. No.13363220 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

Indecline :: Do You Know Where Your Thoughts Come From?

INDECLINE is an Activist Art Collective founded in 2001. It is comprised of graffiti writers, filmmakers, photographers and full-time rebels and activists. INDECLINE focuses on social, ecological and economical injustices carried out by American and International governments, corporations and law enforcement agencies.

https://thisisindecline.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eQT6ZPZLLg

—

Indecline

Indecline, stylized as INDECLINE, is an American art collective.

Members have said that the collective was formed in 2001 and is decentralized, with "dozens" of members in affiliated groups in several US states and a few foreign countries, and have characterized it as "[an] underground movement [of] activists, musicians, graffiti writers, [and] photographers".

Projects

''Bumfights''

In 2002 Ryen McPherson, Daniel Tanner, and others operating as Indecline Films produced the first video in the Bumfights series, Bumfights: A Cause for Concern. They subsequently took down the Indecline Films website, and have said they sold the rights to the series to two investors.

…..

''Rape Mural''

In October 2015, in response to Donald Trump's calling illegal immigrants "rapists", the group spray-painted a mural depicting Trump with the slogan "¡Rape Trump!" on an old border wall on US territory approximately a mile from the Tijuana airport.

…..

''Donald Trump Statues''

On August 18, 2016, using industrial epoxy, the group glued life-sized nude statues of Trump to the sidewalk in five cities: Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

…..

''Freedom Kick''

In September 2020, the group began a project alongside Spanish artist Eugenio Merino called Freedom Kick, where they order silicone replicas of the head of famous world leaders and distribute them around the world to be used as soccer balls. The games are recorded and uploaded to their Instagram account. Some of the world leaders included Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Jair Bolsonaro. After releasing Bolsonaro's video, members of the group received death threats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indecline

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 4, 2021, 11:04 p.m. No.13363244 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

Freedom Kick : Mexico

INDECLINE

15 Sept 2020

INDECLINE x Eugenio Merino

According to Trump’s doctor his health is “astonishing,” which means he should be in decent enough to shape to enjoy a little football, as long as everybody stands for the flag, of course. There is irony in the fact that America’s cartoon dictator finally gets to visit his wall and see what those in Mexico think of it from such an intensely close perspective. It makes for a decent ball stop, although doubtful it slows migration near as much as his belligerent, white supremacy. If America is so much greater during his tenure, how come people don’t seem as enthusiastic about coming over? Based on the athleticism displayed here, it certainly isn’t the wall.

Football, with its emphasis on teamwork and collective sacrifice, has always crossed borders with ease, but so have different kinds of ideology. Nationalism is a plague too, and at its outset, it was just as hard to predict its effect on our culture and politics. It spread quietly on the Internet, which means no one was watching to ensure fair play. And now, America is learning the hard way how fragile democracy can be.

Freedom Kick is an appeal to the American sense of justice as a match between two opposing teams. The rules are meant to protect us from cheaters. We believe it is time to reset the game, before we have to spend another four years watching a cheeseburger-scarfing, bloviating mess hobble up and down the pitch spreading hate. The game should be beautiful, if nothing else.

After all, football is a game of love. Let’s hold our heads of state accountable. Or else they will hold us accountable for our apathy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6u2-hTTBpw

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 4, 2021, 11:19 p.m. No.13363326 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

This Is The End

INDECLINE

8 Nov 2020

We’d like to take a moment, not just to celebrate the fall of the Orange Emperor, but to acknowledge the importance of sustained resistance, which has, once again, unequivocally proven to be one of the many driving forces in effectively changing the course of history and will be an essential ingredient as we move forward beyond this divisive election.

We are all capable of enforcing creative checks and balances. It’s a lot more difficult and time consuming than simply casting a vote, but you get to have a blast doing it. Politics is a never ending, large scale game of Tug of War and it’s worth remembering that the 60 million plus citizens who voted for Trump will gladly stay committed to pulling their end of the rope until we collapse, so just because Trump is out of office, doesn’t mean we’re done. If anything, it means we need to fight harder than ever while we have the momentum.

Do we think Biden is the answer to our problems? Absolutely not. In fact, we’re all but certain he will do exactly what Obama did when he took over and keep the most vital and vile parts of the machine well greased and functioning in the best interest of the ruling class. Biden won’t do much for the environment and we know he’s not defunding the police. He’ll keep us complicit in Israel’s constant human rights violations and most likely continue to enforce unjust laws at our borders.

A lot of people told us we focused on Trump too much. They said it was “trendy”, low hanging fruit. But the thing these people fail to realize, is that in order to make the biggest impact, sometimes you have to attack the biggest person in the room. But if we choose to act as if Trump, or any President for that matter, is the sole threat to civilization, we will never gain the upper hand. We have to stretch our canvases far and wide and paint in broad strokes in order to create equity, understanding and balance.

20 years of direct action has taught us a lot. It’s taught us that time flies when you’re breaking the rules, creating art, inspiring conversation and debate and doing it all with your loved ones. It’s taught us that 20 years can just serve as the warm up.

Sometimes men in power find themselves in a position to set a historical precedent for the ruling class. But the creative class will always be just around the corner, bags filled with paint, bolt cutters and burner phones, ready and willing to kill that precedent.

Here’s to the next chapter. See you out there.

With Love & Solidarity,

INDECLINE

MUSIC: ANTI FLAG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUletZfCoo

>Why were[are] violent [masked] terror orgs such as Antifa immediately created/funded and allowed to operate within [D] controlled cities [safe-zones]?

https://qanon.pub/?q=antifa

Khazarian Mafia Running Biden Psy-Ops Out Of Switzerland

Benjamin Fulford April 5, 2021

The grotesque psychological warfare operation against the American people known as the “Biden presidency” is run out of an underground base in Switzerland, MI6, NSA, FSB, CIA, and other sources agree. The base straddles the borders of Lichenstein, Austria, and Switzerland, allowing entry from any of those three countries, according to a CIA source. However, despite the overwhelmingly dark story of pandemic doom and “foreign enemies,” in the corporate media, the fact the ruling class has been forced to retreat to Switzerland is actually a sign they are losing the war for the planet.

We are getting word that not only the White House is unoccupied, but also Congress, Senate, Supreme Court, Federal Reserve Board, Treasury Department, etc. in Washington DC as well.We are also now hearing from the NSA that state government buildings too are unoccupied. We urge our readers who live in DC and near state government buildings to become citizen reporters and try to confirm if this is true. Certainly, live camera feeds indicate this is the case but, in this day of digital trickery, human eyes are the most reliable source.

In any case, the group that controls the Biden psy-ops is definitely the Rockefeller clan and their Swiss handlers, the sources concur. Last Friday MI6 sent the following message:

“We had confirmation today of the CIA involvement in the counter-coup of the coup that installed Mr. Trump. It appears Hillary Rodham Clinton [Rockefeller] is running the show in the background.”

The NSA for their part says the current Hillary is the sixth one being used. We all remember how during the 2016 presidential campaign Hillary was stuffed into a black van and ABC news subsequently reported her death. However, she appeared 20 pounds lighter and much younger several hours later. Also, the picture below clearly shows the current “Hillary” is much shorter than the original.

Nonetheless, whatever Hillary avatar, body double, or clone they are using; the group known as the Rockefellers are clearly running the Biden horror show.

Their plans were outlined in a March 2020 article in the Rockefeller flagship magazine Foreign Relations that was supposedly written by Joe “green screen” Biden. https://archive.is/SGLAj

What this shows is the group now in charge of U.S. corporate media and the fiat money computers inside the U.S. are planning to take us back in time to the 1980s and the cold war with its easy to identify enemies. Lets’ face it “commies” are easier to rally against than amorphous “terrorists” who keep changing their brand name.

Russian FSB sources, for their part, say a very serious attempt to start World War III was now underway in Ukraine. On Monday, April 5th, Japan time, they sent us this message:

“A couple of hours ago a C-17 military transport aircraft (95-0107) with a certain military cargo arrived directly from the USA (with refueling in Seville, Spain) to Lviv Airport in Western Ukraine.”

Sauce: https://benjaminfulford.net/2021/04/05/khazarian-mafia-running-biden-psy-ops-out-of-switzerland/

*Khazarian Mafia = Jewish Mafia

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 5, 2021, 11:14 p.m. No.13369823 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Malcolm Turnbull dumped from new NSW Government climate job

MAX MADDISON - APRIL 6, 2021

NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean has backflipped on his decision to appoint Malcolm Turnbull as his climate energy tsar, dropping the former prime minister just days after his appointment.

The appointment of Mr Turnbull as chair of the Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board had enraged some Coalition MPs who pointed to his constant criticism of the federal government since he was deposed in 2018.

One Liberal MP speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Australian: “This is just another stunning example of Matt’s appalling judgment”.

Several other Liberal MPs privately said the role was inappropriate considering he was simultaneously running Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s green steel investment fund.

In a statement released on Monday, Mr Kean succumbed to the pressure, saying the “focus should not be on personality”.

“No person’s role on the Board should distract from achieving results for the NSW people or from the Government’s work in delivering jobs and opportunities for the people of NSW,” Mr Kean said.

“For this reason, I have decided not to proceed with his appointment as chair.”

Mr Turnbull blamed the decision to dump him on “thuggery” from the “the right-wing media ecosystem”.

“The right-wing media — they cracked the whip as bullies do, and got their way,” Mr Turnbull told Nine Newspapers. “In actions like these, you have to ask, ‘who’s in charge?’”.

He also denied being against jobs in the Hunter but rather supported transitioning coal miners into new industries as the sector declined.

The NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Hugh Durrant-Whyte will head the board until a replacement is found, Mr Kean said.

Mr Kean had faced ongoing criticism from sections of his own party and the media, with several questioning whether a letter sent by Mr Turnbull objecting to the expansion of an Upper Hunter coal mine was evidence he had a conflict of interest.

The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday reported Mr Turnbull had last month written to object to the expansion of the Mount Pleasant mine in Upper Hunter, where the Coalition is facing a by-election fight with One Nation and Labor and where support for coal is a key issue.

In the letter, which Mr Turnbull cosigned with his wife Lucy, the former Wentworth MP cited worsening air quality, saying the existence of other mines in the area had done “considerable damage” to the local environment, which included his family’s nearby 2700 acre grazing property.

Coalition sources were concerned Mr Turnbull’s appointment could prove detrimental to The Nationals chances of retaining the Upper Hunter seat at the upcoming by-election.

Deputy leader John Barilaro labelled the decision to drop Mr Turnbull as a “great result for common sense”, saying he had personally given the benefit of the doubt to Mr Turnbull but “he pulled my pants down within 48 hours”.

“We are not proceeding with the appointment of Malcolm Turnbull as chair. I give credit to Matt Kean. He accepts even if you want to go down this position of Net Zero board and that target you don’t need an individual who clouds or makes controversial – you need someone who brings people together and not divide and unfortunately Malcolm has done the opposite,” Mr Barilaro told Ray Hadley on 2GB.

NSW opposition leader Jodi McKay said the decision to appoint Mr Turnbull was a “monumental failure of judgment”:

“How on earth did it even come to this? John Barilaro backed Turnbull’s appointment in cabinet. This should never have been a political appointment and was always going to be divisive. A monumental failure of judgment by John Barilaro.’’

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/malcolm-turnbull-dumped-from-new-nsw-government-climate-job/news-story/5245b7932b02f34e2e492e0e13015b7b

https://twitter.com/kloussikian/status/1379218097941348355

https://twitter.com/JodiMcKayMP/status/1379223147518386176

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 5, 2021, 11:21 p.m. No.13369853 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

>>13351022

>>13351027

Australia pressures New Zealand to toe the line of Washington

Yu Lei - Apr 05, 2021

The Australian media outlet News.com.au reported on Saturday that, "There are concerns from New Zealand Five Eyes' allies that it may be the weak link in dealing with China as the Ardern Government, again, failed to call out Beijing."

This is not the sole article delivering grievances regarding New Zealand's China policy. There seems to be many of them that harangue Wellington when it does not join in chorus with Washington, London, Ottawa and Canberra to browbeat and belittle China. The conservative US news website Washington Examiner published an article on January 11 entitled, "Appeasing China, New Zealand abandons the Five Eyes."

Indeed, Wellington's policy toward Beijing does differ from its allies in the Five Eyes, especially Washington and Canberra. The following reasons lead to it. For one, New Zealand's economy is comparatively small in the global marketplace, and heavily depends on international trade, especially the Chinese market. At the end of 2019, China was New Zealand's largest goods market, largest source of international students, and second largest source of tourists. It was also a significant foreign investor.

Most exports from New Zealand resemble those from the US and Australia. In this context, Wellington has attached great importance to maintain close and friendly relations with markets it has opened, such as China. The two countries on January 26 signed a deal upgrading their existing free trade pact, which gives exports from New Zealand greater access to China.

For another reason, in comparison to the US and Australia, where the white mainly determines their foreign policy, the Maori today have occupied a considerable position in politics. Therefore, Wellington's policy focuses more on domestic affairs and tends to be more pragmatic.

The US persuaded 13 other countries to released a joint statement on March 30 expressing so-called "shared concerns regarding the recent WHO-convened study in China." Except for New Zealand, four other members of the Five Eyes were among the group. In regard to this event, the News.com.au article remarked that the administration of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been "dubbed the 'soft underbelly' of the Five Eyes."

Such narrative reflects the mindset of some Australian elite politicians. They have seen their country as a hegemonic force in South Pacific, second only to the US. This makes them believe New Zealand should also follow Australia's lead. However, it is wishful thinking. Wellington has long remained independent with its national interests, and has been reluctant to obey orders from Washington and Canberra.

For example, in 1984 New Zealand passed legislation that made the entire country a nuclear-free zone, which effectively barred US warships from docking in their ports. As a consequence, the US froze New Zealand out of the Australia-New Zealand-US military alliance, and downgraded their diplomatic status from a close ally to a friend.

Even under US pressure, New Zealand is still a nuclear-free zone.

Four other allies of the Five Eyes are anticipated to pile pressure on New Zealand hoping to put more pressure on China. Yet judging from historical experience, Wellington will not easily yield to pressure.

As a matter of fact, the Five Eyes is an alliance for interests only. It does not do so for the pursuit of the share values of democracy and freedom, which is a disguise. Just as late UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, "We have no lasting friends, no lasting enemies, only lasting interests." This can be illustrated by the fact that the US in 1812 declared war against Britain and Canada.

In the post-Brexit era, the UK may temporarily maintain close ties with the US. As a neighbor of the US, Canada appears to be not bold enough to deviate from Washington's stronghold. For many years, Australia has relied on the US to pursue its regional hegemony in South Pacific.

Against this backdrop, China is supposed to do its own thing well. And Beijing will patiently counter their potential moves.

The author is chief research fellow at the research center for Pacific island countries of Liaocheng University in East China's Shandong Province. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1220252.shtml

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 5, 2021, 11:33 p.m. No.13369902 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9905 >>1275

Explainer: China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats howl at Xinjiang critics

AFP / theaustralian.com.au - APRIL 6, 2021

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China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats are back after a brief lull, firing insults over Twitter, smearing critics and suggesting conspiracies.

The hyperactivity of the envoys follows renewed global pressure over Beijing’s treatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in China’s Xinjiang region.

Here are five things to know as the wolf warriors once more bare their teeth:

When did it start?

The term “wolf warrior diplomacy” became common parlance in 2019, when Chinese envoys — most prominently spokesman Zhao Lijian — adopted a vociferous defence of the Communist-led country on social media platforms such as Twitter, which is blocked in China.

The nickname derives from a film about a Rambo-like Chinese special forces soldier.

China insists it was forced into the change of tone, which came amid the fulminations of Donald Trump’s White House.

But officials like Zhao, who made headlines in 2019 over controversial tweets as an envoy to Pakistan, took to his fresh combat role as foreign ministry spokesman with particular aplomb a year later.

He has promoted conspiracy theories including that the US military might have brought COVID-19 to China, and then railed against Canberra in tweets alleging “the murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers”.

That post came with an illustration of a soldier holding a bloody knife to a child’s throat. It was denounced by Australia’s prime minister, but set the tone for feuds that still dominate relations.

Trump’s rhetoric over the “China virus” saw Beijing’s envoys up the ante as the pandemic roiled the world.

Experts say the switch into attack mode partly reflects the new assertive China of President Xi Jinping.

Why did the wolves return?

As Joe Biden settled into the US presidency in January, China’s diplomats floated hopes of a reset in relations.

But the ceasefire collapsed at a US-China meeting in Alaska in mid-March, where the Chinese Communist Party’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi threatened action over “US interference”.

“Yang’s tough talk in Anchorage seems to have encouraged senior Chinese diplomats to indulge in inflammatory remarks,” said Mathieu Duchatel, director of the Asia Programme at Paris-based think-tank Institut Montaigne.

China’s consul-general in Rio de Janeiro Li Yang has since referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “boy” while calling Canada a “running dog of the US”.

And in late March as the European Union, Britain, Canada and the United States imposed sanctions over Xinjiang, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying went as far as to suggest the CIA helped cook up rhetoric on the northwestern region to destabilise China.

In response to backlash against brands like H&M and Nike who raised concerns over the textile supply chain in Xinjiang, Hua showed a photo she said showed Black slaves in US cotton fields.

Referencing the transatlantic slave trade that same week, she argued others were in no position to criticise China.

(continued)

>>13369902

2/2

Attack mode

China’s envoys say Beijing has been forced to retaliate as rivals — particularly in the West — gang up to curtail its rise.

But officials’ attitudes have markedly shifted under Xi from late leader Deng Xiaoping’s philosophy to “hide your strength, bide your time”.

When France recently summoned the Chinese ambassador over “unacceptable” behaviour, the embassy said he would not immediately comply and instead come to “make representations” over sanctions and Taiwan issues.

Observers suggest there are bigger geopolitical calculations at play with a benefit in slinging mud at the once untouchable bigwigs of the global political order.

“The uncertainty of the international environment also gives Beijing a particular strategic development space to challenge the existing international order,” said Zhao Alexandre Huang, an academic at the Universite Gustave Eiffel in France.

What’s next?

Signalling strength and threatening costs for non-compliance may lead to friction with some states but could cow others, said Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore.

Nations dependent on Chinese trade “are more susceptible to submission”, he said, adding that those with experience handling Chinese pressure may find it easier to ride out Beijing’s ire.

But if it wants to signal costs in opposing China, Beijing may edge towards demonstrating “capacity and determination to escalate at each moment of confrontation”, Duchatel said.

While the wolf warriors have overturned many diplomatic assumptions, the surge into social media has not all been to Beijing’s benefit.

In September 2020, a Twitter account belonging to Liu Xiaoming, China’s longstanding firebrand ambassador to Britain, “liked” a pornographic foot fetish video on Twitter. He played off the incident as a hack.

Liu retired a few months later.

China’s embassy in Ireland drew mirth last week when it cited a fable to push back against the wolf warrior label: “Aesop described how the Wolf accused the Lamb of committing offences…BTW, China is not a lamb.” The tweet appears to have since been deleted.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/explainer-chinas-wolf-warrior-diplomats-howl-at-xinjiang-critics/news-story/38c9395b906f3bba2c605b75628409b9

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 6, 2021, 12:03 a.m. No.13369989 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Andy Meddick slams AustraliaOne party after supporters of the far-right party gathered in Torquay

A local politician has slammed a “disgusting” and “hateful” political group that was seen promoting itself on Torquay’s busy foreshore over the Easter weekend.

RUSTY WOODGER - April 5, 2021

A LOCAL politician has slammed a “disgusting” and “hateful” political group that was seen promoting itself on Torquay’s busy foreshore over the Easter weekend.

A small group of people aligned to AustraliaOne, a fringe far-right party, converged on The Esplanade at Torquay on Good Friday.

As families flocked to the nearby beach, supporters erected a large sign displaying the party’s logo, along with messages including one that proclaimed: “It’s time to take back our country.”

The party, which claims it is not a far-right group, holds controversial views on a range of topics.

It opposes immigration, lists China and Islam among “The Five Threats” to Australia, and wants to reinstate the death penalty for crimes of treason.

Its founder has also appeared at rallies alongside members of True Blue Crew, an extremist group that has been linked to far-right terrorism.

Andy Meddick, a state politician who lives in Torquay, said he was “shocked” to learn of the party’s views after being alerted to Friday’s gathering.

The Animal Justice Party MP labelled the group “racist, homophobic and transphobic”, stating their presence in his hometown was further evidence of the “rise of the far right”.

“These hateful people, and their hateful ideology, do not represent the attitudes of Australia,” he wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.

“They have no place here or anywhere.

“It is all our responsibility, all of us, to rid our society of these disgusting groups.”

It is understood the party’s presence in Torquay was to attract signatures for a petition calling for the lifting of all suppression orders involving convicted paedophiles.

Its signage, however, promoted other issues such as “military power” and “political freedom”.

Passers-by were encouraged to visit the party’s website where it outlines contentious policies, including opposition to same-sex marriage and what it describes as “weird gender ideologies”.

It also proposes a ban on accepting Muslims as migrants or refugees.

Mr Meddick told the Geelong Advertiser it was troubling that some of those targeted by the party’s views may have witnessed the group’s presence in Torquay.

“Anybody in any of those groups would rightly be quite concerned and it wouldn’t surprise me to find they were quite fearful,” he said.

“There has been a rise in far-right extremism … We should be concerned.”

AustraliaOne was founded by Riccardo Bosi, a former NSW Senate candidate for the Australian Conservatives.

A promotional video on the party’s website shows Mr Bosi speaking at a True Blue Crew rally in 2018.

True Blue Crew has achieved notoriety in recent years, with a former member of the far-right group, Phillip Galea, serving a 12-year jail term after being found guilty of terrorism offences.

Mr Bosi was approached for comment but did not respond before deadline.

https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/geelong/andy-meddick-slams-australiaone-party-after-supporters-of-the-farright-party-gathered-in-torquay/news-story/adeb88d8f5251a439dd9c06d903b09d8

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 6, 2021, 1:17 a.m. No.13370228 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Cops lay 45 charges against 15 alleged sex criminals busted preying on Territory children online

Police have charged 15 people with a total of 45 offences following a months long operation targeting sex criminals preying on Territory children via online chat forums.

JASON WALLS - April 6, 2021

POLICE have charged 15 people with a total of 45 offences following a months long operation targeting sex criminals preying on Territory children via online chat platforms.

During Operation May, police executed 19 search warrants between January and March throughout the NT and Queensland, as well as successfully extraditing a 52-year-old man from Western Australia.

In a sting conducted as a part of the bust, officers posed as a 12-year-old girl who engaged with a 28-year-old man online before arranging to meet up.

The investigators tracked the man while using an undercover operative as a decoy and arrested him when he showed up at the arranged location.

He and the other men, aged between 21 and 52 were charged with offences including using the internet to procure a child, using a carriage service to transmit child abuse images and indecent dealing with a child under 10.

The offences were allegedly committed against four girls in the NT aged between 5 and 8.

NT Police Acting Commander Lauren Hill said the joint operation with Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police was the first time such a large scale raid focusing on the NT had been undertaken.

“Police had identified an investigation in the Tennant Creek area and a result of examination of devices held by that person allowed us to conduct some intelligence and assessment and from that assessment we rolled with the operation,” she said.

Cmdr Hill warned parents that any of the online platforms children had access to could be harbouring “predators on the other side”.

“We would encourage parents to know what they’re children are doing in relation to online,” she said.

“Who they’re engaging with online, where their chat conversations are, what gaming platforms they’re accessing and potentially using any security enhancements that are available on their own devices.”

AFP Detective Superintendent Paula Hudson said the operation was another example of Australian law enforcement’s dedication to working hand-in-hand to protect children and ensure predators were detected and prosecuted.

“This is also a warning to any adult who wants to prey on children online,” she said.

“You may not be talking to a vulnerable child, you could be talking to a police officer.”

Detective Sergeant Paul Lawson said the alleged offences and the potential for further offending by the perpetrators was “horrific”.

Stopping the abhorrent intentions of people like them, drives officers within the joint operation every day to rid our society of this type of offending,” he said.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/cops-lay-45-charges-against-15-alleged-sex-criminals-busted-preying-on-territory-children-online/news-story/eadaa9c679d62e79ab36321f2727b5cf

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 6, 2021, 2:20 a.m. No.13370328 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

Shayan Sardarizadeh Tweets

Based on the finale of #QIntotheStorm Q drops are over for good. Both Jim and Ron told @CullenHoback Q would end after the election, and that's exactly what happened.

We already had proof of the end given there haven't been any drops since 8 December, but we can now be certain.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1379097929072443400

—

This, of course, doesn't mean the end of QAnon by any means.

There are nearly 4,953 Q drops. Followers will forever refer to those drops and link them to current events at any given time regardless of context.

That's what they've been doing since December anyway.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1379099213661937665

—

Q Post #3466

Jul 22 2019 19:51:16 (EST)

These people are stupid.

Enjoy the show!

Q

https://qanon.pub/#3466

Anonymous ID: 101050 April 6, 2021, 6:23 a.m. No.13370895 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

China Creates Its Own Digital Currency

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-creates-its-own-digital-currency-a-first-for-major-economy-11617634118

"China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which will issue the new electronic money. It is expected to give China’s government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin’s major draws: anonymity for the user."

"Beijing is also positioning the digital yuan for international use and designing it to be untethered to the global financial system, where the U.S. dollar has been king since World War II. China is embracing digitization in many forms, including money, in a bid to gain more centralized control while getting a head start on technologies of the future that it regards as up for grabs."

[My opinion]

What does it mean to be "untethered to the global financial system"? [Is there a better way of wording that phrase too? - It looks like journalists' sentence structure is also suffering.]

What does it mean to be "untethered to the global financial system"? Does it mean that it will not be exchangeable for any other currency? A kind of "token" to exchange for food, accommodation, entertainment…etc? A "food ration card"?

Will all payments made by the Chinese people will be tracked? It looks like they are closing a hole in the reputation system.

How will the Chinese people pay for prostitutes?

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 6, 2021, 10:37 p.m. No.13376039 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6043 >>1307

Q: Into the Storm set to provide answers on dangerous QAnon cult

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - APRIL 7, 2021

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On August 7, 2020 President Donald Trump spoke to American people. “We’re going to win,” he said. “And we’re going to win big. Q just watch. We have the cards – they don’t.”

The ‘Q’ was almost certainly a mispronunciation, but millions of QAnon observers latched on to it. Trump was their man. Trump was their saviour. Anons believed President Trump had set himself to war against the Deep State and with their help, he would triumph.

Q: Into the Storm is an HBO six-part documentary currently screening in Australia on Foxtel. It is the first serious attempt to get to the bottom of the QAnon cult and determine the real identity of the deep state “insider” known as Q.

Three years in the making, Director Cullen Hoback and executive producer Adam McKay traversed the globe investigating the movement fuelled by conspiracy theories and revealed how the Q drops war gamed the internet, hijacked politics, and manipulated people’s thinking.

The documentary is also a study on freedom of speech. QAnon itself is an exercise in speech without consequence, of deliberate use of dangerous misinformation designed to inspire violence.

The great cult of the 20th Century, Scientology, was based on the charismatic manner and style of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, his books and his cultist toys like the e-meter. It drew people in due to a mistrust of psychology and peddled easy answers to complex personal and societal problems through old technology and communication methods.

QAnon is a 21st Century phenomenon. It could only have happened in this time, driven by social media and imageboard websites like 4 Chan and 8 Chan/kun.

The preconditions of its success are grounded in a profound sense of disconnection from the political process and a deep mistrust of mainstream media.

Ironically, the darkest claims of QAnon fall in the historical, founded on the bizarre belief that the world is run by Satan-worshipping paedophiles who eat babies. The baby eaters are Democrat politicians, Hollywood liberals, even Pope Francis I.

The slaughter and cannibalism of infants is an age old propaganda ploy, used widely to inspire anti-Semitic pogroms for centuries.

Interestingly, the GOP congressman from Florida, Matt Gaetz, who is facing allegations of sex trafficking and possibly trafficking of a minor for the purposes of prostitution, has found support from QAnon cultists who have posted recently on Telegram declaring Gaetz has been set up.

Unlike most cults before it, QAnon is political rather than religious or spiritual in nature.

QAnon is more than a conspiracy theory. It’s the mother of all conspiracy theories. At one level, it’s an online game that encourages adherents to play their own role in a revolution which will solve the evils of the world.

We don’t yet know who Q is, but his messages called Q drops are largely based on repetition, a useful tactic in psy-ops. There have been more than 5000 Q drops, almost all cryptic in meaning while emphasising a key set of phrases – “Do your own research”, “Trust the Plan”, “Where We Go One, We Go All,” and predicting Apocalyptic scenarios like “The Storm” and “The Great Awakening”.

Q drops are then analysed by influencers and turned into memes where they filter through the social media before ending up on grandma’s Facebook page.

In 2018, the cult of QAnon came to the belief that sealed indictments had led to the arrest of 55,000 people, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Bill Gates. In 2020, the Australian branch of QAnon were shrieking that Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews had been arrested and was cooling his heels in Guantanamo Bay and had been replaced by a body double.

None of this happened, of course, but it didn’t diminish the fervour.

(continued)

>>13376039

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Why is it dangerous? QAnon is a cult and cults practice exclusion – members of the cult are separated from their friends and families. QAnons are ‘redpilled’ – a term first used in the film, the Matrix where the Keanu Reeves character, Neo, takes a red pill in order to find a hidden reality.

Like all cults, it separates followers from their money who splurge on donations and merchandise to Q-influencers.

QAnon’s most dangerous element is that it encourages its adherents to take matters into their own hands. In its early days and in its earliest expression, a Washington DC family restaurant, Comet Pizza, became the scene of a siege when one Anon entered the restaurant with an AR-15 seeking to rescue abducted children kept in the basement. There were no abducted children. There was no basement.

A swat team circled the building, arresting the gunman, Edgar Maddison Welch, a 29-year-old resident of Salisbury, North Carolina. No one was injured although patrons fled the building terrified. Welch, who has just completed a four year jail sentence, offered no apologies, claiming only that his shocking assault was a case of “bad intel”.

The storming of the Capitol building on January 6 was not exclusively a QAnon event, but it had been promised by Q and Q-influencers for years. It wasn’t just the Q Shaman, Jake Angeli, who turned up. Thousands of Anons pushed their way into the Capitol Building, clashed with police and threatened the very heart of American democracy.

Intriguingly, Q Posts have stopped. There hasn’t been one since December 20, 2020, a typically cryptic message but this one attempted to put an end to the dangerous nonsense.

It hasn’t worked. Anons are now off the leash, free to make all sorts of torturous predictions. There was a flurry of activity online when the Ever Given became blocked in the Suez Canal. Part of the container ship’s registration included the initials “HRC” – Hillary Rodham Clinton. The ship is operated by Taiwanese transport company, Evergreen Marine. Evergreen was Hillary Clinton’s secret service ascribed codename.

Anons started chirping that abducted children are being transported around the world by container ship. QAnon has now become a danger to shipping.

Who was Q? You’ll have to watch the documentary to find out but the name of Ron Watkins, the administrator of the message board 8kun, the conspiratorial movement’s online home, looms large.

But there are so many questions still to be answered. Was this a political psy-op designed to create a hard base of Trump voters or was it a crazy game that spun out of control and led millions of people around the world to fall under its spell? And who should pay the price for entrapping millions of people into a violent fantasy, giving them a sense of connection and enhanced identity by propelling them into battle, the foot soldiers in a contrived fight against evil?

Peter Hoysted is Jack the Insider: a highly placed, dedicated servant of the nation with close ties to leading figures in politics, business and the union movement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/q-into-the-storm-set-to-provide-answers-on-dangerous-qanon-cult/news-story/3e505fc9d6608d12f4029429ac923a44

China denies abuse of Uyghurs in bizarre press conference

Australian journalists have been invited to a surreal press conference by the Chinese embassy, where they have been fed the nation’s propaganda.

Finn McHugh - APRIL 7, 2021

The Chinese government has held an extraordinary press conference in Canberra, trotting out members of a Muslim ethnic minority to deny they had been persecuted by the communist nation.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra invited Australian journalists to the meeting on Wednesday to defend Beijing’s human rights record in Xinjiang Province, where human rights groups believe more than a million Muslim Uyghurs have been sent to internment camps.

But in a surreal press conference, Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye insisted Uyghurs were not subjected to oppression in Xinjiang.

China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said the point of the press conference was to combat “disinformation” about Xinjiang and the Uyghurs.

“Over some time, there has been quite some distorted coverage about Xinjiang in certain Western media,” Mr Cheng said.

“Those reports are basically based on disinformation or misinformation.

“Today’s press conference is to help you Australian journalists to have a better understanding of the actual situation in Xinjiang.”

Journalists were shown a six-minute propaganda video – entitled “Xinjiang is a Wonderful Land” – depicting the region as one of “economic development, social stability, livelihood improvement and religious harmony”.

The video suggested the Communist Party of China had “transformed” Xinjiang “into a land of life, a land of thriving vitality”.

China has long insisted the camps are designed to quell a growing separatist movement in the region, driven by the Uyghur population.

Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association president Ramila Chanisheff said the number of people to have passed through the camps could range between 5 and 8 million, with more than 380 sites across Xinjiang.

She said the press conference was a sign of “desperation” from Beijing, which was “very much afraid” of the growing international scrutiny about the province.

“I think what we can see is that they’re desperate, they’re trying every way to cover up the reality of the actual statistics and the pure evidence that’s coming out of Xinjiang,” she told Sky News.

“The world is realising what’s happening out there, they’re seeing it for what it is. I think China is very much afraid at the moment.”

Ms Chanisheff said China’s economic and international influence meant it would likely become more vocal as it defended its record in Xinjiang.

Canada’s parliament in February declared a genocide was under way in the region, while UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab accused China of a “highly disturbing program of oppression” last month.

“This is one of the worst human rights crises of our time and I believe the evidence is clear, as it is sobering,” he said.

Despite deteriorating relations between Canberra and Beijing over the past year, Australia has so far resisted following suit.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne last month indicated Australia would not declare a genocide in Xinjiang.

“We have a slightly different approach to that turn of phrase, and I don’t mean this in a pedantic or semantic way,” she said.

But Ms Payne called on China to allow the UN high commissioner for human rights to have access to the region.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/china-denies-abuse-of-uyghurs-in-bizarre-press-conference/news-story/7efadf8abb39157b810e4acc3cdab7f4

>>13376098

Chinese embassy release propaganda film riddled with misinformation on Uyghur genocide

Sky News Australia

7 Apr 2021

The Chinese Embassy in Canberra has aired a bizarre nine-minute propaganda film riddled with misinformation in an attempt to downplay the acts of genocide being committed against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.

The video was littered with propaganda declaring Xinjiang as a “wonderful land” and spoke about free-education camps in the region.

The ambassador slammed so-called “distorted coverage” of the situation in Xinjiang where up to a million Uyghurs are being kept in ‘re-education camps’.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has come out against the treatment of the Muslim minority group declaring Beijing is committing “genocide and crimes against humanity”

The Australian Strategic Policy Instituted has claimed there are more than 380 ‘re-education’ camps in the region which is up more than 40 per cent from previous estimates.

In early 2021 the BBC did an expose on the horrific treatment of the Uyghur population, highlighting the treatment of females in the camps which included forced sterilisation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjpLjsEAUes

>>13376098

>>13376103

China delivers propaganda speech blaming Uyghur treatment on ‘terrorism’

Sky News Australia

7 Apr 2021

A senior Chinese government official from Xinjiang has delivered a disturbing speech which defended the horrors being committed against the Uyghur population.

In the bizarre press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Xinjiang Vice-Governor Erkin Tuniyaz said the forced labor and re-education camps were merely a means to combat “terrorism” and “religious extremism”.

“We have made utmost efforts to eradicate the soil and conditions for breeding terrorism and religious extremism and protect the people’s basic rights from being harmed by terrorism and religious extremism,” he said.

More than a million Uyghur muslims are believed to be trapped in re-education camps in China, which survivors have told the BBC subjected women to sexual assault and violence.

During the press conference, the Chinese Government also played several strange propaganda videos which attempted to spruik Xinjiang as a popular tourism destination and a place for religious freedoms.

“In Xinjiang, the principle of the freedom of religious beliefs enshrined in the national constitution has been implemented in entirety,” the video stated.

“Normal religious activities of believers and their religious needs are guaranteed by law,” it said.

China has faced sustained international criticism in relation to its treatment of the Uyghur populations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-it6kwnffLo

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 7, 2021, 1:11 a.m. No.13376526 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

HIV-positive paedophile Jadd William Brooker to be charged with 100 more offences involving six child and teenage victims

The HIV-positive paedophile who vowed to infect children will be charged with 100 more crimes, while another alleged offender is now co-operating with police.

Sean Fewster - April 7, 2021

Investigators are poised to charge HIV-positive paedophile Jadd William Brooker with 100 more offences – including the depraved abuse of six children and teens in Australia.

The Advertiser can reveal the new allegations, which include “contact offending” against children, will be laid before Brooker’s next court appearance in June.

Some of those alleged offences are regarded as “category five” crimes, meaning they involve acts such as coerced bondage, sadism, torture or bestiality.

The Advertiser can also reveal another man facing charges arising from the Brooker case is now co-operating with AFP and SA Police investigators.

The 37-year-old senior Correctional Services Department officer last week told a court he wanted his identity suppressed – and his lawyer, Stacey Carter, said the situation “may change”.

“I can confirm my client has co-operated fully with SA Police,” she said.

“I am permitted to confirm he has provided police with the identity of the alleged victims … this may change the suppression order application.”

Brooker, 38, of Glenelg East, has already pleaded guilty to seven child abuse and exploitation charges – earning a potential 40 per cent sentencing discount.

Prosecutors have previously alleged he expressed his intention to infect adults and children with HIV, then acted on it while filming himself.

They said he had a teenage victim – who has been tested for the virus – in an eastern states city, and can be connected to 40 other paedophiles worldwide.

A month after Brooker’s arrest, in September last year, police had analysed just 30 per cent of the 4.5 million files on his electronic devices.

They allegedly discovered 10,000 images of child exploitation, 7000 of which were new and “not pre-existing” on the internet.

That prompted further investigations resulting in the arrests of the senior correctional services officer and of former Labor Party staffer Ben Waters last week.

Court documents released on Wednesday allege the senior correctional services officer’s offending occurred at Port Lincoln, the northern suburbs and the Eyre Peninsula in 2020 and 2021.

It is alleged that, between June 2020 and January 2021, he both produced and disseminated exploitation material featuring children under the age of 14 years.

It is further alleged that, between June 2020 and March 2021, he indecently filmed an adult without their consent.

The man allegedly produced further exploitation material between November 2020 and January 2021, and was caught in possession of such material on March 30 this year.

Last week, the man’s counsel sought an identity suppression and, when that failed, said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.

That appeal has meant the man’s unmasking will be postponed until his legal challenge has been heard on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Brooker faced court on the charges filed against him so far.

Those include the seven counts to which he has confessed, and 36 further charges involving the alleged production, possession and dissemination of child abuse material.

Tim Clarke, for Brooker, asked for the existence of those 36 charges, and any pending charges, to be suppressed from publication.

“I’ve spoken to the prosecution and we’re seeking to negotiate these matters … those negotiations are ongoing, and there has been correspondence,” he said.

“We’ve been identifying the counts that are likely to resolve by way of plea … we expect these matters are likely to resolve.”

He argued the suppression was needed to ensure the integrity of ongoing investigations – a claim rejected by both prosecutors and The Advertiser.

The state’s chief magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, declined to impose a suppression order and remanded Brooker in custody until June, when he will enter his pleas.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-sa/hivpositive-paedophile-jadd-william-brooker-to-be-charged-with-100-more-offences-involving-six-child-and-teenage-victims/news-story/49f349e4e7cd6c00634edfd6c7618b2b

>>13376522 /LB (US)

notable

I have grown to love Finance Recalibration.

… link it please.

Ghislaine Maxwell ordered to clean dirty and smelly prison cell

Ghislaine Maxwell’s life behind bars is arduous but the Bureau of Prisons says that she’s the one making it harder.

Marta Dhanis - 7 April 2021

Ghislaine Maxwell’s life behind bars is arduous but the Bureau of Prisons says that she’s the one making it harder. It turns out the British socialite is keeping her cell "very dirty" and smelly but had complained about those conditions a couple of months ago.

In a letter to a judge, the government details Maxwell’s latest conditions of confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), in Brooklyn. "MDC staff directed the defendant to clean her cell because it had become very dirty. Among other things, MDC staff noted that the defendant frequently did not flush her toilet after using it, which caused the cell to smell," prosecutors said.

Moreover, her cell became "increasingly dirty" as she didn’t clean it "in some time."

For one thing the accused madam of Jeffrey Epstein can be thankful for: she has now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The MDC medical staff considered that the defendant is "physically healthy" despite her lawyers’ suggestions that she may not be able to stand trial due to her deteriorating health. The staff indicated that the defendant’s weight has fluctuated between the 130s and the 140s, what they consider an adequate weight for her 5’7" height. The MDC also refuted the idea that the defendant has experienced any noticeable hair loss.

Maxwell’s sleep deprivation suggestions were also turned down.

Prosecutors said that, at night, the MDC staff are required to confirm every 15 minutes that the defendant is not in distress. In order to do so, they point a flashlight to the concrete ceiling of the defendant’s cell to illuminate the cell sufficiently to make sure that the defendant is breathing. This shouldn’t disturb her much, they argued, since the defendant has been seen wearing an eye mask when she sleeps.

The MDC also observed that Maxwell is a privileged inmate who gets more time "than any other inmate" to review documents and evidence in her case to prepare for trial. "Specifically, the defendant is permitted to review her discovery thirteen hours per day, seven days per week."

For that purpose and while in a day room separate from her cell, she has access to both a desktop and a laptop computer, and a phone through which she can communicate with her attorneys.

Despite the MDC having resumed in-person visitation in mid-February, her attorneys have so far declined to meet with the defendant in person.

The DOJ has recently filed more charges against Maxwell, and she is expected to be arraigned on the superseding indictment on April 23. Her trial is currently scheduled for July 12.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ghislaine-maxwell-ordered-clean-dirty-and-smelly-prison-cell

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.196.0_2.pdf

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 7, 2021, 1:55 a.m. No.13376601 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

Contact books of Australian diplomats hacked in major ‘phishing’ scam

Anthony Galloway - April 7, 2021

Senior Australian diplomats, including ambassador to the United States Arthur Sinodinos, have been caught up in a sophisticated identity theft scam in which cyber attackers impersonated them on encrypted messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram in a bid to get sensitive information from their contacts.

The Australian Federal Police is investigating the security lapses after a number of heads of mission reported experiencing suspicious activity on their phones.

The cyber scare appears to mirror the attacks on senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Simon Birmingham and Health Minister Greg Hunt, whereby the attackers are impersonating the individuals on WhatsApp or Telegram by using their names and personal phone numbers and gaining access to their contact book. There is also a third federal MP who has been hit by the scam who has not been identified.

The “phishing” attacks have unsettled some senior members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the extent that they are now operating on the basis their phones have been compromised. This climate of fear has been exacerbated by a number of other unrelated cyber attacks against diplomats, as well as sophisticated hacks on the computer networks of Parliament House and Nine News (publisher of this masthead).

Mr Sinodinos confirmed a Telegram account was created in his name and said the matter had now been addressed by the AFP.

The AFP’s investigations, which included having MPs hand over their phones, so far show none of the devices have been physically hacked into, despite their contact books being stolen. But cabinet ministers did have their phones replaced out of caution.

Under the scam, senior politicians and diplomats are being sent messages asking them to validate new WhatsApp and Telegram accounts. Once they click on the link or download the app, the hacker then has access to their contact book and the ability to impersonate them on the new account. The cyber attackers are then sending unsolicited messages to the person’s contacts asking for contact details of people in Hong Kong.

The person impersonating Senator Birmingham’s phone began sending messages to a number of his contacts on Telegram, with one of the recipients asked: “Do you have a contact in Hong Kong. An Aussie preferably.”

After one of the recipients handed over contact details for two pro-democracy activists not knowing they were speaking to an imposter, the cyber hacker responded: “Let me know if you have reached out to the both of them.”

The AFP has yet to establish whether a criminal syndicate or a foreign country is behind the scam, but security agencies believe it is more likely to be a criminal group. While the focus on Hong Kong activists has sparked concern among some members of the government that China is behind the cyber attacks, the attackers appeared to be wanting money.

Some people contacted were asked to transfer money to a Hong Kong bank account with the account name “Yat Ting Ho Laundry Co”. The account was with Standard Chartered Hong Kong.

A spokeswoman for the AFP said it was aware of the matter and was investigating.

“There is no compromise of the affected users’ devices,” the AFP spokeswoman said.

The AFP has organised briefings for MPs to educate them on how to look out for phishing scams.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/contact-books-of-australian-diplomats-hacked-in-major-phishing-scam-20210406-p57gte.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1617741524

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 7, 2021, 2:02 a.m. No.13376613 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

Secret recordings to be used in case against alleged Chinese spy

Hundreds of thousands of messages and secret recordings will form part of the court case against an alleged Chinese spy.

Genevieve Alison - April 6, 2021

Hundreds of thousands of messages between an alleged Chinese spy and an “associate of interest” are being combed through by federal investigators ahead of a court case – the first of its kind in Australia.

Sixty witness statements and almost 10 hours of audio captured on secret listening devices will form part of the court case against Di Sanh Duong, a former Liberal party candidate and the first Australian charged with a foreign interference offence in November.

The Surrey Hills man, known also as “Sunny” Duong, was charged with the single offence of preparing an act of foreign interference following a year-long probe by domestic spy agency, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and the Australian Federal Police.

The investigation was dubbed Operation Fruithof.

In a brief hearing before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Christopher Tran requested a ten-day extension to finalise their case.

Seven mobile phones, two laptops, two tablets and one computer were among the devices seized during a raid on Mr Duong’s home in October 2020.

An affidavit released to the Herald Sun revealed the “enormity” of the material currently being analysed by investigators – the vast majority of which is in a foreign language.

The AFP has recruited three translators who have been working around the clock for the past 12 weeks so translate 90 per cent of the material into English.

According to the affidavit, the large brief of evidence includes 502 pages of statements from 60 witnesses, 9 hours and 28 minutes of covert recordings and more than 2000 forensic files seized from laptops and other devices as a result of the investigation.

Investigators said that on just one iPhone, 105,351 images, 1449 videos, and 916 conversations on WeChat containing 234,940 messages were found.

Defence lawyer Charles Morgan did not oppose the extension and Magistrate Marita Altman approved the application.

Mr Duong did not attend the brief hearing and remains on bail.

In December, the Sunday Herald Sun revealed Mr Duong is barred from contacting any embassy and consulate staff, must surrender his passport and cannot possess any mobile phones while he awaits his next court date.

Mr Duong, who has lived in Melbourne for decades, is the first person to be charged under foreign interference laws which went through the federal parliament in 2018.

If convicted, Mr Duong could face up to 10 years behind bars.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/secret-recordings-to-be-used-in-case-against-alleged-chinese-spy/news-story/64f893752958b9874bb68d540ad09874

Labor staffer allegedly involved in foreign interference plot claims evidence was illegally obtained

Elizabeth Byrne - 7 April 2021

Australia's foreign interference laws will be tested in the High Court in Canberra today, when former Labor adviser John Zhang challenges the validity of warrants used to seize his passport, phones and computers.

Mr Zhang has not been charged with anything.

But Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized material from him during an investigation into an alleged Chinese plot to infiltrate the New South Wales Parliament through the office of Labor backbencher Shaoquett Moselmane.

Mr Zhang used to be an adviser to Mr Moselmane.

The AFP said it is investigating whether Mr Zhang and his accomplices used a chat group on the Chinese social media platform WeChat to encourage Mr Moselmane to support Chinese government interests, while concealing or failing to disclose to him they were collaborating with the Chinese state.

Mr Zhang has categorically denied the claim.

Submissions from his lawyers say the warrants were invalid on several fronts.

"In respect of the stated offence under [the law] the warrants did not identify the target with precision," the submission reads.

Mr Zhang's lawyers submitted that the foreign principal is identified only by implication as the Chinese government, the ministry of state security and the United Front Work Department.

Mr Zhang will also argue the laws interfere with the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication.

But the government submissions say, even if that is the case, the laws are still valid.

"The purpose of the provisions — protecting Australia's sovereignty by reducing the risk of foreign interference in Australia's political or governmental processes — is not only legitimate, but serves to preserve and enhance the system of representative and responsible government," the government's submission reads.

"The provisions are reasonably appropriate and adapted to that significant purpose."

Zhang seeks return or destruction of seized items

Another key battleground will be over what happens to the items and materials seized under the warrants.

Mr Zhang wants them returned or destroyed.

The phones, passport, hard drives and other personal items were collected by police during three searches, including at the NSW Parliament.

Government lawyers will argue that even if the warrants weren't valid, police should get to keep the material, citing the recent judgement in the case of former News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst, where police were allowed to keep the material they gathered, even though the warrants were overturned.

In that case, the judges said:

"… It has long been accepted that the courts will refuse to exercise their discretion to grant equitable relief when to do so would prevent the disclosure of criminality which [would] be in the public interest to reveal."

Mr Zhang's case escalated tensions between Australia and China, with three Chinese journalists who were part of the WeChat group known as FD (Fair Dinkum) leaving in June last year shortly after being questioned by ASIO.

Another two scholars had their visas cancelled.

The diplomatic crisis also saw the ABC's Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review's Michael Smith evacuated from China.

The High Court hearing is expected to run for a day.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-07/act-foreign-interference-laws-challenged-john-zhang-moselmane/100051188

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 7, 2021, 2:14 a.m. No.13376644 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Five AFP officers examine Higgins rape allegations

Daniel McCulloch - Apr 7, 2021

A team of five Australian Federal Police officers has been assembled to investigate rape allegations raised by Brittany Higgins.

But deputy commissioner Neil Gaughan will not say whether the alleged perpetrator has been interviewed.

“Natural justice has to be held here in relation to this particular issue,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“Of course, this person that has allegedly undertaken any crime is not obliged to be actually subjected to an interview, they have the right to remain silent.

“It’s up to them, it’s a matter for them, that’s the way our democracy is and the way our laws have been crafted.”

Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by a male colleague inside a ministerial office in Parliament House after a night out in 2019.

The former Liberal staffer initially decided not to pursue a police complaint, fearing her job could be affected.

But Ms Higgins re-engaged with the AFP about the alleged rape in February.

Four investigators assigned to her case are being overseen by an AFP detective-inspector.

“We will follow the evidence to where it takes us,” Mr Gaughan said.

“We’ve got to get this right, clearly, and we will be methodical.

“We will work through the evidence, we will work with the DPP and when we are ready and when they are ready, we will make some further public announcements about it.”

Mr Gaughan would not say how long the investigation might take.

“How long is a piece of string,” he said.

“I don’t want to put a timeline on it – I think that’s really dangerous – I don’t want to put pressure on investigators.

“My job is to provide them with time and space to do their job and that is my intention.”

Mr Gaughan said he would not provide “blow-by-blow” details on progress of the case but any major milestones would be accompanied by public media releases.

“We’ll just have to see where that takes us in the coming weeks.”

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-news/2021/04/07/brittany-higgins-rape-afp/

>>13376098

>>13376103

>>13376111

Uyghur community leaders in Australia appalled and outraged the government allowed a Chinese Communist Party propaganda parade

Bang Xiao - 7 April 2021

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Uyghur community leaders say Australia should be ashamed for allowing a Chinese government propaganda presentation to take place, and have called for the alleged atrocities against the minority group to be labelled a genocide.

Their comments come after the Chinese embassy in Canberra held a press conference where journalists were played five propaganda videos about conditions in Xinjiang in China's far west.

It has been estimated that more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim ethnic minorities have been detained in what the Communist Party (CCP) calls vocational education centres.

The United Nations calls the facilities "re-education camps".

The press conference was joined by government officials in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

The videos, titled Xinjiang Is A Wonderful Land, presented the Chinese government's interpretation of the human rights concerns in the region, including forced sterilisation, concentration camps and forced labour.

In the videos, one woman featured said she has put in an intrauterine device (IUD) voluntarily while another emphasised she has been more satisfied with her life after receiving "training" from one of the re-education camps.

The fact that the Chinese government allows Uyghur parents in Xinjiang to have more than one child per family was also used in an attempt to demonstrate there was no genocide in the region.

Six speakers from Uyghur background also shared their "real stories" that echoed the Party's narrative after the screening. Most of them were women, too.

Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye stated that the press conference aimed at "helping Australian journalists to understand the real situation in Xinjiang".

He criticised the Western media's allegations as being based on fake news and misinformation.

Xinjiang Vice-Governor Erkin Tuniyaz also spoke.

Both the Governor and the videos hit very familiar themes, saying the government maintains "ethnic harmony" in Xinjiang while cracking down on terrorism.

In Mr Tuniyaz's 20-minute speech, he stressed the "prosperity" and "harmony" of the region.

He said media and Western politicians were lying about the alleged treatment of Uyghurs and other minorities.

Members of the Uyghur community in Australia tell a different story.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 8, 2021, 12:28 a.m. No.13382789 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2795

>>13382781

2/2

'It's just preposterous propaganda'

Mamutjan Abdurrahim, an Adelaide Uyghur man and an Australian permanent resident, said he had been separated from his wife Muherrem Ablet, his daughter Muhlise and son Hikmet for more than five years.

Mr Abdurrahim told the ABC his wife was once taken into a re-education camp after she returned to Xinjiang from Malaysia, where the family had lived for about three years, with their two children.

He said he didn't believe the video Chinese officials played at the press conference in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon.

"Their passports were confiscated," Mr Abdurrahim said.

"The CGTN (China Global Television Network) had just made a counterclaim to that and falsely accusing me as a family abandoner.

"Because in that propaganda case, they also said that my wife was arrested in 2019 for provoking ethnic hatred, which is one of the common charges that are levelled against Uyghurs who were wrongfully detained after being detained in the concentration camps for years."

Mr Abdurrahim said he was trying his best to advocate for his wife and was waiting for her release.

But he said the press conference had left him enraged.

"It's just preposterous. It makes me furious and makes me even shiver as to I cannot find any words … to describe those outrageous claims. It is outrageous to say that people are happy," he said.

"How can people going through such massive persecution be happy?

"It is just preposterous propaganda."

Australia asked to stop allowing CCP to spread propaganda

Nurmuhammad Majid, the president of East Turkistan Australian Association, described China's campaign as a "propaganda mission" for both domestic and international audiences.

"They are advocating for the legitimacy of the crackdown policy in Xinjiang region," Mr Majid told the ABC.

"But they are ignoring the factual grounds of how Uyghur nations are actually living in the worst conditions and worst circumstances we have seen since 2017.

"The entire region has become a dystopian state."

Mr Majid said the Chinese government had been showcasing videos on different platforms to "deceive international communities".

"Today's briefing in Canberra by the Chinese authorities is actually another means of deception," he said, adding that over 20 of his family members were detained and sent to re-education camps in Xinjiang.

"And I call on the Australian government and the public to be shamed for allowing the Chinese government to have such a big platform in a democratic country to spread its political agenda.

"Australia has moral, ethical [and] legal obligations to call such atrocities committed by the Chinese government a form of genocide."

No contact with family for three years

Reyhangul Abliz, a Melbourne-based Uyghur woman, said she has several relatives who have been missing, detained or imprisoned.

"I am here to testify that my parents and other family relatives have been caught by the Chinese communist regime," Ms Abliz told the ABC.

"Some of them are detained in camp since 2017, and have not been released."

She said her father, 71, and mother, 68, were both successful business people who were victims of China's re-education camps.

"They are typical victims of the Chinese concentration camp," she said.

Ms Abliz said her parents were not criminals and neither of them needed any training.

"It's been more than three years now. I totally lost my contact with my parents and my other siblings," she said.

"Every single minute I am suffering this situation about my parents.

"I am begging the Australian government to help all my people, my parents, and try to help them through the worst situation.

"Recognise the genocide."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-07/uyghur-leaders-call-china-atrocities-genocide-xinjiang/100053014

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 8, 2021, 12:29 a.m. No.13382795 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

>>13382781

>>13382789

Xinjiang is a wonderful land

Chinese Embassy in UK

1 Apr 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erjx_Ao6x_o

Defrocked US priest revered in East Timor accused of abuse

AP / nzherald.co.nz - 8 Apr, 2021

1/3

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

It was the same every night. A list of names was posted on the Rev Richard Daschbach's bedroom door. The child at the top of the roster knew it was her turn to share the lower bunk with the elderly priest and another elementary school-aged girl.

Daschbach was idolised in the remote enclave of East Timor where he lived, largely for his role in helping save lives during the tiny nation's bloody struggle for independence. So, the girls never spoke about the abuse they suffered. They said they were afraid they would be banished from the shelter the 84-year-old from Pennsylvania established decades previously for abused women, orphans, and other destitute children.

The horrors of what they said happened behind closed doors over a period of years is now being played out in court - the first clergy sex case in a country that is more solidly Catholic than any other place aside from the Vatican. The trial was postponed last month due to a coronavirus lockdown, but is expected to resume in May.

At least 15 females have come forward, according to JU,S Jurídico Social, a group of human rights lawyers representing them. The Associated Press has spoken to a third of the accusers, each recalling their experiences in vivid detail. They are not being identified because of fears of retribution.

They told AP Daschbach would sit on a chair every night in the middle of a room holding a little girl, surrounded by a ring of children and staff members praying and singing hymns before bed.

"The way that you determine who sits on his lap is by the list that he'd have on his door," one accuser said. "And that meant that you were the little girl that was going to go with him."

Later in his room, they said Daschbach would strip down to white boxer shorts and a T-shirt and then undress the girls, giving them deodorant to put on before fondling them and quietly guiding their hands to touch him. Then, they said, there would often be oral sex. One accuser also alleged she was raped.

He would sometimes ask the children with him on the lower bunk to switch places with one or two others sleeping on the mattress above, they said, adding abuse also occasionally occurred during afternoon naps.

Daschbach faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. He and his lawyer declined to be interviewed by the AP.

The church defrocked Daschbach in 2018, saying he had confessed to sexually abusing children. But he maintains strong political ties and is still treated like a rock star by many, especially at the Topu Honis shelter, which means "Guide to Life."

Former President Xanana Gusmao attended the trial's opening in February. A month earlier, the independence hero visited Daschbach on his birthday, hand-feeding cake to the former priest and lifting a glass of wine to his lips, as cameras flashed.

Daschbach's lawyers have not made their legal strategy public, and court proceedings are closed. But documents seen by AP indicate that they will argue he is the victim of a conspiracy.

In January, however, the former priest appeared to be preparing his supporters for the worst. He told local reporters that his message to the children who remain in the orphanage is this: "Be patient. We won't meet again because I will be detained for life, but I will still remember you and you have to be happy there."

The son of a Pittsburgh steelworker, Daschbach began his religious studies as a teenager. In 1964, he was ordained by Divine Word Missionaries in Chicago, the Catholic church's largest missionary congregation, with around 6000 priests and brothers serving in more than 80 countries.

When he arrived in Southeast Asia a few years later, the nation now known as East Timor was under Portuguese control. That colonial rule would last until 1975 when the country was almost immediately invaded by neighbouring Indonesia. A bloody, 24-year independence struggle followed, leaving as many as 200,000 people dead — a quarter of the population — through fighting, famine, and starvation.

(continued)

>>13382988

2/3

Daschbach started the shelter in 1992 and earned his reputation during the conflict. He often told visitors about defending the women and children living in Topu Honis and surrounding areas, sheltering them in a cave, and leading a ragtag group armed with spears to stave off attackers.

Stories about the charismatic priest who joined in traditional dances with bells on his ankles, spoke local languages fluently, and gave mass where he blended Catholicism with the area's customs and animist beliefs, spread far beyond East Timor.

Foreign donors, tourists, and aid workers who made the three-hour hike up the steep, narrow jungle path to Kutet village were met by the grandfatherly priest who was often surrounded by laughing kids playing hopscotch in matching uniforms. In many photographs of Topu Honis taken by visitors and posted online, young girls are seen by Daschbach's side, on his lap, or with his arm pulling their tiny shoulders against him.

Some visitors stayed on the mountain for weeks or even months, so impressed by what they saw that they sent tens of thousands of dollars to support the shelter or pay for college scholarships.

Jan McColl, who helped fund Topu Honis, said she was devastated after she and another longtime Australian donor, Tony Hamilton, flew to East Timor and asked Daschbach point-blank whether he was a peadophile.

"He said, 'Yes. That's who I am. And always have been,'" said McColl, adding he responded calmly while continuing to eat his lunch. "So, we just got up and left the table. We were just absolutely distraught."

Hamilton said the exchange was jarring and surreal, and he has struggled to make sense of it while continuing to support some of the children. He and McColl have given affidavits.

"I think in some crazy way, he recognises that what he has done is a crime," he said. "But he reconciles it somehow with the good that he's done."

The global clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than two decades, has led to billions of dollars in settlements and the establishment of new programmes aimed at preventing further abuse. But experts have seen a growing number of victims coming forward in developing nations like Haiti, Kenya, and Bangladesh, where priests and missionaries deployed by religious orders often operate with little or no oversight. Even if they're caught, they rarely face consequences. For some, the idea of ever jailing a priest, no matter the crime, seems blasphemous.

Many supporters in East Timor insist the accusations against Daschbach are lies and part of a bigger plot to take over the shelter and other property, including a beachside boarding school. After the trial's opening, dozens of mostly women and children waited outside the courtroom, wailing as the ex-priest waved goodbye to them from a vehicle.

"Law enforcers must see which one is better: Omitting one person or eliminating the future of many?" said local resident Antonio Molo, one of the doubters, who worries that hundreds of children may lose a chance at a better life if Daschbach is gone.

Though the Vatican acted swiftly to investigate and remove the priest when accusations were levelled three years ago, the local archdiocese was more accommodating.

It agreed to lodge him under informal house arrest at a church residence in the town of Maliana. But Daschbach still moved around with relative ease, including taking an overnight ferry to Oecusse enclave where he returned to the children's home, infuriating accusers and their families. Despite being stripped of his priestly duties, local media reported he continued to perform mass while there.

Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, Vatican ambassador to East Timor, stressed that Daschbach should not be allowed to be among children, but said there's little the church can do now.

"Once he's defrocked … he's no more a priest. He is no part of the clergy," he said. "And, of course, that house for children was not - since the beginning - was not belonging to his religious congregation. He did it by himself, and it was in his own name."

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 8, 2021, 1:32 a.m. No.13382997 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

>>13382993

3/3

Zach Hiner, executive director of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the church had a moral responsibility to do more and should have recalled Daschbach to the US before laicising him.

"We fear for the vulnerable children that he may still have access to," he said.

But Daschbach still has strong support within factions of the church, locally.

Late last year, the Archbishop of Dili sacked the president of the church's "Justice and Peace Commission" and publicly apologised following the publication of a report naming the victims and implying prosecutors, police, and NGOs investigating the allegations had sexually abused the accusers, themselves, by carrying out forensic exams. The report also alleged human trafficking, referring to seven accusers who had been moved to a safe house.

Former donors and the accusers were outraged, saying the report put the lives of those who came forward in danger. Threats of violence have been made against anyone who speaks out against Daschbach.

The ex-priest faces 14 counts of child sexual abuse, one count of child pornography and one count of domestic violence. He also is wanted in the US for three counts of wire fraud linked to one of his California-based donors, which accused him in a court case of violating an agreement to protect those under his care. An Interpol Red Notice has been issued internationally for his arrest.

The accusers who spoke to AP described systematic abuse and inappropriate behaviour, including Daschbach regularly overseeing the girls' showers. They said all of the children removed their clothes and stood together around a large concrete water basin outside, with the nude priest going from girl to girl shampooing their hair and splashing water on their private parts. They said he also took photos of them naked as they played in the rain, and that some girls were told he didn't want them to wear underwear.

His accusers said they were filled with hope when they arrived at the shelter. For the first time, they, along with many others, had clean clothes, time to play, and an emphasis on school. Most importantly, they had food. The meals were basic but steady.

The adoration and respect for the white American missionary was so commanding, the accusers said they did whatever he wanted without question.

One recalled first arriving at the shelter still distraught after her father had died and said the priest raped her that same night. She said he continued to do so frequently the entire time she was there.

She said he would lock the door and pull the curtains, telling her they had to be careful and that no one could know. She said he typically chose young children, but for those like her who were nearing puberty, Daschbach exercised caution.

"He would pull out and say, 'I have to stop, otherwise you'll be pregnant,'" she said.

Now, accusers say they struggle to process how someone who appeared so kind and selfless could ask them to do things that felt so wrong.

"When I was getting abused, I was like, 'Is this sort of like the payment?'" one accuser said. "That's what I was computing in my head … 'this must be the price that I have to pay to be a part of this.' You know, like those shiny little dresses that these girls are wearing to church. That's not free. This is the price tag."

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/child-sex-abuse-case-defrocked-us-priest-revered-in-east-timor-accused-of-abuse/25KHMBPKKHHP63GVTX7NAWA3TE/

https://www.1800respect.org.au

https://www.lifeline.org.au

https://ntv.org.au

https://kidshelpline.com.au

China researchers face abuse, sanctions as Beijing looks to silence critics

Lily Kuo and Gerry Shih - April 7, 2021

1/2

The Internet has become an unbearable place for Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, a 26-year-old analyst based in Australia. Over the past week, she was shocked to see her name trending on Chinese social media, with millions of views and thousands of negative comments.

The flood of attacks posted and re-posted by state-media outlets and nationalist bloggers followed similar themes. Xu, part of a team documenting abuses of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region last year, was a traitor, a pawn controlled by the West, or a “female demon.” Queries for her name turn up thousands of results, including videos claiming to reveal details of her dating life, calling her “promiscuous” and “drug infested.”

On Weibo, people have called for her family to be tracked down and ordered to apologize for raising such a daughter. Others said Xu should never be allowed back into China, issuing not-so-veiled threats. “Meet a traitor, kill a traitor,” one user wrote. Her family asked her to change her name for her own safety.

The torrent of abuse targeting Xu, one year after she co-wrote an Australian Strategic Policy Institute report on Uyghur labor in supply chains, is the most extreme example of a growing Chinese campaign to defend its Xinjiang policies and to silence overseas researchers through sanctions and intimidation.

In recent weeks, China has imposed sanctions on scholars and think tanks while state propaganda organs fanned nationalist anger at companies such as H&M and Nike for not using cotton from Xinjiang. Researchers like Xu, who said people close to her in China have been detained and interrogated because of her work, face increasingly personal attacks.

“As someone who analyzes propaganda activities for a job I can see it’s clearly a coordinated attack,” she said. “At this point, the Chinese government has made it abundantly clear that if you want to keep talking about Xinjiang, the Chinese state would not treat you nicely.”

In March, Beijing announced travel bans and asset freezes on more than 20 scholars and officials, and their families, as well as think tanks in the European Union and Britain, in response to sanctions from the United States, the E.U., Britain and Canada on Chinese officials linked to abuses in Xinjiang. China also barred its citizens and organizations from dealing with the blacklisted entities and individuals.

Scholars focusing on China, who have already seen more restrictions on academic exchanges between China and Western countries, say the latest measures will damage fragile ties and mutual understanding over the long term. More than 1,150 scholars have signed a statement urging Beijing to revoke the sanctions, which they say amount to “academic repression.”

“There is no legal or moral basis for the persecution of scholars, merely because they expose and criticize a powerful government’s human rights abuses,” it said.

Silencing voices

Foreign scholars say the personal attacks against researchers and sanctions on institutions go beyond the scope of recent Western measures against China, which only target government officials, and represent a shift in Beijing’s focus to U.S. allies in Europe.

Among the institutions now banned by China is the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlin, whose researchers publish analysis about Chinese politics, foreign and economic policy and the China-Europe relationship.

“MERICS is probably the one think tank in Europe doing the most pathbreaking work on sensitive issues like Xinjiang and Made in China 2025,” said Bonnie Glaser, incoming director of the German Marshall Fund’s Asia Program, referring to the Chinese state-directed manufacturing plan criticized by foreign governments as unfair.

“The Chinese thought by shutting down these small numbers of voices and their access to China, that they would limit the bad news and negative analysis coming out of Europe. They don’t have that option in the United States,” she said, noting Europe has far fewer institutions researching China.

(continued)

>>13383087

2/2

European scholars said Beijing’s measures were more likely to encourage China skeptics in government and academia who see China as a rival and cautioned against an investment deal now in jeopardy because of the sanctions.

Björn Jerdén, director of the Swedish National China Center, who has been targeted by the new sanctions, said Beijing’s retaliation was “much stronger than expected.” “The Chinese are trying to break what they see as an anti-China alliance but I think the only effect will be that Europe is more eager to coordinate with the U.S.,” Jerdén said.

'Not getting solid information'

Sympathetic Western and Chinese scholars say academic institutions are a crucial venue for both sides to talk, glean insights — and avoid catastrophe — amid mounting tensions. But China’s hard-liners, driven by growing paranoia of foreign infiltration and desire to punish critical voices abroad, are cutting off a useful source of information.

Attacking researchers and blocking channels of information “would be incredibly damaging” for China, said Scott Kennedy, a specialist in China’s economic policies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In mid-2018, China dispatched scholars and diplomats to think tanks in Washington to get a better read on President Donald Trump, whom they struggled to understand. Kennedy said he warned visiting Chinese officials and scholars skeptical of Trump’s tariff threats to take him more seriously. Trump eventually announced tariffs, kick-starting a trade war that rocked Chinese manufacturers.

Since China detained the Canadian researcher Michael Kovrig in 2018, more foreign researchers have worried about traveling to China to conduct fieldwork — and whether they too might be detained, Kennedy said.

Some Chinese researchers also worry about academic decoupling between China and the West. Last month, Jia Qingguo, a member of a foreign policy advisory body, wrote in a proposal that the Chinese government should lift “unnecessary” restrictions on Chinese academics that limit meetings with foreigners to twice a year and prohibit one-on-one meetings.

“If any Chinese entering the U.S. is a suspected secret agent and anybody from the West suspected as a possible spy, that’s not good,” Jia said in an interview. “We need to allow people to exchange views and opinions, and we need to know the other country, how people of the other country are thinking, so that we can be better informed and develop more realistic policies.”

For researchers who have spent their careers focused on China, losing access has been devastating.

Jo Smith Finley, who researches Uyghur identity at Newcastle University in Britain, said the sanctions mean she cannot stay in touch with contacts in China, where she has been traveling for more than three decades.

“My friends in Beijing are some of my oldest and dearest soul mates,” she said, describing adrenaline-filled days after the suppression of pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989.

“The thought of no longer being able to sit in Beijing cafes and restaurants with them and set the world to rights is just unthinkable, surreal,” she said.

The online onslaught against Xu, named in countless headlines as the unexpected “black hand” behind the West’s anti-China campaign, has continued with tacit if not outright support from Chinese state media. “Even as a Chinese person, she insists on going against China; the doxing of Xu Xiuzhong and trashing of her reputation are in no way undeserved,” said an editorial in the state-run China Daily.

Xu, who has tried to stay away from the Internet recently, said she will not stop her work on detention camps in China and forced labor targeting Uyghurs. “For me, it’s always been about writing what’s really happening — discovering and revealing the truth. And there is such a thing as truth.”

And she will not be changing her name, she said. “It’s too late for that.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-online-threats-academics-xinjiang/2021/04/07/2ff73360-968f-11eb-8f0a-3384cf4fb399_story.html

https://www.vickyxu.com/

https://twitter.com/xu_xiuzhong

https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2021-03/Uyghurs%20for%20sale%2016%20March%202021.pdf

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 8, 2021, 2:36 a.m. No.13383114 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Ipswich man charged with possessing child abuse material

A 35-year-old Ipswich man is due to appear in court today (8 April 2021) charged with child exploitation offences following an Australian Federal Police (AFP) child protection investigation.

Officers from the Brisbane Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) executed a search warrant at an address in Gailes, Ipswich on 28 January 2021 after receiving a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States.

The report indicated a person, believed to be in Queensland, was uploading child abuse material using a Google account.

During the search of the Gailes home officers located two laptops, an iPad and five USBs, allegedly containing child abuse material. Three mobile phones and two external hard drives were also located and seized for forensic analysis.

The man was later charged with three counts of possessing child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service and five counts of possessing child exploitation material, as well as unrelated state offences.

The maximum penalty for these Commonwealth child abuse material offences is 15 years imprisonment.

He is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court today.

AFP Detective Superintendent Child Protection Operations Paula Hudson, said the AFP’s international partnerships were vital to stopping those spreading child abuse material online.

“It takes a network to break a network and this arrest is an example of our strong relationships with international law enforcement,” Detective Superintendent Hudson said.

“Our message to offenders accessing, transmitting and exchanging child abuse material is that the AFP will not stop investigating those responsible for spreading this abhorrent material and bringing them before the court.”

Members of the public who have any information about this network or people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button.

https://www.accce.gov.au/report

Note to Media:

Use of term 'CHILD ABUSE' MATERIAL NOT 'CHILD PORNOGRAPHY'

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims. Use of the phrase "child pornography" is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.

Editor's Note: Images of this investigation are available via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/space/Ker98mFsVT

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/ipswich-man-charged-possessing-child-abuse-material

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 8, 2021, 11:42 a.m. No.13385620 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

>>13376573

Fight over Ghislaine Maxwell's jail conditions heats up

The rancorous fight over jail conditions for Ghislaine Maxwell are reaching new lows

LARRY NEUMEISTER - 9 April 2021

NEW YORK – The rancorous fight over jail conditions for Ghislaine Maxwell is reaching new lows, with prosecutors blaming the British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend for creating a stink by failing to flush her toilet and her lawyer saying her health is declining in a facility so mucky that even her salad has mold in it.

The latest exchange in letters to a Manhattan federal court judge came this week as the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral arguments for late April on Maxwell's appeal of her thrice-rejected application to be freed on bail before her July 12 sex trafficking trial.

Maxwell has been at a Brooklyn federal jail since her July arrest on charges she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s. Charges were recently expanded to allege the sex trafficking of girls for Epstein to abuse in the early 2000s. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.

Attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote in a letter late Wednesday that an effort by prosecutors “to publicly embarrass and humiliate Ms. Maxwell in the hostile court of public opinion further erodes the likelihood that her case will be tried by a fair and impartial jury."

She says Maxwell has been mistreated, including over 1,400 physical searches and flashlight checks to ensure she's breathing every 15 minutes while she sleeps, as jail officials overreact to Epstein's August 2019 self-inflicted death in a Manhattan jail as he awaited trial on sex charges.

The letter came a day after prosecutors got specific about Maxwell's jail conditions as they refuted claims Sternheim made in February that her 59-year-old client was “withering to a shell of her former self — losing weight, losing hair, and losing her ability to concentrate.”

Sternheim had also alleged that Maxwell was physically abused when she was shoved into her cell by a guard prior to a pat-down search and then was retaliated against for reporting it when she was ordered to clean, sanitize and scrub the walls of a shower.

In their letter, prosecutors said an investigation of the pat-down search complaint proved Maxwell's complaint unfounded.

They wrote that Maxwell was directed to clean her cell, not in retaliation, but because it had become “very dirty." They noted that Maxwell “frequently did not flush her toilet after using it, which caused the cell to smell.”

Prosecutors said jail staff reported Maxwell, fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, to be physically healthy.

They said the jail's medical staff monitor the 5-foot-7 Maxwell daily and weigh her weekly, finding her weight fluctuates between the 130s and the 140s, normal for her height. They said staff has not observed any noticeable hair loss.

In Wednesday's letter, Sternheim criticized the government, calling it “debatable whether the public has a ‘right to know’ about Ms. Maxwell’s conditions of confinement.” She said prosecutors violated her client's privacy rights by releasing medical information related to weight and vaccination status.

“She is weighed while clothed on scales that are erratic and not set to zero,” Sternheim said. “Her eyesight is failing, and her hair is thinning. The guards are far from qualified to assess Ms. Maxwell’s physical condition.”

As for Maxwell's toilet, Sternheim said her client avoids using it in a cell closely observed by video and guards but flushes it frequently, as directed by guards, to help alleviate a stench from overflowing toilets in the cellblock above.

“Blaming Ms. Maxwell for the filth of her severely restricted environment is utterly misplaced. To suggest she willingly lives in squalor is absurd,” the lawyer said.

Sternheim said the building where Maxwell is held is permeated with mold and vermin, and even a salad she was given earlier this week had mold in it.

“Cockroaches and rodents are plentiful and glue tracks have been placed in Ms. Maxwell’s day area to help remediate the problem,” she said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lawyers-raise-stink-british-socialites-jail-care-76951589

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.197.0_1.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0a3452 April 8, 2021, 1:42 p.m. No.13386278 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

Taiwan charges alleged spy after outed by Chinese operative who defected to Australia

Taiwan authorities have charged an alleged Chinese spy and his wife with money laundering after they were identified by self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative Wang Liqiang who defected to Australia.

Businessman Xiang Xin and his wife Gong Qing, both directors of the company Wang says employed him to run interference operations, were detained at Taiwan’s main airport in November 2019 as they tried to leave the country after reports in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes identified Xian as a Chinese spy.

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office announced on Thursday it had filed charges of money laundering against the couple, while they were also under investigation under the country’s National Security Act.

According to a report in Taiwan publication United Daily News, the prosecution’s investigation found Xiang and Gong received $HKD203 million in illegal profits. The prosecution also said they were suspected of violating the National Security Act and travel bans had been placed on them.

Wang Liqiang, who in 2019 sought political protection in Australia, said he had worked as an agent for China and had helped interfere in Hong Kong’s democracy movement and Taiwan’s municipal elections.

Wang said he worked for a Hong Kong-based company, China Innovation Investment Limited (CIIL), a front set up to interfere on behalf of China. The company denied the claims and said Wang did not work there, while the Chinese declared he was a fraud.

CIIL’s two directors, Xiang and Gong were stopped at Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport by the country’s Investigation Bureau on November 24, and were prevented from leaving the country. Prosecutors had twice extended the exit ban on them and had until April 14 to charge them under Taiwanese law.

Wang claimed to be the first Chinese operative to ever blow his cover in Australia, and he revealed the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, as well as providing details of how they fund and conduct political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

As of late 2019, Wang had taken his material to Australia’s counter-espionage agency, ASIO, and was seeking political asylum, but his whereabouts now are unknown.

According to multiple Australian government sources, security agencies in the United States were also interested in the information and material Wang had to provide. At the time of his defection, Wang said his main task was coordinating the relationships between his organisation and other intelligence agencies and “collecting information related to pro-independence” activists. He claimed he took instructions from Chinese military intelligence officials.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/taiwan-prosecutors-charge-alleged-chinese-spy-with-money-laundering-20210408-p57hl4.html

Anonymous ID: 0a3452 April 8, 2021, 1:56 p.m. No.13386283 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6284

Yaron Finklestein Scott Morrison's Cabal Handler

https://heightzone.com/yaron-finkelstein-wikipedia-scott-morrison-principal-secretary/

Talpiot program????

https://youtu.be/R2e757Dh8zU

Attached is the Finklestein network that operates in the US

>>13386283

Finklestein network

Did you know that Donald Trump never attends negotiations without leverage?

See this video and check out what he did in 2017 - before Q hit the internet.

I promise, if you understand it, you will like it.

THE TIMELINE - Donald Trump, Q and The Great Awakening - VA Patriot

https://www.bitchute.com/video/dSifDZrorFu8/

o7

Ben Fulford 4/8/21 Part 2

His name is Nakai Tenzan and he is so despised in Japan that even gangsters shun him. He went into hiding after an associate of his told me he had bragged about killing my webmaster with a cancer-causing poison. He also once tried to get me to drink orange juice laced with amphetamines so he could film me in a high state and use that to ruin my reputation with Asian secret societies.

Tenzan has previously interrupted my public speaking engagements to tell the audience that the murder of 90% of humanity was inevitable and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

The fact that he has come out of hiding now probably means the Rockefellers could not find any other assassin to do their bidding in Japan. He needs to be hunted down ASAP and taken in for vigorous questioning. If anybody can provide actionable intelligence for taking down the mass-murdering Khazarian Mafia, he is it.

He is now hiding behind the banner “World religion the Vatican,” and “Unify Shinto, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.” https://wrf.jp/index.html

However, make no mistake, he is a cold-blooded murderer. Actually, no he is not a “cold-blooded” murderer because he definitely takes great pleasure in torturing and killing people. He and his associates need to be all removed from circulation before they participate in another mass murder event.

The fact that these people have come out of hiding and are openly meeting in Kyoto is also a strong signal that some sort of mass casualty event is planned for Tokyo. They were promised the capital of Japan would move to Kyoto after Fukushima but it never happened. They seem to expect that this time it will.

It is a good bet the Tokyo Olympics are being set up as a massive sacrifice to Satan.The fact that foreigners are banned is a further sign this event is meant as punishment for Japan. Remember, it’s allegedly for a disease that hasn’t been scientifically proven to exist in an isolated and purified state for repeatable confirmation.

Nakai also once told me he took orders “from aliens,” i.e. the people hiding under the Swiss Mountains.

At this point, I should clarify that last week when I mentioned the Khazarian mafia bosses told me they took orders from “space aliens,” I used quotes to make it clear that is what they say. My own view is that we are dealing with humans using “aliens,” as a deception.

Regardless, think about the dystopia that these people are burdening us with. It is all hate, fear, disease, death, and everything negative. They have betrayed their fellow living beings and are working to destroy life. They need to be exterminated like vermin, without hesitation or guilt.

Certainly, people are looking to take action. For example, somebody set fire nearly simultaneously to three Freemason lodges in Vancouver, Canada last week.

Another person hacked the Rockefeller Facebook mind control operation and leaked personal data on 533 million users, including Mark Zuckerberg Rockefeller. https://www.businessinsider.com/stolen-data-of-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-2021-4

Anonymous individuals are also making their voices heard which is why the Rockefellers were forced to delete 2.5 million dislikes of their Biden CG videos on their Google mind control operation. https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/youtube-deleted-2-5-million-dislikes-from-biden-white-house-videos-data-indicates_3759997.html

Notice Israel has been unable to form a government because their former dictator Benjamin Netanyahu has vanished, according to Mossad sources.The Mossad sources say Netanyahu blabbed about his masters before being “disappeared.” Presumably, he pointed the finger at Switzerland.

It’s important to understand the real enemy is hiding at the underground base complex in Switzerland. The forensic trails this writer has followed from the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, P3 Freemasons, etc. all led to Switzerland.

Our advice to the Russians, U.S. special forces, MI6, etc. has been to stop fighting the arms of the Octopus and instead go for the head. The most likely candidate to be the current Pindar or head of the pharaonic Octogon group is Karl von Habsburg. Find him and take him in for questioning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Habsburg

If Habsburg is not the Pindar, at the very least he can point us to who is. Then maybe we can finally put an end to the messianic, satanic disease at the heart of the global power structure.

Malka Leifer: Former principal of ultra-orthodox Jewish school to face alleged victims

CAROLINE SCHELLE - APRIL 9, 2021

Three sisters who accused former principal Malka Leifer of sexually abusing them want to face their alleged abuser in person, a court has been told.

The 54-year-old former principal of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Adass Israel School appeared on Friday morning for a brief administrative hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Ms Leifer is facing 74 charges of sexually abusing sisters – Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer – during the period she was principal at the school between 2004 and 2008.

The sisters previously sought a court order so they could be named in proceedings.

Prosecutor Holly Baxter said the sisters wanted to give evidence against their alleged abuser in person and not at a remote facility during a committal hearing.

The hearing will determine the strength of the case against Ms Leifer and whether it proceeds to trial.

The remote option would remain available to the sisters but it was unlikely to be used, Ms Baxter said.

The former principal’s lawyer Tony Hargreaves told the court he wanted her to appear in person because it was “impossible” to get directions from her if they appeared remotely.

He told magistrate Johanna Metcalf he wanted to quiz several witnesses at the hearing, but do so with “as much care as possible”.

“We may wish to ask the witnesses in relation to what was happening at home with the complainants,” Mr Hargreaves told the court.

He said the cross-examination would be “limited”.

Dressed in a blue jumper and a white head covering, she appeared in court via videolink and spoke only to confirm she could see and hear the court.

Up to 10 witnesses, including a doctor and people in Israel, will also be called to give evidence at the hearing, the court was told.

Family members of the former educator appeared via video link.

Of the charges Ms Leifer faces 11 counts of rape and three charges of sexually penetrating a child, according to court documents.

She also faces 47 counts of indecent assault and 13 of committing an indecent act with a child

The alleged abuse took place across the Melbourne suburbs of Elsternwick, Elwood and Frankston as well as regional towns of Rawson, Emerald and Blampied.

Ms Leifer left Australia for Israel in 2008, and Victoria Police submitted their request for her to be extradited in 2014.

The former principal fought her extradition back to Australia for six years through the Israeli court system. Her last appeal was rejected in December last year after more than 70 hearings.

She will face another mention at the end of July before the five-day committal hearing in September.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/malka-leifer-former-principal-of-ultraorthodox-jewish-school-back-in-court-on-child-sex-charges/news-story/19f515156d340d62963b239641be568f

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 9, 2021, 1:48 a.m. No.13389482 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Leifer accusers set to attend court in person to give evidence

Adam Cooper - April 9, 2021

Three sisters who allege they were sexually abused by Malka Leifer are set to give evidence in person in court later this year rather than appear via video links.

As Ms Leifer faced Melbourne Magistrates Court for the second time since her extradition from Israel in January, the court heard it was the preference of sisters Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer to be questioned in person in the hearing that determines whether the former principal stands trial.

But the cross-examination of the three women could feature questions “about what was happening at home with the complainants” at the time of the alleged abuse, defence lawyer Tony Hargreaves told the court.

Mr Hargreaves said Ms Leifer’s barrister, Ian Hill, QC, might pursue that line of questioning but if he did so, he would “ensure it is done properly”.

The three sisters will be among 10 witnesses called in the five-day committal hearing set to start on September 13. That hearing will determine whether Ms Leifer stands trial in a higher court.

The former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick is accused of sexually abusing the sisters, when they were students at the school, between 2004 and 2008.

Ms Leifer faces 74 charges comprising 11 counts of rape, 47 of indecent assault, three of sexual penetration of a child and 13 of committing an indecent act with a child. Charge sheets allege the abuse happened in Elsternwick, Elwood, Frankston and Emerald and the regional towns of Blampied and Rawson.

The 54-year-old has long maintained she is innocent of the allegations against her.

Ms Leifer appeared in Friday’s administrative hearing via a video link from prison, but sat with her head down, looking away from the camera, and said nothing other than to confirm she could hear. She wore a blue top and a white headscarf as a guard sat behind her in a small room.

Prosecutor Holly Baxter and Mr Hargreaves told magistrate Johanna Metcalf it was both sides’ preference that lawyers attend the committal hearing in person rather than conduct it online, to ensure the hearing ran efficiently.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant most court cases are conducted online, as the courts try to ensure safe social distancing in their buildings.

Ms Metcalf agreed the committal hearing would run more efficiently if lawyers were in court in person.

Some witnesses based in Israel will appear via video links.

Complainants in sexual assault cases in Victoria often give evidence via a video link from a remote location so they can avoid the distress of attending court in person.

While remote facilities have been booked for Ms Sapper, Ms Erlich and Ms Meyer, the prosecutor said it was the women’s preference to attend court in person to give their evidence.

Asked by the magistrate if none of the complainants would appear remotely, Ms Baxter replied: “That’s likely to be the case.”

Ms Sapper, Ms Erlich and Ms Meyer were last year granted a court order which allows them to publicly identify themselves and speak about their case.

It was not known whether the sisters were among the 30 people watching Friday’s hearing online.

Ms Leifer could also attend the September hearing in person or watch on a video link from prison. She has not applied for bail.

Mr Hargreaves said it could be “impossible” to gain effective instructions from his client if she watched the substantial hearing on a video link from prison. He said he would discuss the issue with her before the case returns to court on July 30 for a further administrative hearing.

Ms Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 when allegations against her first emerged and was charged by Victorian police in 2012. Extradition proceedings began in 2014 and ended in January when she was flown to Melbourne.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

https://www.1800respect.org.au

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/leifer-accusers-set-to-attend-court-in-person-to-give-evidence-20210409-p57hs3.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 9, 2021, 1:49 a.m. No.13389486 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Malka Leifer's lawyers say they may probe home life of accusers in child sex offences court case

Danny Tran - 9 April 2021

Lawyers for Malka Leifer, the former ultra-orthodox school principal accused of dozens of child sex offences, have said the "home life" of her alleged victims may be probed, as they seek to test the evidence against her.

Ms Leifer today fronted the Melbourne Magistrates' Court facing 74 charges of child sex abuse, including multiple counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child.

The allegations have been levelled against the 54-year-old by three sisters — Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper — who attended the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick while Ms Leifer was headmistress.

Ms Leifer has long maintained her innocence.

Today the Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard that 10 witnesses will be called to test the evidence against Ms Leifer.

The administrative hearing was only Ms Leifer's second appearance since she was extradited from Israel earlier this year.

She appeared by videolink from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, which is Victoria's maximum-security women's prison, wearing a blue jumper, a white shirt and a white head covering.

Ms Leifer was supported by her brother, who watched proceedings from Israel, where it was early in the morning.

She spoke sparingly, only acknowledging that she could hear the proceedings.

Her lawyer, Tony Hargreaves, told the court that any cross-examination would be done with "as much care as possible".

"Clearly the relationship that the three complainants had with their parents, in particular their mother, it would seem is the genesis for the relationship between the accused and the complainants," Mr Hargreaves told the court.

"We may wish to ask the witnesses about … what was happening at home with the complainants," he said.

"…It will be limited and it may be that counsel chooses not to pursue that avenue."

Ms Leifer will face a five-day hearing in September.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-09/malka-leifer-faces-melbourne-court-over-sex-assault-charges/100057734

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 9, 2021, 1:56 a.m. No.13389499 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1275

Free speech debate misses point if Australia continues vilifying China

Li Qingqing - Apr 08, 2021

Is it racism to criticize China, or freedom of speech? Rising racial discrimination against Asians has sparked a debate on the issue in Australia. However, whether people have the freedom to criticize China or not is not a problem. The issue is, in Australia, there are smears and rumors against China, and Canberra has been an active part of them.

A recent case is Australian artist Luke Cornish's recent exhibit in Canberra. According to the South China Morning Post, some of Cornish's works, including showing late chairman Mao Zedong dressed as Batman, have triggered backlash from some Chinese students. Cornish later admitted that the Batman piece, which indicates conspiracy theories about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, could be perceived as discriminating and he apologized. Yet, he questioned the removal of two other exhibits related to Uygurs in Xinjiang and China's social credit system.

Some Australian analysts said that similar acts of withdrawing works critical of China's policies forget "the importance of freedom of speech" and are meant to "appease Beijing."

But can freedom of speech be used as a shield to spreading rumors? Any defamation should be condemned and held accountable. This is common sense. Even though perception on China has worsened in Australian society due to bilateral tensions, leading to more criticism against China, there is still a clear boundary between information and disinformation.

A disinformation campaign launched by some Western media and elites, including conspiracy theory that COVID-19 originated in China and China's governance in Xinjiang is "genocide," are groundless rumors. The World Health Organization-China investigation has suggested broader probe on virus origins in more countries after their probe in China, yet Australia joined the US and 13 other countries to question the WHO report. And their claim of "genocide" in Xinjiang is also nonsense since local people have lived a peaceful and prosperous life, thanks to Xinjiang's governance.

Australia is condoning the instigation of hatred and hostility against Chinese people by letting these rumors spread unchecked. Like in the US, racism is also deeply rooted in Australia and can be traced to the White Australia Policy in the 20th century.

Some people argue that criticizing the Chinese government is not the same as attacking Chinese people or Asians. But just look at the actual consequences: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the term "Chinese virus" has made many Chinese students in Australia suffer from verbal or physical abuse. They were even attacked for simply wearing masks.

Canberra has to admit that the discrimination and violence experienced by Chinese people in Australia is real. Some Western elites try to use so-called freedom of speech to justify their badmouthing China, while at the same time, they claim that none of this is aimed at Chinese people and they are against racism. This seems very hypocritical and ridiculous.

Some in Australia regard anti-China as political correctness, and the disguise of freedom of speech does not justify this. When the Australian government is taking the lead in ignoring, condoning or even inciting hatred against Chinese and other Asians, those empty anti-racism slogans and demonstrations will only prove the hypocrisy of Australian politics.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1220595.shtml

>>13341746

>>13184365 (pb)

@GMaxFacts

This account doesn’t exist

Try searching for another.

https://twitter.com/GMaxFacts

Sanctions fail: exporters defy Chinese trade bans

BEN PACKHAM and ROSIE LEWIS - APRIL 8, 2021

1/2

Australian exporters are defying Chinese trade bans, limiting the damage of Beijing’s punitive economic campaign by finding new markets for almost all affected products.

Economic analysis reveals that although $20bn a year has been slashed from Australian exports to China, the nation’s barley, coal, copper, cotton, sugar and timber producers have either partially or completely offset this by diverting shipments to new buyers in other countries.

Lowy Institute chief economist Roland Rajah said only the nation’s wine traders had struggled to make up for the loss of their premium Chinese market.

Mr Rajah said that, with the exception of wine, the net loss to Australian exporters as a result of the bans — imposed over Australia’s call for an inquiry to the origins of COVID-19 — amounted to less than $1bn. But when all of Australia’s exports were taken into account, soaring iron ore prices had “completely swamped” the effect of the Chinese trade bans.

Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye defended the trade bans on Wednesday and blamed Australia for “the difficulty we now have in the bilateral relationship”.

The Chinese embassy set out Beijing’s grievances with Australia late last year in a list that included the Morrison government’s call for a COVID-19 inquiry, the ban on Huawei participating in the 5G network and its foreign interference laws.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan unveiled a new strategy on Wednesday to help “Team Australia win in Asia’’, saying the Indo-Pacific presented a much more complex strategic environment than in past decades.

Mr Tehan said it would take a collective effort by government and the private sector to ensure Australia could capitalise on opportunities in the region in the next five to 10 years.

The Asia Society and Business Council of Australia’s Asia taskforce also recommended exports should make up 35 per cent of GDP by 2030, up from 29 per cent today.

It also warned that navigating the China relationship would require “strategic patience, avoiding over-reaction and emotion, maintaining long-established personal networks, and continuing to be prepared to co-operate on issues that benefit both countries”.

The council said diversification should not exclude China but be in addition to pursing the Chinese market. It identified Indonesia and Japan as countries Australian businesses could target for export opportunities in healthcare and financial services. South Korea and Vietnam also presented significant opportunities”, as industry sought to diversify beyond China.

(continued)

>>13389623

2/2

Mr Tehan, whose Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, still refuses to speak to him, called on Australia’s business community to “step up to the plate” and engage with China where the government was unable to.

“We can’t sit on our hands and just sort of think ‘oh well that’s not very good’,” Mr Tehan told business leaders in Canberra.

“What we need to do is we have to find other ways to keep engaging and to keep sending that message that we do want a good relationship, we want a friendly relationship with China.”

In his report to be published by the Lowy Interpreter on Thursday, Mr Rajah said the impact of the Chinese sanctions had been “quite limited”.

“Exports to China have predictably collapsed in the areas hit by sanctions, but most of this lost trade seems to have found other markets,” Mr Rajah said.

While ships carrying Australian coal had been unable to unload their cargo in China, causing a $6bn slump in the trade, Australian exports of the commodity were already down by about $7.5bn a year lower before the ban was imposed.

Mr Rajah said that, by January 2021, Australian coal exports to the rest of the world were running $9.5bn higher in annualised terms than before the ban.

“Whatever impact China’s ban on Australian coal might be having, it doesn’t seem to be enough to shift the overall picture a great deal once trade diversion is taken into account,” he said.

Mr Rajah found other Australian exports hit by the ban “show even clearer signs of substantial trade diversion”.

Sales of Australian barley, copper, seafood and timber to other markets rose sharply after the late-2020 trade sanctions. Australia’s wine exporters had “suffered terribly”, and beef exports were also down due largely to supply side issues, he said.

“On the other hand, a bumper barley crop has helped partially offset weakness in these other areas,” Mr Rajah said.

“Overall, Australia’s sanctioned exports to China other than coal held steady through most of 2020 at the equivalent of a little over $9bn a year, before falling to about half that level as sanctions escalated in late 2020.

“Meanwhile, exports in these same categories to the rest of the world rose by about $4.2bn in annualised terms — offsetting most of the loss.”

Mr Tehan said he had not received any response from Mr Wang, China’s Commerce Minister, after attempting to engage with him in January when he was handed the trade portfolio in a ministerial reshuffle.

“(But) we have previously had very good relations and there’s no reason why we can’t have them in the future,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/sanctions-fail-exporters-defy-chinese-trade-bans/news-story/7f94d7c4937af7682e4ecd275093ae5e

>>13376630

‘Bundles of cash’: AFP considers referring former Labor staffer to prosecutors over money laundering

Carrie Fellner - April 9, 2021

The Australian Federal Police has told the High Court it is actively considering referring a former NSW Labor staffer to prosecutors over suspected money laundering offences after bundles of $60,000 in cash were seized from his premises last year.

Police have underlined the “serious” and “ongoing” nature of their investigations before the High Court this week, as they fight to uphold search warrants executed against ALP staffer John Zhang last year.

Mr Zhang is under investigation over an alleged foreign interference plot to advance the interests of the Chinese government while he was working as a staffer to NSW Labor backbencher Shaoquett Moselmane.

Some of the conduct allegedly took place in a private social media chat group.

Last June the AFP swarmed on Mr Zhang’s home and sunglasses business in an unprecedented raid, seizing two Huawei mobile phones, three computers and $60,000 in cash.

Mr Zhang provided pass codes for the Huawai phones but advised the AFP that he was unable recall his WeChat password and unable to find his WhatsApp password.

A “vast number” of WeChat messages have been identified as being held on the phones by authorities.

Mr Zhang has launched a legal bid to have the search warrants quashed by the High Court and the material seized destroyed or returned to him.

The matter went to a two-day hearing before the full bench of the High Court this week.

Mr Zhang has argued the warrants were invalid because they “lacked clarity” and did not precisely identify the target of the alleged plot or the foreign actor involved.

His lawyer, Bret Walker, SC, told the court the “uncertainty and ambiguity bespeak defectiveness in the warrant”.

“For the warrant the present concern is the availability of discernible boundaries so as to make this piece of paper an appropriate open sesame of that which would otherwise not be within State power to compel,” Mr Walker said.

Mr Zhang is also arguing Australia’s new foreign interference laws are constitutionally invalid because they infringe on freedom of political communication.

“Keeping your private political discussions secret is entirely proper for a free population, not all of whom wish to be involved in the public hurly-burly of political debate,” Mr Walker said.

The AFP has rejected suggestions the warrants were imprecise, arguing the target of the plot was “plainly” Mr Moselmane and if it was necessary to state the foreign actor this was “amply satisfied” as being the government of the People’s Republic of China.

“These warrants comfortably satisfied the requirement to indicate the area of the search,” Commonwealth Solicitor-General Dr Stephen Donaghue QC told the court.

Perry Herzfeld, SC, appearing for the AFP, noted that $60,000 in cash had been seized during raids on Mr Zhang’s home and business.

“So the offences at issue are serious ones,” he said.

“The investigation is ongoing and the AFP is continuing to give consideration to whether a brief of evidence should be referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions”.

He noted there was a five-week delay in Mr Zhang launching legal action following raids.

Such a delay had not occurred in a similar case where journalist Annika Smethurst took action in the High Court after a raid on her home by the AFP, which ultimately resulted in the search warrants being declared invalid.

“[Use] has been made of the material by the AFP since the execution of the warrants, both before and after the commencement of the proceeding,” Mr Herzfeld said.

“Unlike Smethurst, the copied data has not been quarantined pending the outcome of the proceeding.”

The plaintiff’s conduct had given rise to an “impossible” situation where AFP officers may have to “put out of their minds information which then came to their notice” or “ignore leads or inquiry and investigation” if the search warrants were found to be invalid, Mr Herzfeld said.

The AFP also argued that foreign interference poses a serious threat to Australia’s political and governmental processes and the effect of the new laws on freedom on political communication was “slight” at most.

Mr Moselmane was temporarily stood aside from parliament in the wake of the AFP raids but has maintained his innocence and the suspension was lifted in October.

Mr Moselmane said his legal counsel had been advised he was “not a suspect” in the investigation.

The High Court has reserved its decision.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/bundles-of-cash-afp-considers-referring-former-labor-staffer-to-prosecutors-over-money-laundering-20210409-p57hwa.html

Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tweet

Statement on His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1380482042152939525

—

MEDIA STATEMENT

09 Apr 2021

For nearly 80 years, Prince Philip served his Crown, his country and the Commonwealth.

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh was, in the words of Her Majesty, her ‘strength and stay’.

He embodied a generation that we will never see again.

Beginning as a naval cadet in 1939, he served in war and in peace. When Her Majesty ascended the throne, The Duke ended his military service and became her constant support.

Prince Philip was no stranger to Australia, having visited our country on more than 20 occasions.

Through his service to the Commonwealth he presided as patron or president of nearly 50 organisations in Australia. Given his own service, Prince Philip also had a strong connection with the Australian Defence Force.

For 65 years, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has encouraged over 775,000 young Australians to explore their leadership potential. Forty thousand young Australians are currently participating in the program.

Australians send our love and deepest condolences to Her Majesty and all the Royal family. The Commonwealth family joins together in sorrow and thanksgiving for the loss and life of Prince Philip. God bless from all here in Australia.

Further details about Australia’s remembrance of Prince Philip will be announced over coming days. Flags will be lowered in honour of His Royal Highness.

https://www.pm.gov.au/media/his-royal-highness-duke-edinburgh

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 9, 2021, 5:40 a.m. No.13390206 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

>>13390184

Q Post #100

Nov 5 2017 18:41:11 (EST)

Who is the Queen of England?

How long in power?

With power comes corruption.

What happened to Diana?

What did she find out?

Why was she running?

Who did she entrust to help her flee?

What was the cover?

Why is this relevant?

Why now?

Old.

Connection.

News.

Bad actor.

London Mayor.

Background?

Affiliation?

Connection to Queen?

British MI6 agents dead.

When?

How?

What was reported?

What really happened?

Why is this relevant?

Wealth.

Corruption.

Secret society.

Evil.

Germany.

Merkel.

Migrants.

Why are migrants important?

Assets.

What are assets?

Define assets?

Why are migrants so important?

What are assets?

Why are migrants so important?

What are assets?

Why are migrants so important?

Operations.

Satan.

Who follows?

What political leaders worship Satan?

What does an upside down cross represent?

Who wears openly?

Why?

Who is she connected to?

Why is this relevant?

Spirit cooking.

What does Spirit Cooking represent?

Cult.

What is a cult?

Who is worshipped?

Why is this relevant?

Snow White

Godfather III

Speed.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#100

Anonymous ID: dbff7e April 9, 2021, 8:19 a.m. No.13391053 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Australia's [former] Attorney General - Big Tech wants him gone

Part 1:

Christian Porter was the Australian Attorney General from 2017 - 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Porter#Attorney-General_(2017%E2%80%932021)

He resigned his position due to a rape allegation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Porter#Rape_allegation

Part 2:

He's no longer Attorney General, he is now in the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology.

https://www.afr.com/technology/tech-industry-revolt-against-porter-s-appointment-grows-20210406-p57gwr

Big Tech wants him out of there!

Pressure is rising on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to reverse his decision to appoint Christian Porter as the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, as more technology industry players spoke out against him taking responsibility for a sector that has sought to increase the participation of women.

Christian Porter said he looked forward to working closely with the industry in his new portfolio. Trevor Collens

The embattled former Attorney-General, who has denied raping a teenage girl 33 years ago when he was 17, responded to a report in The Australian Financial Review, in which executives including Microsoft director of start-ups for the Asia-Pacific, Emily Rich, said the industry would reduce its engagement with the government due to his appointment.

"Tech portfolios are where the bodies get buried" That's the headline of the following article.

https://www.innovationaus.com/tech-portfolios-are-where-the-bodies-get-buried/

>>13389533

@GMaxFacts

Follow us at our new handle

https://twitter.com/GMaxFacts

—

Follow us on our new handle @realghislaine

https://twitter.com/GMaxFacts/status/1380522027879137282

—

@RealGhislaine

Developed & maintained by Ghislaine Maxwell’s brothers & sisters. We will continue to fight on behalf of our beloved sister. Follow us for the truth & updates.

https://twitter.com/realghislaine

—

Facts must always prevail over fiction. Period. Follow along and get to know the REAL Ghislaine. #FollowFriday #RealGhislaine

https://twitter.com/RealGhislaine/status/1380615247363403776

>>13395856

'My sister is no monster.' Ghislaine Maxwell's family launches website protesting her innocence and detailing her jail cell conditions as she prepares to appeal her thrice-rejected bail application

KAREN RUIZ - 10 April 2021

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The family of Ghislaine Maxwell has launched a website in support of the British socialite, insisting she's 'no monster' and protesting her innocence, as she awaits trial on charges she procured underage girls for billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The site, realghislaine.com, went live on Friday, weeks before Maxwell is scheduled to appeal her thrice-rejected application to be freed on bail.

Her family invited people to 'get to know the real Ghislaine' on the website, where they shared biographical details, information about her upcoming trial, jail conditions, as well as the books she is reading behind bars.

'This website has been developed and is maintained by brothers, sisters, family & friends of Ghislaine Maxwell, the people who have known the real Ghislaine all her life, not the fictional one-dimensional character created by the media,' it states.

'We believe wholeheartedly in our beloved sister's innocence and encourage visitors to this site to sign up for updates from the family on her case by providing your e-mail address below in the strictest of confidence.'

The launch of the webpage is a notable shift in tone by the famously tight-lipped family, who appear to be trying to salvage Maxwell's reputation ahead of her trial in July.

Maxwell, 59, has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her arrest last July and has been denied bail multiple times.

She has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking underage girls in the 1990s and early 2000s for Epstein, her one-time boyfriend.

In a video statement included on the site's home page, her brother Ian claimed she has been wrongfully detained in solitary confinement and said she is now preparing to appeal her denied application for bail.

'I and my brothers and sisters love her very much. We believe in her innocence and that she'll be exonerated in the end, which is why it's so hard for us to see her held in an American prison in solitary confinement without bail for over 260 days and counting,' he says.

'My sister is no monster. Ghislaine is a stepmother. A wife. A friend to many. A sister to me. No one deserves to be tortured when they're presumed innocent.'

Ian said his sister is awaiting trial 'based on allegations that date back 25 years by accusers whose names not even her own lawyers know.'

He also claimed she has been unable to properly prepare for her defense because she is locked in a tiny cell for '12 hours a day.'

(continued)

2/2

The website attempts to paint Maxwell in a positive light, describing her as 'kind and compassionate' and includes a biographical section with details of her family, work and accomplishments over the years.

It makes no mention of her husband, Scott Borgerson.

'Today, [Ghislaine] remains close to her family and friends. Like all detainees in these times of COVID, she is unable to receive their visits, but she is buoyed by their love and the knowledge of their support on the outside which is conveyed to her by their letters.

'Ghislaine is extremely grateful for the hundreds of beautiful and supportive letters from strangers some of whom write her on a daily basis.'

The family claims more than a dozen letters of support 'affirming her honesty and integrity' have been submitted to the court in a bid for Maxwell's release.

An FAQ section also provides details of her 'restrictive' jail conditions, which include multiple physical searches a day that involve guards looking inside in her mouth and pointing a flashlight into her cell 'every 15 minutes during the night, making sleep impossible for her.'

'There is no flat surface in her cell for her to work on the legal documentation for the long hours she is left to languish in there,' the website states.

'The drinking water is full of contaminants and the food is inedible. Food has been fed to her on plastic trays that have melted when exposed to microwaved heating, making the food inedible and unsafe.'

It also reveals Maxwell has been keeping busy behind bars by reading books including 'The Oregon Trail' by Rinker Buck, 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine,' by Gail Honeyman, 'The Black Swan', by Nicholas Taleb, among others.

Maxwell is the youngest of seven surviving siblings including Anne, 73, Kevin, 62, twins Isabel and Christine, 70, Philip, 71, and Ian, 64.

Prior to its launch, the family had promoted the website on a new Twitter account with the handle @RealGhislaine.

'We believe in Ghislaine's innocence and that she will be exonerated in the end. Get to know the real Ghislaine and get more facts, and information by visiting our website, live today!' they said in a tweet.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9454901/Ghislaine-Maxwells-family-launches-website-detailing-jail-cell-conditions.html

https://twitter.com/RealGhislaine/status/1380507034898948097

REALGHISLAINE.COM

This website has been developed and is maintained by brothers, sisters, family & friends of Ghislaine Maxwell, the people who have known the real Ghislaine all her life, not the fictional one-dimensional character created by the media.

As Daniel Moynihan, New York’s former Senator, famously said: “You are entitled to your opinion but not to your own facts”. This site is dedicated to presenting factual information about Ghislaine, her present situation and the case.

Available on Realghislaine.com is exclusive content, news, commentary and useful resources. It is planned for other material to be added and readers can form a more balanced viewpoint.

Ghislaine's current status is that of a pre-trial detainee. As such, she is innocent and has the right to be presumed innocent, a constitutional right which is fundamental to preserve the fairness of the American system of justice.

We believe wholeheartedly in our beloved sister’s innocence and encourage visitors to this site to sign up for updates from the family on her case by providing your e-mail address below in the strictest of confidence.

Media enquiries can be directed to this email: Justice@realghislaine.com.

You can find “public legal documents from the case” on Court Listener.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.realghislaine.com

—

https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/179647411/#179647703

https://qanon.pub/#1712

https://qanon.pub/#1713

>The face is never the author.

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 9, 2021, 11:46 p.m. No.13395990 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8063 >>1261

Vigils planned to support Julian Assange

Alan Jones - APRIL 9 2021

Vigils are to be held this weekend to mark the second anniversary of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being detained in prison after being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Supporters demanding his release will join events on Sunday outside the embassy, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, and at Belmarsh prison in London where he is being held.

Assange lived inside the embassy for several years before being forcibly removed and arrested by police on April 11 2019.

A bid by the United States to extradite him was rejected at Westminster Magistrates' Court earlier this year but he has remained in prison until the outcome of an appeal.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told the PA news agency that Assange's continued imprisonment was an "outrage and a travesty of justice".

"April 11 marks two years since one of the world's most important journalists was silenced when Metropolitan Police officers stormed into the Ecuadorian embassy and subsequently arrested and imprisoned Julian Assange on the United States' behalf.

"It has now been two years of incarceration, isolation and psychological torture, all for exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the same journalism for which Julian has been applauded all over the world for and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"It's long past time for this injustice to end and we continue to appeal to the United States and the Department of Justice to drop the appeal and all the charges against Julian.

"In January, a judge in London ruled that Julian should not be extradited and so we are today calling for him to be released from Belmarsh prison and be a free man to be able to spend his time with his young family."

Hrafnsson added that dozens of human rights and media organisations are supporting the case for Assange to be freed, saying: "This gross injustice must come to an end."

It was recently revealed that Pope Francis sent a personal message to Assange, whose partner Stella Moris said: "After a hard night, Julian woke up this morning to a kind, personal message from Pope Francis @pontifex delivered to his cell door by the prison priest."

https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/7203387/vigils-planned-to-support-julian-assange/

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 12:25 a.m. No.13396098 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6102 >>1295

Gerald Ridsdale: Victorian man abused as schoolboy by paedophile priest given $1.5m settlement

The settlement, on eve of trial, is one of the largest payouts Victoria has seen for institutional sexual abuse

AAP / theguardian.com - 10 Apr 2021

A Victorian man abused as a schoolboy by Catholic pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale and two teachers has been given a $1.5m settlement on the eve of the matter going to trial.

It was the early 1970s when the man, who cannot be named, joined Ridsdale’s list of almost 70 child victims.

At the time Ridsdale was a priest of the Diocese of Ballarat in regional Victoria and lived at the presbytery next to St Alipius Boys’ School, where he also served as the school’s chaplain.

The then schoolboy was also victimised by others at St Alipius – Christian Brothers teacher Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Stephen Farrell, who taught him in year 3 and year 5.

Now, five decades after all that abuse, the schoolboy has finally resolved his claim against the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat and the Christian Brothers.

The $1.5m settlement, plus legal costs, is one of the largest payouts Victoria has seen for institutional sexual abuse.

The victim’s lawyer, Dr Viv Waller, is sure it would not have eventuated without the looming threat of court action that was due to start next week.

“Catholic defendants have to be dragged to the door of the court before they offer appropriate amounts of compensation, and this matter was resolved in the shadow of a trial due to start in the next few days,” she said.

The victim has decided not to give media interviews other than a brief comment to Nine newspapers’ the Age: “I feel vindicated and listened to. The church has taken responsibility for what they did to me. It can’t erase the memory but I can move on.”

In 2015, the victim gave evidence to the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, under the pseudonym BAQ.

He told of being abused by Ridsdale at the presbytery, of being assaulted by Farrell during a school fishing trip, and of his terror as he waited each day for the other teacher, Fitzgerald, to decide which boy he would abuse at the back of the classroom.

As an adult, he coped by becoming a workaholic, while other survivors turned to drugs and alcohol. He told himself that he wasn’t badly affected. But, after addressing the royal commission, he was unable to work.

Waller, whose firm has resolved dozens of institutional sexual abuse cases, encouraged abuse survivors to re-examine their matters in light of recent legal reforms.

She says that in some cases survivors who may have received small payouts, in some cases as little as $15,000, through negotiated settlements with religious institutions might be able to achieve more just sums.

Diocese of Ballarat vicar-general Father Kevin Maloney also encouraged more victims to come forward.

A Christian Brothers spokesman said the order has been meeting its obligations to victims of abuse for more than 30 years, with payments running into the tens of millions of dollars annually.

Ridsdale is serving a 36-year jail sentence for abusing close to 70 victims. Fitzgerald died in 1987 while under investigation. Farrell was given an 18-month jail term in 2018.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/10/gerald-ridsdale-victorian-man-abused-as-schoolboy-by-paedophile-priest-given-15m-settlement

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 12:26 a.m. No.13396102 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6108 >>1295

>>13396098

‘I can move on’: $1.5 million payout to St Alipius sex abuse survivor

Henrietta Cook and Chris Vedelago - April 10, 2021

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A Victorian man who was sexually abused by Australia’s most prolific paedophile priest has reached a $1.5 million settlement with the Catholic Church, one of the largest payouts of its kind.

The now 58-year-old was abused by paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale as well as Christian Brothers teachers Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Stephen Farrell while a student at St Alipius Boys’ School in Ballarat in the 1970s.

On Friday he reached a $1.5 million settlement, plus costs, with the Christian Brothers and Catholic diocese of Ballarat. He is among hundreds of survivors who have sought compensation in the wake of landmark legislation that allows victims to sue the church.

While the victim went on to have a successful career as the executive of a multinational company, he has always struggled to trust men and has no male friends.

His life unravelled in 2015 after he gave evidence to the royal commission under the pseudonym BAQ.

“It made me face what I couldn’t face,” he said. “There was lots of pain but I never regretted the process.”

After recounting his traumatic childhood experience, BAQ nearly lost his marriage and quit a job that he loved. He hasn’t worked since.

“I reached the point where I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore’ and after taking some leave I resigned.”

He said the settlement was an important step in the healing process.

“I feel vindicated and listened to. The church has taken responsibility for what they did to me,” he said. “It can’t erase the memory but I can move on.“

The abuse started when BAQ was around eight years old.

During the daily reading sessions in grade 3, students were asked to face the front of the classroom while Fitzgerald sat at the back of the classroom and chose a boy to sit on his knee.

BAQ said he was chosen up to 20 times that year and the teacher kissed, cuddled and fondled his genitals.

”It was terrifying waiting each day to see who he would choose,” BAQ told the royal commission.

On an overnight school fishing trip in grade 5, Farrell unzipped BAQ’s sleeping bag and masturbated him.

BAQ recalled visiting Ridsdale at the presbytery, who asked the boy to remove his trousers and bend over. He was then abused.

Ridsdale is serving a 36-year prison sentence for abusing 69 victims, while Fitzgerald died in 1987 as he was being investigated. Farrell was sentenced to 18 months’ jail in 2018.

(continued)

>>13396102

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The survivor’s lawyer, Dr Viv Waller, said the payout was one of the state’s highest for an institutional sex abuse matter.

“It represents a significant shift in the amount of compensation that we have been able to obtain for sexual abuse survivors in institutional abuse matters,” she said, pointing out that victims had previously received “manifestly inadequate” payments as low as $15,000.

It follows the introduction of new laws in 2018 that revoked the Ellis defence, which once prevented victims from suing the church, as well as the abolition of time limits that restricted child abuse victims from seeking civil damages.

The Christian Brothers have spent more than $300 million on settlements to sexual abuse victims from 2013-2019, with the local wing of the religious brotherhood depending on huge injections of cash from its regional headquarters to meet its obligations.

The Australian order is also expecting to spend another $177 million as victims continue to launch lawsuits or seek compensation under the National Redress Scheme.

The Christian Brothers maintains it has the financial resources to meet its potential obligations, according to the organisation’s 2019 financial records.

Dr Waller has worked on 45 claims relating to St Alipius Boys’ School and said many victims in the Ballarat diocese were now seeking top-up payments after receiving “insulting” payouts in the past.

“It is possible in some circumstances for survivors to make an application to have their previous deed overturned, and to to seek additional compensation,” she said.

Diocese of Ballarat vicar-general Father Kevin Maloney encouraged more victims to come forward.

“The whole affair has been horrible,” he said. “A lot of people have been hurt because of what happened at St Alipius.”

A Christian Brothers spokesman said the order been meeting its obligations to those who experienced abuse for more than three decades.

“Payments run into the tens of millions of dollars annually and this represents the practical effect of the Congregation’s ongoing commitment to address the harm suffered as a result of child sexual abuse,” he said.

For help in a crisis call 000. If you or anyone you know needs support, contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline on 131 114, or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

https://www.1800respect.org.au

https://www.lifeline.org.au

https://www.beyondblue.org.au

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/i-can-move-on-1-5-million-payout-to-st-alipius-sex-abuse-survivor-20210409-p57hr0.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 12:36 a.m. No.13396142 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

>>13382988

American ex-priest accused of abuse in East Timor

Associated Press

8 Apr 2021

A former American priest who saved lives during East Timor’s struggle for independence is on trial in the tiny Asian country, accused of sexually abusing underage girls who lived at the shelter he founded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMAI-iOw50I

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 1:23 a.m. No.13396274 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6279 >>1301

Feds call Ghislaine Maxwell’s claims about new charges ‘conspiracy theories’

Ben Feuerherd - April 9, 2021

1/2

Ghislaine Maxwell is relying on “conspiracy theories” when she claims that the timing of the new federal indictment against her shows the weakness in the prosecutors’ case, the feds said in court docs filed Friday.

Manhattan federal prosecutors, in a letter to Judge Alison Nathan, blasted Maxwell’s claim that the new sex-trafficking charges brought against her last month were “obvious tactical gamesmanship.”

Maxwell’s lawyers had argued that prosecutors could have brought the additional charges at any point — and the fact they waited until just three months before they’re expected to go to trial shows the apparent “weakness” of their case.

Federal prosecutors retorted, “It would make no sense for the Government to spend weeks preparing a more than 200-page response to [previous defense] motions if the Government could have instead just obtained a new indictment” — while blasting the allegations as “conspiracy theories.”

Prosecutors had unsealed a superseding indictment against the accused madam alleging she sex-trafficked a 14-year-old girl for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse in the early 2000s.

(continued)

>>13396274

2/2

The feds allege that Maxwell groomed the teen — identified as “Minor Victim-4” in court papers — to engage in sex acts with Epstein, who killed himself in a lower Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges himself.

According to the indictment against Maxwell, the fallen British socialite “sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive conduct by, among other things, discussing sexual topics in front of Minor Victim-4 and being present when Minor Victim- 4 was nude in the massage room of the Palm Beach Residence.”

Maxwell is now facing 80 years behind bars if convicted on the counts against her. She maintains her innocence and has sought three times to be released on bail pending her trial. She has been denied each time.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/09/ghislaine-maxwells-claims-about-new-charges-are-conspiracy-theories-feds/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.199.0_4.pdf

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 1:51 a.m. No.13396364 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

>>13351778

>>13351781

>>13351790

Australian Federal Police save three-year-old girl 15,000km away from sexual abuse, American man arrested

A tip-off from Australian Federal Police to their US counterparts has been credited with saving a three-year-old girl from further alleged sexual abuse in the United States.

Elise Williams - April 10, 2021

A three-year-old girl has been saved from further potential harm by an alleged child abuser after Australian Federal Police tipped off their American counterparts who rescued the child.

It was the efforts of officers from the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation that identified and tracked down an American man accused of creating child exploitation material with his alleged three-year-old victim.

Specially trained to identify and disrupt behaviours that exploit or endanger children, the work of the Australian investigators directly led to saving the youngster, who police claim was being used to create child exploitation material.

The man has now been identified as 32-year-old David Allen Kiper, who was arrested at his Kentucky home late last month.

Kiper was raided and charged after the ACCCE alerted America’s Homeland Security Investigations he was allegedly creating and uploading images, sexually explicit in nature, of the girl in March of this year.

Despite being over 15,000 km away from the endangered girl, it was the advice of the Australian agency that meant she could be rescued from further harm, as Homeland Security and local police took immediate action to save her and arrest her alleged offender after the ACCCE tip-off.

AFP Commander of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and Child Protection

Operations Hilda Sirec said the AFP’s expertise meant no matter where in the world children were located, specialist teams stood ready to protect them.

“Our investigators at the ACCCE are dedicated to protecting children in Australia from abuse and work with law enforcement across the world to do the same,” Commander Sirec said.

She gave a strong warning to offenders, as she pledged the AFP would stop at nothing to bring them to justice.

“Our message to offenders accessing or exchanging child abuse material is that we will not stop investigating anyone responsible for spreading this abhorrent material and bringing them before the court.”

Homeland Security Investigations attache to Australia Adam Parks said the teamwork of the two country’s agencies meant horrendous crimes would continue to be investigated.

“Despite the distance between the US and Australia, our dedicated men and women are joined together in a solemn duty to protect the vulnerable. As demonstrated in this investigation, we will pursue justice wherever it leads and no matter the hour when confronted by these horrendous crimes,” Mr Parks said.

Kiper was charged with 25 child abuse related offences – including five counts of using a minor in a sexual performance.

If found guilty, Kiper could spend up to 20 years behind bars.

Members of the public who have any information about this network or people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

https://www.couriermail.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-qld/afp-save-threeyearold-girl-15000km-away-from-sexual-abuse-american-man-arrested/news-story/83b175e3be88f2beb1df574e8882acf2

https://accce.gov.au/report/trace

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 8:48 p.m. No.13401093 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2819 >>1301

>>13395856

>>13395882

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Replying to @RealGhislaine

Ask your sister what happened after this photo was taken. I am a Real Ghislaine Survivor. I am Virginia Roberts.

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1381061584743587845

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 10, 2021, 9:07 p.m. No.13401177 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1179 >>1275

Former Turnbull security adviser auditing universities’ foreign interference risks

Nick Bonyhady - April 11, 2021

1/2

Some of Australia’s top universities have called in a Chinese Communist Party expert to detect foreign interference risks, including auditing academics from at least one institution to see if they have secret secondary jobs.

The universities of Sydney, New South Wales, Monash and Queensland have all engaged former journalist and government adviser John Garnaut through consultancy firm McGrathNicol in a move designed to reassure the federal government they are taking the issue seriously.

Mr Garnaut’s appointment follows the introduction of the Foreign Influence Transparency Register, which requires people acting for overseas governments to declare their activities, and the refusal of several academic funding grants by the Education Minister last year on security grounds.

There have been growing fears in the West, including Australia, that the Chinese government is using academic talent programs to acquire intellectual property that can be put to military use.

That created a climate stifling legitimate international collaboration with scant security implications, some academics said.

The chair of Federal Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Liberal senator James Paterson, welcomed Mr Garnaut’s work as a signal universities were taking the problem seriously.

“I will be watching with interest to see how successful they are in implementing John’s advice,” he said.

Mr Garnaut declined to comment on this story but provided a remark he made to a closed-door hearing of Senator Paterson’s committee where he said most Australian universities had rapidly started building resilience to foreign interference.

“They are doing so through different pathways, at different paces and from different starting points,” said Mr Garnaut, who also does work for technology companies, infrastructure firms and state and federal departments.

“This testimony would be very different if we were delivering it three years ago, or even six months ago. While there is a long way to go, the shift in approach has been far reaching.”

His collaborator at McGrathNicol, Matt Fehon, said the firm’s work recognised the importance of international research collaborations while managing risk and helping universities to assess conflicts of interest.

(continued)

>>13401177

2/2

A spokesman for the University of Sydney said its international engagement was vital to supporting educational, research and commercial partnerships with other universities, including in China.

But he added the university was awake to increasingly sophisticated security threats. “We take these risks seriously and work carefully and diligently to identify and manage relevant risks in a constantly changing legal and operating environment,” the spokesman said.

A Monash spokeswoman said the university had contracted a specialist counter foreign interference team from McGrathNicol, including Mr Garnaut, since the release of new government guidelines in 2019.

While Monash still valued and worked with international partners, the spokeswoman said parts of Australia’s security regime for universities made it more difficult for potential overseas partners.

“The process to enter into formal partnership agreements with global prospects is now very complex and raises additional risk from any institutional partner’s perspective, as the legislation gives unfettered discretion to the minister to cancel agreements at any time,” she said.

Sophie Loy-Wilson, a senior lecturer specialising in Australian-Chinese history, said concerns about foreign interference had led to an opaque regime of controls that made academics like her afraid to collaborate with Chinese counterparts.

“I’m angry that something that I’ve dedicated my life to, which is trying to understand the relationships between Australians and Chinese people, is now being thwarted,” Dr Loy-Wilson said.

Another University of Sydney lecturer, David Brophy, whose research is primarily on China’s autonomous Xinjiang region, which is home to the repressed Uighur minority, said some rhetoric about the threat of technology transfers was overblown.

“It’s in the context of talking about scientific exchange,” Dr Brophy said. “It’s not some set of secret instructions to ethnically Chinese people in Australia.”

A University of Queensland spokeswoman said it had completed a three year set of works to update its policies and increase disclosure requirements, which required staff to complete registers disclosing other paid employment, work on sensitive technology or anything else required by the influence register.

“As part of this program, UQ commissioned an external audit by John Garnaut at McGrathNicol to assist the University in ensuring secondary paid employment has been adequately disclosed,” the spokeswoman said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/former-turnbull-security-adviser-auditing-academics-links-to-china-20210408-p57hoj.html

Buried evidence and threats: How Ben Roberts-Smith tried to cover up his alleged crimes

Australia’s most decorated soldier sought to hide shameful images and evidence of war crimes. Now they have been unearthed.

Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and Joel Tozer - APRIL 11, 2021'

1/4

It’s September 2012 inside a coalition military base in Tarin Kowt in southern Afghanistan and an Australian soldier wearing the white gown and pointed hood of the Ku Klux Klan poses for the camera.

His face obscured by the hood, the soldier holds up a noose like those used by the white supremacist group to lynch African-Americans. In another picture, the man stands with a burning cross, staring at the camera as his colleagues cheer around him.

The images, taken at a fancy-dress party in an unauthorised military bar called the Fat Ladies Arms, capture soldiers from the elite Perth-based Special Air Services Regiment a decade into Australia’s longest war. They were fighting an insurgency and trying to win hearts and minds in a Muslim country whose inhabitants had already made multiple complaints that some of their number – including that certain friends of the soldier dressed in KKK gear had executed their fathers, brothers and husbands.

A series of images from parties at the makeshift bar hint at one of those suspected killings.

They show soldiers drinking beer from the prosthetic leg of a Taliban fighter killed by an Australian soldier in 2009. Most of the soldiers would have known little about the history of the leg, which they called “Das Boot”. But at least one man knew it represented something more sinister, because he had allegedly murdered its former owner outside the laws of combat on Easter Sunday, 2009.

That soldier was allegedly Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated Afghan war veteran and, until recently, a man lauded by politicians as the embodiment of Australia’s ideal fighter. Roberts-Smith is pictured, smiling and pumping his fist, in the background as the soldier in the KKK outfit – one of his mates – burns the cross. He is also happily pictured with people drinking from the leg – despite comments to the Federal Court from his lawyer, Bruce McClintock, in 2019 that his client “thought it was disgusting to souvenir a body part”.

The images published here, and hundreds more, were in the possession of Roberts-Smith. Among them is one that shows what former defence force chief Chris Barrie has told The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes is credible evidence of the war crime of desecrating a corpse.

They are clear illustrations of what, when he came to investigate Australian military war crimes in Afghanistan, military Inspector-General Paul Brereton described as a culture in which “ethical leadership was compromised by [the] toleration, acceptance and participation in a widespread disregard for behavioural norms”. Justice Brereton singled out alcohol consumption at the Fat Ladies Arms as one part of that failure of discipline.

One of the photographs shows a senior commissioned Special Air Services Regiment commanding officer simulating a sex act with a high-ranking soldier using an object taken from a model camel.

The images were stored on a series of USB drives that also contained classified documents and videos. But despite Brereton’s order at the start of his probe in 2016 that soldiers hand over all images and files, Roberts-Smith did not do so, according to sources with knowledge of the cache but who have asked to remain anonymous.

Instead, the sources say, Roberts-Smith dug a hole in the backyard of his house in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and buried the USB drives inside a pink plastic children’s lunchbox to hide them from both police and military investigations.

Once the Victoria Cross recipient had filled in the hole, he placed a rock on top to mark the spot.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, federal police who are conducting war crimes investigations into the war hero, have since obtained the contents of the USBs.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 11, 2021, 11:55 p.m. No.13407731 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7740

2/4

Brereton’s landmark investigation report into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan last year posed the greatest challenge to the Australian military in decades after he found serious allegations of up to 39 murders committed by special forces. Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied committing war crimes or any other wrongdoing and is suing The Age and Herald for defamation. He has insisted he has cooperated fully with the Brereton Inquiry and the federal police.

But further evidence obtained by The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes shows the former soldier – who is now an executive at Seven West Media’s Queensland operations – intimidated witnesses in an attempt to stop them giving evidence in inquiries.

Meanwhile leaked recordings of the decorated soldier speaking frankly to a number of associates suggest he is confident that he can see off those seeking to hold him accountable. As long as his employer and benefactor, Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, keeps funding his cause, he says, he will not only win, he will “f-cking destroy” his enemies.

A trophy of war

On September 20, 2012, Ben Roberts-Smith’s patrol choppered towards the village of Tizak in Southern Afghanistan. A battle was looming at a scrubby, stony stretch of land that the 203-centimetre soldier knew well.

It was at Tizak in 2010, two years earlier, that Roberts-Smith had earned his VC by displaying an “extreme devotion to duty” paired with “a total disregard for his own safety” as he “stormed the enemy position”, according to the official citation.

Two years later, Afghans would also die in Tizak. But unlike the famed battle of 2010, this fight would not involve stories of heroism. Instead, SAS members who spoke on the condition of confidentiality say the Brereton Inquiry questioned soldiers about whether some of the Afghan people left dead by Roberts-Smith’s small patrol team had been illegally executed while unarmed.

The Brereton Inquiry’s findings about this Tizak mission were released in November 2020 but were heavily redacted. Multiple sources, including SAS soldiers, said several deaths during this operation had been the subject of investigation. Some of the same sources said the inquiry never obtained one photo from that day. It was lying under dirt and a rock in Roberts-Smith’s backyard.

The image shows an Afghan man killed by the patrol team led by Roberts-Smith. The man is lying on his back on a woven mat. He has a trimmed dark black beard and looks to be in his 30s. His left arm appears badly injured, a bullet wound appears on his head and his face is smeared with fresh blood. No weapon is pictured.

On each of his eyes is a souvenir military coin. One bears the winged dagger emblem of the SAS, the second shows a picture of bushranger Ned Kelly posing with two six-shooters – the emblem of Roberts-Smith’s SAS 2 squadron. The coins were intended to be given to Afghan military allies after joint operations.

Former Chief of the Defence Force and Vietnam veteran, Chris Barrie, says the placement of the coins on a deceased man’s eyes amounts to “barbaric trophy hunting”. The practice may also be illegal under international law – the Geneva Conventions prohibit the disrespecting of corpses on the battlefield. Barrie said the image trampled over basic military standards.

Though it is not known who is responsible for the death of this Afghan man, or who placed the coins on his eyes, the picture invites questions for potential investigators from the Brereton Inquiry or the federal police. The boots of two different SAS soldiers can be seen in the shot. These are people who might hold critical information.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 11, 2021, 11:56 p.m. No.13407740 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7746

>>13407731

3/4

Intimidating witnesses

In June 2018, two years after the Brereton Inquiry was launched and as it was beginning to call in witnesses to testify about Ben Roberts-Smith, an SAS soldier who served with the Victoria Cross winner received a threat in the mail. It warned the soldier that if he did not recant war crimes allegations he would be targeted and would “go down”.

The soldier reported to the federal police the attempt to intimidate him into silence. Police seized the letter and tested it for DNA. The then chief of the defence force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, publicly criticised whoever was behind the missive.

“I think it is disgusting that a disaffected person thought they could threaten a witness and look to influence the inquiry,” Binskin said on June 15.

Former NSW Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy said the offence of intimidating a witness, if proven in a court, could carry a jail term of up to five years. He described the sending of the letter as “the sort of thing we’d see in The Godfather or mafia-type movies”.

“If it does happen, then it’s demonstrative of the worst kind of affront to the judicial system. Intimidating witnesses is a horrifying thing to happen in our community.”

The police forensics team could not identify the letter’s sender and the AFP investigation quickly stalled. But multiple sources, each with knowledge of different aspects of the threatening letter, now say Roberts-Smith organised it. He had bought the paper and stamps, printed the letter at a Seven Network office in regional Queensland and then arranged for a former contractor to send it from a postbox in Tweed Heads in northern NSW.

There is no suggestion Stokes or any other person at Seven West Media knew anything about Roberts-Smith’s alleged efforts to intimidate witnesses or conceal evidence.

Warnings of a massacre

Months earlier, as another SAS soldier prepared to deliver adverse information about Ben Roberts-Smith to the inquiry, three anonymous emails were sent: one to the federal police, one to independent politician Nick Xenophon and the third to the The Australian newspaper’s editor and the paper’s former WA-based reporter Andrew Burrell.

The emails variously claimed the soldier was at grave risk of committing a violent act in public, including gunning down civilians in Perth. One of the emails referenced the Las Vegas massacre that was carried out by a lone gunman in October 2017 and claimed 60 lives. Spurred into action, authorities arrived at the witness’s family home in Perth with a search warrant and raided the SAS soldier’s family home.

Senior barrister Greg Barns SC, who has spoken to the SAS soldier’s lawyers in Perth and analysed the anonymous emails, described the raid as a “terribly traumatic event” for a family otherwise “living an ordinary Australian life”.

Police found nothing to suggest the soldier was planning a mass shooting, but The Australian seized on allegations in the email and produced a front-page story that alleged the raided soldier had “smuggled automatic weapons from Perth to Afghanistan”. Barns says the emails were designed to force police to act.

“One would assume that the reference [to the Las Vegas massacre] was there to indicate that this person would go out and shoot up a huge number of people … You can’t think in our society of a more chilling and serious allegation,” Barns said. It put the soldier, “in a position where they’re inevitably going to be subjected to a raid from police”.

The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes has confirmed the emails were sent by a former contractor to Ben Roberts-Smith. A number of sources, who cannot be named because they have requested anonymity and in some cases fear retribution, say the contractor was acting on Roberts-Smith’s instructions.

Barns says concocting a false police complaint may amount to a criminal offence if proven in court. And he says the ostensibly anonymous emails appear to have an ultimate aim: to silence the SAS witness before the Brereton Inquiry.

“The point is to make sure that that whistleblower is of no further impact.”

The SAS witness, who retained his job in the regiment, later complained to authorities that the raid was designed to intimidate him into silence before the Brereton Inquiry.

(continued)

>>13407740

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‘My sole f-cking mission’

Ben Roberts-Smith has long been at the centre of a storm. By June 2018, the federal police had launched two separate taskforces into allegations he was involved in the executions of Afghan prisoners in 2009 and 2012, and the Brereton Inquiry was also focused on his alleged role in multiple executions of unarmed Afghans, including prisoners. The media had begun exposing his alleged misdeeds and he has since launched defamation action against The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes. The trial in that case is due to start soon.

But covert recordings of the war hero talking to various associates and now published for the first time, give a rare insight into his confidence. The Roberts-Smith heard on the recordings is bullish.

“All kinds of people have chimed in for their own benefits. They seemed to have smelled blood in the water and thought, ‘Oh, Roberts-Smith is going down, we’ll f-cking chime in’. I’m talking politicians and all kinds of people,” he says of those accusing him of wrongdoing.

But, with the backing of his employer, Seven West Media chairman and billionaire Kerry Stokes, he is full of confidence. He would, he said, go “all the way”.

“There’s no f-cking way I’d be able to keep paying … until Kerry got into it. That’s why now they’re shitting themselves because he’s prepared to run his bank down to do it,” Roberts-Smith says in one conversation.

“But, Seven’s been good … Other businesses would have just gone, ‘Mate, it’s not tenable’ … I offered to resign at the start and they said, ‘Nah’. But it’s good it’s played out the way it has behind closed doors because they now understand.”

Secure in his confidence that he would retain Stokes’ support and his high-paid career as Seven West Media’s Queensland manager, Roberts-Smith is recorded gloating about those, including politicians, journalists and other former soldiers, that he will bring down.

“I’m going to do everything I can to f-cking destroy them mate … That’s my sole f-cking mission in life.”

The police, though, have never downed tools. In around April 2020, the AFP sent two briefs of evidence to Commonwealth prosecutors. The briefs outline the police case that Roberts-Smith is implicated in the execution of Afghan prisoners, including one who was kicked off a small cliff in 2012.

A number of sources have also confirmed that it was some time in 2020 that federal agents covertly obtained the contents of the USBs that Roberts-Smith had buried in his backyard.

Police detectives have also gathered evidence that has allowed them to trace back to Roberts-Smith the threatening letter and the emails that prompted a police raid on a Brereton Inquiry witness.

Now this alleged conduct is out in the open, Roberts-Smith may be counting more than ever on support from one of Australia’s most powerful media moguls. In the recordings of the former soldier speaking to his associates, Roberts-Smith describes how he is “indebted to Kerry”.

“I probably won’t leave the fold now,” he says of Stokes’ business empire.

“Bottom line, I’d be f-cked without him … we’ve certainly had those conversations already.”

''Open Arms — Veterans and Families Counselling provides support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families. Free and confidential help is available 24/7. Phone 1800 011 046 (international: +61 1800 011 046 or +61 8 8241 4546) or visit www.OpenArms.gov.au''

https://www.openarms.gov.au

https://www.smh.com.au/national/buried-evidence-and-threats-how-ben-roberts-smith-tried-to-cover-up-his-alleged-crimes-20210408-p57hlr.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 12:07 a.m. No.13407783 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1263

War hero Ben Roberts-Smith hits back at bombshell report

RHIANNON DOWN - APRIL 12, 2021

Ben Roberts-Smith has accused Nine Entertainment of attempting to intimidate him “into not proceeding” with a defamation suit against the company and its star investigative reporter Nick McKenzie.

Nine’s 60 Minutes program on Sunday reported Mr Roberts-Smith, one of the country’s most decorated veterans, buried in his backyard evidence of depraved conduct by Special Air Services Regiment soldiers instead of handing it over to war crimes investigators.

The images — first published by The Sydney Morning Herald – show one soldier at the Fat Ladies Arms, a makeshift on-base bar, dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit and others drinking alcohol from a prosthetic leg taken from a Taliban fighter killed by an Australian soldier in 2009.

Other images show senior SAS officers pretending to engage in sex acts with subordinates.

Mr Roberts-Smith said the allegations were “not supported by any evidence filed by Mr McKenzie and Nine in what has been an extensive pre-trial process”.

“Mr McKenzie has chosen not to give evidence in support of the allegations he has made against Mr Roberts-Smith repeatedly over the past three years,” he said in a statement.

“The allegations aired this evening are baseless.

“These allegations are not supported by any evidence filed by Mr McKenzie and Nine in what has been an extensive pre-trial process.

“These allegations were not put to Mr Roberts-Smith prior to being broadcast on 60 Minutes and published in the Nine newspapers.

“Mr Roberts-Smith denies that he has engaged in any unlawful conduct and he will not be intimidated by Mr McKenzie or Nine into not continuing with the Federal Court proceedings against them.”

The images, 60 Minutes reported, were stored on USB drives buried in a garden.

Mr Roberts-Smith is engaged in a high-profile defamation action against Nine Entertainment after the company — then Fairfax Media — published a series of stories alleging the Victoria Cross recipient murdered an unarmed Afghan civilian by kicking him off a cliff.

Nine has argued that the allegations are substantially true.

Australian Special Forces soldiers are now accused of murdering 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners and of “blooding” new recruits by forcing them to shoot unarmed detainees.

That was the conclusion of a four-year investigation by NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton that found “credible information” that up to 25 soldiers were involved in — and covered up — alleged war crimes.

In recordings published by 60 Minutes on Sunday, Mr Roberts-Smith appears to praise Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes for financing him and his fight to “destroy” his enemies.

“There’s no f..king way I’d be able to keep paying what I’m paying for until Kerry got into it,” Mr Roberts-Smith is heard saying in one recording. “That’s why now they’re shitting themselves because they realise he’s prepared to run his bank down to do it.

“I probably won’t leave the fold now … I think I’m indebted a little bit now to Kerry. Bottom line, I’d be fed without him … we’ve certainly had those conversations already.”

Mr Roberts-Smith was hired by Mr Stokes to run his company’s operation in Queensland.

The Australian Federal Police has told Mr Roberts-Smith it has “eyewitness accounts” implicating him in alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, Nine’s lawyers have told the Federal Court.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/war-hero-buried-proof-of-lewd-conduct/news-story/2e862921224ae510477998d73bbf3cb4

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 12:13 a.m. No.13407814 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7819 >>1263

‘I’m going to do everything I can to f-cking destroy them’: Secret Ben Roberts-Smith audio revealed

Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Chris Masters - April 11, 2021

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Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has been caught on secretly recorded audio lauding his media mogul boss, Kerry Stokes, for financing his fight to “destroy” those in politics, the media and the SAS who have accused him of war crimes.

In the recordings, which were lawfully made, Mr Roberts-Smith, a senior executive of the Stokes-chaired Seven West Media, reveals his disdain for the business he helps run, his dislike of his fellow Seven executives and his incredulity that he is still running the company’s Queensland operations despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal.

“It’s bizarre. Other businesses would have just gone, ‘Mate, it’s not tenable’. I offered to resign at the start [of the war crimes scandal] and they said, ‘Nah’,” Mr Roberts-Smith says to an associate in one conversation.

The recordings capture multiple conversations between Mr Roberts-Smith and three other people. The conversations occurred at the time the inquiry of the military Inspector-General, Paul Brereton, was uncovering evidence from SAS whistleblowers that Mr Roberts-Smith was implicated in multiple unlawful executions while serving as an SAS soldier in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. That evidence prompted the Australian Federal Police to launch two ongoing taskforces in June 2018 targeting Mr Roberts-Smith.

The tapes cast fresh light on the extraordinary relationship Mr Stokes has maintained with Mr Roberts-Smith, while revealing the embattled war hero’s view that the billionaire is happy to run sections of his media empire at a loss in return for political power. Mr Roberts-Smith says the media is such “a powerful tool” that its owners say, “I’ll take that [financial] loss if it means I have political influence … Politicians are scared of guys that own media networks.”

Encrypted communications

Mr Roberts-Smith describes how the influence of Mr Stokes, who is also the chairman of the Australian War Memorial, has forced those who supported scrutiny of the accused war criminal to back down.

“They seemed to have smelled blood in the water and thought, ‘Oh, Roberts-Smith is going down, we’ll f-cking chime in.’ I’m talking politicians and all kinds of people,” he says.

But after it became known Mr Stokes supported him, these same critics “are like, ‘Oh, thanks Kerry, glad you can help Ben out’. What the f-ck is that? You wanted me to go down, you piece of shit.”

Mr Roberts-Smith also reveals how he talks to Mr Stokes on “encrypted” phone applications and “intelligence agencies cannot recover it”.

“So if I am talking to KMS for example – Kerry – we only talk on Telegram and then delete the messages after … People use them so it can’t be intercepted,” he says.

There is no suggestion that Mr Stokes uses the applications to avoid interception by Australian authorities, but multiple sources told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that Mr Roberts-Smith has used such applications to avoid interception by the ongoing AFP inquiries.

‘I’m indebted to Kerry’

In the recordings, Mr Roberts-Smith makes multiple references to Mr Stokes’ support of his fight to contest war crimes allegations and those airing them.

“There’s no f-ckng way I’d be able to keep paying what I’m paying for until Kerry got into it. That’s why now they’re shitting themselves because they realise he’s prepared to run his bank down to do it,” Mr Roberts-Smith is recorded saying.

”I probably won’t leave the fold now … I think I’m indebted a little bit now to Kerry. Bottom line, I’d be f-cked without him … we’ve certainly had those conversations already.”

(continued)

>>13407814

2/2

Mr Stokes’ financial support allowed Mr Roberts-Smith to form an expensive legal and public relations team in 2018 to combat the allegations investigated by the military Inspector-General and detailed in media reporting in The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith is running a defamation case against the mastheads.

He said of Mr Stokes’ camp: “They are privy to everything that’s gone on in the courts, they know what is going on … Put it this way, mate, Stokes isn’t an idiot. He’s not going to back someone …who’s a loser.”

Mr Roberts-Smith is scathing on the recordings about those he considers his enemies: “Now it is personal. Now I’m going to do everything I can to f-cking destroy them mate. Like everyone – and I’ll keep going – all those journalists. And that’s my sole f-cking mission in life.”

Dysfunctional and inept

Mr Roberts-Smith was hired to help run Seven West Media’s Queensland operations in 2014, after he discharged from the army having earned a Victoria Cross, Medal of Gallantry and Commendation for Distinguished Service as a special forces soldier in Afghanistan. But on the recordings, Mr Roberts-Smith describes Seven West Media as a dysfunctional business led by inept fellow executives.

“As a business person, or inside the business, you just sit there going, ‘What the f-ck?‘,” he tells one associate. “[Kerry Stokes’ son and Seven executive] Ryan Stokes put me on the strategy committee because no one knows how to f-cking plan in Sydney, which is actually true … These are the people that are running this business, they don’t know how to plan … There are some really good people that I’ve worked with. Just not many of them above me.”

He says on the tapes that his influence in the business is far too limited.

“If I was actually in charge … like they f-cking pay me to do, then I would be able to actually do a job. But I’m not in charge,” he complains. “I’ll be frank with you … I don’t really like this industry, to be honest. I’m not, I don’t see myself staying in this job.”

Mr Roberts-Smith describes his fellow Seven employees as “smiling assassins” and says the TV network’s Queensland staff “have f-cking … worn me down, and down and down to now I’m like, ‘you know what? F-ck ’em’.”

He is particularly dismissive of human resources issues in the business.

“I hate this shit where people go, ‘Oh, you know, this person is a bully, this person is this, that person’s that and there’s sexual harassment’, and you throw these things out there.

“I go, ‘OK, that’s fine, but if we are going to do that then I want to know, dates, times, places. I want stat decs on the f-cking lot. I don’t want your f-cking opinion, I don’t want people’s bullshit rumours. If you say that to me again, make sure you come with the f-cking proof. Otherwise, it impacts on you’.”

Of Channel Seven’s high-profile hiring, sports presenter Mel McLaughlin, Mr Roberts-Smith says: “You know the worst thing? I just don’t think she’s that good looking.”

https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-m-going-to-do-everything-i-can-to-f-ing-destroy-them-secret-ben-roberts-smith-audio-revealed-20210409-p57hv9.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 12:15 a.m. No.13407824 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7832 >>1263

Seven stands by senior executive Ben Roberts-Smith over new evidence he attempted to cover up alleged crimes

Anthony Galloway - April 12, 2021

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The Seven Network is standing by its senior executive Ben Roberts-Smith, saying the former soldier denies new allegations that he attempted to cover up police and military investigations into alleged war crimes.

Mr Roberts-Smith has been caught on secretly recorded audio lauding his media mogul boss, Kerry Stokes, for financing his fight to “destroy” those in politics, the media and the SAS who have accused him of war crimes.

A joint investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes has also revealed allegations that the accused war criminal dug a hole in the backyard of his house and buried USB drives inside a pink plastic children’s lunchbox, hiding them from both police and military investigations. The USB drives contained images of soldiers misbehaving at a makeshift bar in Afghanistan, as well as classified documents and videos.

In separate secret recordings, which were lawfully made, Mr Roberts-Smith revealed his disdain for the business he helps run, his dislike of his fellow Seven executives and his incredulity that he is still running the company’s Queensland operations despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal.

Mr Stokes, who is also chairman of the Australian War Memorial, has provided significant financial support to the former special forces soldier to form an expensive legal and public relations team to combat the allegations investigated by the military Inspector-General and detailed in media reporting in The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith is running a defamation case against the mastheads.

In a statement, the Seven Network said it noted the denials of the Victoria Cross recipient.

“Insofar as most of the material aired is old, Seven notes that it is before the Federal Court and the court process should be respected,” the company said.

“Insofar as new allegations are made they do not appear to be supported by evidence. In the circumstances Seven does not need to reconsider its position concerning Mr Roberts Smith and him continuing in his position.”

The company said Mr Roberts-Smith held “grave concerns” as to whether the broadcast was an “attempt to intimidate him into not proceeding with his case” against the newspapers and reporter Nick McKenzie.

“The allegations aired this evening are baseless. These allegations are not supported by any evidence filed by Mr McKenzie and Nine in what has been an extensive pre-trial process,” the company said.

“Mr Roberts-Smith denies that he has engaged in any unlawful conduct and he will not be intimidated by Mr McKenzie or Nine into not continuing with the Federal Court proceedings against them.”

(continued)

>>13407824

2/2

Labor’s spokesman for veterans affairs Shayne Neumann described the images as “disgraceful” and “confronting”, but said he couldn’t comment on the allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith.

“There’s an Office of Special Investigator looking at it and the Australian Federal Police are also looking at those issues, so it’s not appropriate for me to give a running commentary in relation to those issues,” he said.

“But I will say that what I saw last night would disgust most Australians. They’re disgraceful, the photos were confronting. That shouldn’t have happened. People should behave better in the ADF and the Australian public expects people to not behave that way.”

The Australian Federal Police would not say whether it was investigating Mr Roberts-Smith for burying the USB drives, with a spokesperson saying: “The AFP declines to comment.”

Defence Minister Peter Dutton and the Department of Defence have been contacted for comment.

In the secret recordings, Mr Roberts-Smith described how the influence of Mr Stokes had forced those who supported scrutiny of the accused war criminal to back down.

“They seemed to have smelled blood in the water and thought, ‘Oh, Roberts-Smith is going down, we’ll f-cking chime in.’ I’m talking politicians and all kinds of people,” he said.

But after it became known Mr Stokes supported him, these same critics “are like, ‘Oh, thanks Kerry, glad you can help Ben out’. What the f-ck is that? You wanted me to go down, you piece of shit.”

The images which were previously in the possession of Mr Roberts-Smith included photographs showing a senior commissioned SAS commanding officer simulating a sex act with a high-ranking soldier using an object taken from a model camel.

Another image is one that shows what former defence force chief Chris Barrie told The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes was credible evidence of the war crime of desecrating a corpse.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, federal police who are conducting war crimes investigations into the war hero have since obtained the contents of the USBs.

If you are a current or former ADF member, or a relative, and need counselling or support, contact the Defence All-Hours Support Line on 1800 628 036 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046.

https://www1.defence.gov.au/adf-members-families/health-well-being/services-support-fighting-fit/need-help-now/all-hours-support-line

https://www.openarms.gov.au

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/seven-stands-by-senior-executive-ben-roberts-smith-over-new-evidence-he-attempted-to-cover-up-alleged-crimes-20210412-p57id8.html

Mike Pompeo Tweets

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11

#SundayScripture

https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/1381307564000960517

—

As a proponent of freedom, enjoying some Taiwanese dried pineapple. Checkmate.

https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/1381392669704871942

>https://qanon.pub/?q=armor%20of%20God

>>13408002

Pineapple war shows Taiwan won’t be bullied by Beijing

Like Australian wine, Taiwanese pineapples have been targeted by Beijing. If democracies are to stand up to Chinese coercion, they will have to join forces.

Lindsay Gorman - Mar 19, 2021

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This month, China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples, the latest in a string of punitive trade measures against democracies that illustrate how China has weaponised its growing economic clout.

As the island’s largest trading partner, China buys more than 90 per cent of Taiwanese pineapple farmers’ exports. But the island is taking Beijing’s boycott in its stride, underlining the potential for what is quickly emerging as one of the Biden administration’s sharpest foreign-policy tools: bringing democratic allies together on China.

US President Joe Biden took the first step in that direction last week. In a joint statement, the leaders of the four democracies in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – announced their support for an Indo-Pacific region “anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion.”

To that end, the Biden administration also appears to be taking a strongly pro-Taiwan stance, with the US State Department saying in a statement in January that Washington’s commitment to Taipei is “rock-solid.”

In response to China’s trade ban, the Taiwanese government has launched a chirpy public campaign for the “freedom pineapple” that’s gone viral. From Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on down, prominent Taiwanese are urging citizens to stand up to China by eating more of the fruit. “After Australian wine, unfair Chinese trade practices are now targeting #Taiwanese pineapples,” Tsai wrote. “But that won’t stop us… Support our farmers & enjoy delicious Taiwanese fruit!”

Global netizens quickly joined in support of Taiwanese growers, posting photos of pineapple cakes and pineapple shrimp balls.

In Taiwan, creative restaurateurs came up with new pineapple dishes, adding pineapple to staples like beef noodle soup. Taiwan’s envoy to the United States shared a picture of herself taking a giant bite out of a whole pineapple at a local Taiwanese farm.

Solidarity for “freedom pineapples” flooded in from all corners of the world, including Britain, Denmark, India, and the United States.

Of course, most of the support from abroad has been moral and not economic, since it will take more than just a few days for Taiwanese producers to redirect their exports.

Most pineapples in the United States, for example, are sourced from Hawaii and Puerto Rico. But the swift and very public backlash against Beijing suggests there is a growing sense of solidarity among the world’s democracies with victims of China’s economic bullying.

Beijing’s economic tactics aren’t new. China has a history of threatening the private industries of countries whose governments it wants to coerce.

Last November, China slapped tariffs on Australian wine over a list of 14 grievances. Chief among them were press coverage spotlighting China’s human rights abuses and Australia’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

The Norwegian salmon industry has also gotten the cold shoulder since 2010, when the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo.

By 2015, even the tiny Faroe Islands – a territory of Denmark – sold more salmon to China than all of Norway did. Relations only began to thaw after the Norwegian government signed a joint statement with China in 2016 recognising the latter’s concerns over the Nobel Peace Prize and pledging not to support actions that undermine “China’s core interests and major concerns”.

China’s bullying is also not limited to import restrictions. In Europe and North America, China has used economic coercion as a tool for interference 60 times since 2000, according to the Authoritarian Interference Tracker, a data set recently compiled by the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

They include threatening the German auto industry over the Chinese company Huawei’s access to constructing Germany’s 5G telecommunications network, issuing a travel warning to damage Canada’s tourism sector following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, and cancelling broadcasts of US National Basketball Association games in response to a pro-Hong Kong tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

(continued)

>>13408018

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Coercion of business

The Chinese party-state does not hesitate to coerce private companies when it disapproves of their messages. These economic tactics are one component of a broader information strategy to bend the truth to the Chinese Communist Party’s wishes.

Unfortunately, the major democracies are more focused on their readiness to counter military aggression from autocrats and have neglected developing a common approach to economic browbeating.

A network of defence alliances underpins the liberal order. As important as that is, democracies now also have to find ways to support each other against economic attacks.

So what is to be done? Earlier this month, the Biden administration released a new trade agenda saying that it would use “all available tools” to fight China’s unfair trade practices. Which tools will be used, under what circumstances, and in which ways all remain open questions.

One option that former Danish diplomat Jonas Parello-Plesner has proposed is to reach into the Cold War toolkit and enact an economic version of NATO’s Article 5: An attack on one democracy’s economy is an attack on all. Democratic allies would hit back against China with retaliatory tariffs whenever an industry from one country is threatened.

While Parello-Plesner’s logic is sound, the idea may be too complex to implement in practice. In the best case, it would require co-ordination of precise economic tripwires and retaliatory measures on a masterful scale.

In the worst case, it could easily snowball into a global tariff war. Limiting the bloc of democratic countries involved in responding to particular threats, such as by region or industry relevance, could simplify the calculus – but leave the others exposed to China picking them off, one by one.

Beijing’s hammer

Another option, much easier to implement and likely just as effective, would be to soften the blow to one nation by spreading out the cost among all. When Beijing’s hammer comes down in the form of import bans or tariffs, democracies could agree to increase purchases of affected goods. Where supply chains don’t already exist and are too hard to establish, countries could jump in with aid. In removing the pain, they remove the leverage.

Swift public information campaigns like #FreedomPineapple will be the key to success. And democracies already seem to be learning from each other: a December 2020 campaign led by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in support of Australia’s “freedom wine” garnered similar attention.

If their governments speak plainly about China, worldwide consumers may jump at the opportunity to support the targeted farmers, fishers, or vintners.

Given the high premium the Chinese Communist Party places on information control, visibly losing the public opinion war would show the party that its economic aggression has backfired.

As analysts debate whether the world is headed into a new cold war with China, one distinction is plain: unlike the Soviet Union, China is deeply integrated in the global economy.

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/pineapple-war-shows-taiwan-won-t-be-bullied-by-beijing-20210317-p57bhc

https://twitter.com/iingwen/status/1365253680606289921

https://twitter.com/iingwen/status/1366676589186936835

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 1:16 a.m. No.13408063 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8146 >>1261

>>13395990

Julian Assange supporters hold vigils

AAP / thewest.com.au - 12 April 2021

Small vigils have been held in cities across the world to mark the second anniversary of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being detained in prison after he was dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Supporters demanding his release joined events on Sunday in countries including Australia, the UK, Belgium, Germany and the United States.

Protests were held in London outside the Ecuadorian embassy, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, and at Belmarsh prison where he is being held.

Messages saying "Bring Assange Home" and "Journalism Is Not A Crime" were also projected onto buildings in the capital.

A small gathering of supporters held up similar banners in Sydney Harbour, calling for the Australian to be released.

Assange has been held in Belmarsh high security jail since he was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy on April 11 2019 by police before being arrested for breaching his bail conditions.

He had entered the embassy in 2012 after exhausting all legal avenues to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were eventually dropped.

A bid by the United States to extradite him was rejected at a London court earlier this year but Assange has remained in prison until the outcome of an appeal.

He was denied bail under strict conditions for fear he could abscond and deny prosecutors the chance to appeal.

The 49-year-old is wanted to face an 18-count indictment, alleging a plot to hack computers and a conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said Assange's continued imprisonment was an "outrage and a travesty of justice".

"It has now been two years of incarceration, isolation and psychological torture, all for exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the same journalism for which Julian has been applauded all over the world for and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize," he said.

"It's long past time for this injustice to end and we continue to appeal to the United States and the Department of Justice to drop the appeal and all the charges against Julian.

"In January, a judge in London ruled that Julian should not be extradited and so we are today calling for him to be released from Belmarsh prison and be a free man to be able to spend his time with his young family."

It was recently revealed that Pope Francis sent a personal message to Assange, whose partner Stella Moris said: "After a hard night, Julian woke up this morning to a kind, personal message from Pope Francis @pontifex delivered to his cell door by the prison priest."

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/julian-assange-supporters-hold-vigils-c-2569908

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 1:28 a.m. No.13408100 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8103 >>1239

‘Utterly unaccountable’: Turnbull labels News Corp the most powerful political actor in Australia

Lisa Visentin - April 12, 2021

1/2

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp poses a real threat to Australian democracy, claiming it has surpassed the Coalition or Labor as the most powerful political force in the country.

Mr Turnbull, who has blamed News Corp as a key player in his removal as prime minister in 2018, was unsparing in his criticism of the Murdoch empire in his evidence to a Senate inquiry into media diversity on Monday.

Giving evidence by video link, Mr Turnbull said the Murdoch media business had evolved into a powerful political force that, unlike political parties, was unaccountable to the Australian public.

“This is the fundamental problem that we’re facing: the most powerful political actor in Australia is not the Liberal Party or the National Party or the Labor Party. It is News Corp. And it’s utterly unaccountable,” Mr Turnbull said. “It’s controlled by an American family and their interests are no longer, if they ever were, coextensive with our own.”

News Corp has been contacted for comment.

Mr Turnbull, a Liberal, has joined former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd as a strident critic of News Corp and has backed his push for a royal commission into the influence of the Murdoch empire on the Australian media and political landscape. The media diversity inquiry, which is examining issues of media concentration in Australia, was established by the Senate after more than 500,000 people signed a petition by Mr Rudd voicing those concerns.

In his evidence to the inquiry in February, Mr Rudd said News Corp used systematic character assassinations to cultivate a culture of fear among politicians and engaged in campaign journalism against issues such as action on climate change.

At the same public hearing, News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller dismissed Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull’s criticisms as “a convenient diversion from their own failings” during his evidence. News Corp executive Campbell Reid gave evidence the company was “professional, accountable media” that operated in the Australian landscape “with an extraordinary degree of both government, and indeed regulatory, oversight and legal oversight if we get things wrong”.

“Our editing process – for all professional media – is high stakes because we can be charged with contempt of court, our journalists can be threatened with jail, we can be taken to the Press Council, and we can be held up to scrutiny by other organisations, which is completely different to the misinformation industry that is perpetuated by and is a driver of, frankly, profit online,” Mr Campbell told the inquiry in February.

Mr Turnbull echoed many of Mr Rudd’s concerns, saying he had experienced “bullying and standover tactics” from News Corp when he served in the Parliament.

He said the political might of the Murdoch empire represented “an absolute threat to our democracy” – a threat he said America had already witnessed on January 6 when rioters stormed the US Capitol building. Mr Turnbull said the Murdoch-controlled Fox News had amplified the civil unrest that led to rioting by promoting the lie that US President Joe Biden had stolen the election from Donald Trump.

“If you don’t think that isn’t a threat to American democracy and undermining the strength and capability of our most important ally. Then, you know, you are kidding yourself,” Mr Turnbull said.

(continued)

>>13408100

2/2

He also claimed that News Corp’s “problematic” influence was evident in its lobbying for the news media bargaining code laws, which forces Google and Facebook to compensate media companies for using their content on their platforms.

“The power that you represent – your Parliament, our Parliament – has been used to shake down two big tech platforms, Google and Facebook, to give money to media companies, the leading protagonist of which was News Corp, and we don’t know what they were paid,” Mr Turnbull said.

Nine Entertainment Co, owner of this masthead, also heavily lobbied the government to pass the media code. The laws were supported by other major media outlets, including the ABC and Guardian Australia.

Facebook Australia policy director Mia Garlick said the company had struck content deals with at least six publishers – Seven, News Corp, Schwartz Media, Private Media, Solstice Media and Sky News – but declined to disclose the size of deals, citing commercial in confidence. Nine has also signed a letter of intent with the tech giant for use of its news articles. Ms Garlick said the company would launch its news platform, Facebook News, by the end of 2021.

News Corp is the country’s biggest newspaper owner, with titles including national broadsheet The Australian and Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph, Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Brisbane’s The Courier Mail and Adelaide’s The Advertiser. News Corp also owns Australia’s second-biggest news website news.com.au and 24-hour channel Sky News Australia.

Nine is also a dominant player in Australian media and owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review newspapers and a range of radio stations and television assets. The ABC is the third major player through television, radio and the nation’s most-visited news website.

Executives from regional media companies Prime Media Group, WIN Corp and Imparja gave evidence on Monday that their struggling business model had forced job cuts and newsroom closures. The companies are lobbying the Morrison government to change media laws preventing the industry from consolidating.

“The reality is that if any one of us wasn’t here, diversity is dead in regional Australia,” Prime Media chief executive Ian Audsley said. “That needs to be fixed and the only way it can be fixed is to enable us to rearrange ourselves in a more economically sustainable way.“

Andrew Jaspan, co-founder of news website The Conversation and former editor of The Age, said Australia was witnessing a “spiralling concentration” in its media market, which posed an “unprecedented and real threat” to democracy. He listed the merger of Nine and Fairfax Media in 2018, and News Corp and Nine’s decision to walk away from newswire service AAP as key events that had reinforced the dominance of those two players.

“What is the real issue we face here with media concentration? It entrenches excessive political and ideological power in the hands of the few, giving them the ability to set the public agenda [and] determine political decision making [and] public and media policy,” Mr Jaspan said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/utterly-unaccountable-turnbull-labels-news-corp-the-most-powerful-political-actor-in-australia-20210412-p57idq.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 1:48 a.m. No.13408146 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8149 >>1261

>>13408063

Britain is damaging its reputation by keeping Julian Assange in jail, says partner

Stella Moris says continued detention of WikiLeaks founder is compromising UK’s global standing

Patrick Wintour - 11 Apr 2021

1/2

Britain would be on stronger ground campaigning against authoritarian regimes if it pressed the Biden administration to drop its call to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges, Stella Moris, Assange’s partner, has told the Guardian.

Moris – who has two children with Assange – is trying to broaden the campaign of support for him by pointing to the global damage caused to the UK’s reputation by keeping him in jail for so long.

In an interview coinciding with the second anniversary of his detention in the high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London, she says: “The treatment of Julian is compromising the UK constantly all round the world. It’s giving authoritarian governments points to score all round the world both privately and in international fora like the UN. You cannot start a new values competition with China with Julian Assange in Belmarsh for publishing war crimes. It just does not work. You don’t get to take the moral high ground with this as your starting point.

“Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said the difference between China and the US is that China puts its critics in prison. I am not sure the British government is aware of how much international criticisms it is facing over this issue, or the damage it is doing to its soft power reputation. It’s a tool to whack the UK again and again. It is the perfect response for authoritarian leaders when they are criticised by the UK, or pressed to release political prisoners: ‘What about Julian Assange?’”

She said the UK Foreign Office was running a major global press freedom campaign, and yet at the same time keeping Assange in jail. “Every major human rights group – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters without Borders – are on the same page about this issue.“

Moris portrays Britain as caught by a highly political case launched by the Trump administration as part of its war on journalism – a war that never had much support in the US.

So far, the new Biden administration, to the disappointment of Moris, has said it will appeal against the UK court’s decision, made in February, to refuse extradition on the grounds Assange’s mental health meant there was a real risk he would commit suicide in US prisons. The court rejected most of the free press arguments lodged by Assange’s lawyers to reject extradition. It also refused Assange bail.

But Moris is hopeful that the new US attorney general, Merrick Garland – who has a strong record on first amendment issues – will look at the Assange case afresh. Moris claims that “it’s seen in the US as a Trump administration prosecution driven by Mike Pompeo. They said they wanted a head on a pike.”

(continued)

>>13408146

2/2

The Obama administration, no fans of Assange, chose not to prosecute him, saying it could find nothing that did not amount to newsgathering and if it did charge him it would have to charge other organisations that had published the same material, such as New York Times and the Guardian.

Moris claims the pressure is real on the Biden team from civil liberties groups. New supporters pop up all the time. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, herself released from an Iranian jail and according to Moris a cousin of Assange’s, has joined the ranks calling for his release.

She says the court was right to be concerned for his wellbeing in a US prison given his mental health history, including the professional medical diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, presented in his case as an obsessiveness and an inability to understand how others might be thinking.

Moris says: “The prison system in the US is atrocious. On any given day there are an estimated 80,000 people in solitary confinement. He is a suicide risk, which means they would keep him under constant watch. He is a high-profile national security prisoner so they would keep him away from others.”

If the US does press an appeal to secure his extradition, it is likely Assange’s lawyers could go into a cross-appeal on some of the press freedom issues raised but rejected. The consequences for journalism are wide, Moris argues, including for British journalists who report on sensitive information about foreign powers.

But the danger for the Assange team is that he is left in limbo, neither released or extradited, as the case drags on. The case has been going on for so long Boris Johnson probably feels little domestic political pressure over the issue – it is not an issue that seems to animate the Labour party under the leadership of a former director of public prosecutions – and if something does happen once every three months to spark media interest, the Home Office can push out a line that has been on file for years.

She said she speaks to Assange by phone most days. “We sometimes have to talk about the case but he likes to hear about normal life and the kind of escape that gives him. Prison especially under Covid is all encompassing. You have no power to do anything. There is no agency, no autonomy. It is your entire world, so it is important to get his mind out of there. It is such a fucked up situation. Winning your case does not seem to matter.

“Sometimes I have to hide how much of an emotional struggle it is, I have good days and I have bad days, but I feel the trajectory has to be that he is going to be released, and that has to happen soon. But yet he is still in there.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/apr/11/britain-risks-damaging-reputation-by-keeping-julian-assange-in-jail-says-partner-stella-moris

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 2:15 a.m. No.13408195 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1263

Ben Roberts-Smith under fresh investigation over burner phones and sealed envelopes

Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and Joel Tozer - April 12, 2021

The Australian Federal Police is launching fresh investigations into former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and has already seized evidence implicating the war hero in an alleged conspiracy to silence witnesses.

The new evidence includes letters Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly placed in sealed envelopes and planned to send anonymously to SAS soldiers he feared would testify against him at a war crimes inquiry.

The AFP has also uncovered the existence of at least five “burner” phones that the Victoria Cross recipient arranged to be purchased in 2018, according to records sighted by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Authorities have identified multiple Optus and Telstra SIM cards purchased for use in burner phones belonging to Mr Roberts-Smith in 2018 and 2019.

Burner phones are disposable mobile phones subscribed in the name of a third party to obscure the true identity of the user from police phone taps and are typically used by people concerned they might be bugged by authorities. After use they are usually destroyed.

Lawyers for Mr Roberts-Smith were contacted on Monday for comment but did not respond.

A joint investigation by The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes revealed allegations that Mr Roberts-Smith, an accused war criminal, dug a hole in the backyard of his Queensland house and buried USB drives inside a pink plastic children’s lunchbox, hiding them from both police and military investigations. The USB drives contained images of bad behaviour by soldiers at a makeshift bar in Afghanistan, as well as classified documents and videos.

The AFP has seized the contents of the USBs and is investigating the Victoria Cross recipient’s handling of the sensitive files.

The two sealed envelopes recently seized by detectives are in addition to a threatening letter previously seized by police and which was posted anonymously in June 2018 to an SAS witness to the military Inspector-General’s war crimes inquiry. That letter warned the witness to stay quiet.

Police are investigating if Mr Roberts-Smith sent that anonymous letter and later sought to destroy the two other envelopes he also had planned to send. Multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a third party, who was allegedly told by Mr Roberts-Smith to destroy the envelopes, kept them instead.

Police seized the envelopes last month, and earlier this month a police forensics team at the AFP Brisbane office was assigned to examine them. The AFP declined to comment, but multiple sources said inquiries were being “prioritised” by the federal agency.

The new investigation probing Mr Roberts-Smith for allegedly intimidating witnesses and concealing evidence is in addition to two AFP taskforces investigating Mr Roberts-Smith for allegedly executing and brutalising unarmed Afghan prisoners in 2009 and 2012.

The new revelations of sealed envelopes and burner phones come as Mr Roberts-Smith’s employer, the Seven Network, is standing by him in his role as senior executive. Mr Roberts-Smith and Seven released a statement saying the former soldier denies new allegations that he attempted to thwart police and military investigations by burying USBs.

Seven is also backing the ex-soldier after he was caught on secretly recorded audio lauding his media mogul boss, Kerry Stokes, for financing his fight to “destroy” those in politics, the media and the SAS who have accused him of war crimes.

In separate secret recordings, which were lawfully made, Mr Roberts-Smith revealed his disdain for the business he helps run, his dislike of his fellow Seven executives and his incredulity that he is still running the company’s Queensland operations despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal.

Mr Stokes, who is also chairman of the Australian War Memorial, has provided significant financial support to the former special forces soldier to form an expensive legal and public relations team to combat the allegations investigated by the military Inspector-General and detailed in media reporting in The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith is running a defamation case against the mastheads.

In its statement, the Seven Network said it noted the denial by the Victoria Cross recipient of the allegations unearthed by 60 Minutes and this masthead.

“Insofar as most of the material aired is old, Seven notes that it is before the Federal Court and the court process should be respected,” the company said. “Insofar as new allegations are made they do not appear to be supported by evidence.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-under-fresh-investigation-over-burner-phones-and-sealed-envelopes-20210412-p57if9.html

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 2:29 a.m. No.13408224 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8227 >>1279

>>13383087

>>13383098

'Bewitched' Vicky Xu who fabricates Xinjiang story stokes anti-China sentiment in Australia

GT staff reporters - Apr 11, 2021

1/2

Vicky Xu Xiuzhong, who is widely regarded by Chinese netizens as one of the manipulators behind this wave of Western crackdowns over issues related to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, not only irritates the Chinese public but also puts the Chinese community in Australia in peril.

Xu is known as the author of Uyghurs for Sale, a so-called research report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The report, released in March 2020, claimed there was forced labor in Xinjiang and at least 82 global brands were among the supply chains of Xinjiang-related factories. This was prior to the latest wave of Western attacks on China over non-existent forced labor concerns in the cotton-producing region.

Xu is performing a stunt for her groundless story smearing China and Xinjiang-related issues. Interviews by the Global Times showed that groundless reports by this Chinese who now lives in Australia are stoking the already strong anti-China sentiment in Australia and reducing the voices of the Chinese community in the country.

Xu is quite familiar among the Chinese community in Australia as a person who is frequently in the Western media spreading false information on China and issues relating to Xinjiang, but Chinese individuals in Australia chose to keep silent in the face of rising anti-Chinese racism in the country, the Global Times learned.

Some Chinese associations in Australia reached by the Global Times referred to the unfriendly atmosphere against Chinese in the country and declined to talk to the media as a result.

Anti-Chinese forces are now so strong in Australia that pro-Beijing Chinese and Australians have to keep silent for their personal safety, and even the centrists cannot speak their minds, the Global Times learned from some living in Australia.

"We were all silent for fear of being ostracized. Making public comments supporting Chinese would be labeled as anti-Australia," an Australian citizen who preferred to be called George told the Global Times.

"Most ordinary Australian people will naturally believe in those made-up stories fabricated by Xu and her like, because most of them have never been to China and they will not know what these people like Xu are talking about. Anti-China activists use such information gaps to say whatever they want in media reports and no one can challenge them," George said.

(continued)

>>13408224

2/2

Xu has never lived in Xinjiang but she decked herself out as an "expert" specializing in issues relating to Xinjiang, even making appearances on US and Australian TV to peddle her anti-China policies and cater to the tastes of "anti-China fans".

Xu was hired by the ASPI as an analyst specializing in Chinese nationalism and Xinjiang issues. Her profile on the ASPI website said that Xu studied political science at the University of Melbourne before she worked for the New York Times and Australian Broadcasting Corp.

ASPI hired her is because she is Chinese. The anti-China organization needs such an identity to pin labels on nationalism. A white face would not convince the public as easily as a yellow one, George told the Global Times.

Xu drew conclusions on forced labor in Xinjiang simply citing security booths and fences at the Jiashi Vocational School and the Haoyuanpeng Clothing Manufacturing's factory in Shule, Xinjiang. She even wrongly cited satellite data and claimed that a nursing home, a school and a residential compound were detention centers.

One of Xu's schoolmates at the University of Melbourne, a Chinese student studying global media and communication surnamed Zhu, told the Global Times that Xu is a person who pursues personal interests by selling out her own country. This morally low person who frequently spreads false news and defies facts doesn't have any professional ethics as a journalist.

"What on Earth distorts her? People with a strong hatred of the country like her are uncommon," Zhu said.

"It seems like Xu would do anything against her country just to obtain permanent residence (PR) in Australia. I was shocked. None of my acquaintances who are most eager for PR would do such things," a student surnamed Zhao from the University of Melbourne said.

"I believe she was bewitched by the anti-China forces in the West, and her worship of the West makes her go further on the pathway against her motherland. Anyone who really knows about China and had visited Xinjiang would not write a research report like Uyghurs for Sale." The labor transfer story she wrote was a muddled one with many wrong references, many other Chinese in Australia told the Global Times.

Despite the facts that Xu's research on Xinjiang was based on lies, the Washington Post depicted Xu as a real "researcher" and a victim of online criticism.

Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, commented that it takes years of education and strenuous scholarly training to be a true academic. To call someone who has been producing fabrications and falsehoods a researcher and scholar is actually a blasphemy of the word "academic."

In fact academics in China are never subject to domestic restrictions on their research and studies. The only sanction, bans and mistreatment imposed on them are from Western countries which wrongfully accuse them of posing risks to their national security, said Chen.

"Nowadays people around the world have full freedom of expression in the cyberspace. It is quite normal for some netizens in China to express their indignation at someone whom they perceive as damaging China's national interest. Such spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings has nothing to do with academic repression," Chen said.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1220777.shtml

Anonymous ID: 7f17ed April 12, 2021, 3:50 a.m. No.13408323 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8324

>>13408323

… that sounds like you're wanking your way to a better future mate.

Anonymous ID: 90de52 April 12, 2021, 11:53 a.m. No.13410361 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1263

Shocking evidence of potential war crime exposed in major investigation

60 Minutes Australia

12 Apr 2021

It’s not pleasant busting a long-held myth about a much-admired and highly-decorated veteran of the Afghanistan war. But Australia really needs to know the truth about VC recipient, Ben Roberts-Smith. For the last three years he’s been under police investigation, accused of war crimes. The former soldier emphatically denies any wrongdoing, repeatedly saying he has nothing to hide about his time in Afghanistan. 60 MINUTES, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspaper reveal startling new information that will shock the nation. It’s about Roberts-Smith’s efforts to conceal evidence and threaten SAS witnesses who dared to stand up to him.

And a warning: This joint investigation by 60 MINUTES, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspaper, contains confronting material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u76c7Eqxz28

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 12, 2021, 1:43 p.m. No.13411134 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1439

Riots,Murder, Nuclear Terror and Chaos As Western Political System Implodes

Benjamin Fulford, April 12, 2021

A series of high-level murders, an attempt to set off nuclear weapons in the Ukraine, riots, and other chaos all indicate the current Western political system is imploding. The main problem is a group of Messianic fanatics who think they must fulfill end-times prophecies written in ancient books.

Let us start with the attempt by the end-times fanatics to start Armageddon in Ukraine. After we conveyed a message from Russia’s FSB last week that a U.S. C-17 carrying nuclear weapons arrived in Ukraine we got the following message from the NSA:

“Thanks to your tips 3 nukes were located headed into South-Eastern Ukraine to be remotely detonated… in about 2 weeks… hopefully Russia will take them out ………… and the 4 weapons headed into south Western Russia will be rerouted by Russia…And we hope the 4 nukes headed to DC, NYC, Moscow in June & Maybe London will also be rerouted into the depths of Langley East and West… we can only hope.”

The intercepted nukes were clearly intended to be set off in Ukraine and blamed on Russia as we can see from the propaganda campaign now going on.For example the U.S. Navy Information/Disinformation site Sorcha Faal and Jane’s report the following:

“President Putin authorizing the use of the nuclear-armed Iskander ballistic missiles being presently deployed near the Ukraine border.”

Then we have reports about Russian “nuclear mortars” etc. https://defence-blog.com/news/army/russian-atomic-mortars-spotted-moving-toward-border-with-ukraine.html

Of course, the mainstream corporate propaganda media is also beating the drums of war. https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/russia-ukraine-brink-war-signals-23867984

We also have the Israelis and their Iranian partners carrying on their ad-nauseum “Iran is about to get nuclear weapons” kabuki theater. The latest is a supposed Israeli attack on an Iranian nuclear site followed by Iranian promises of “revenge.” As usual, they are just trying to get “Gog” (the G7) to fight “Magog” (the Shanghai Cooperation Association) to start Armageddon.

These fanatics just won’t give up. That is why the Gnostic Illuminati have issued the following warning:

“If the Messianic fanatics try nuclear terror again, it will result in the obliteration of Jerusalem.”

Sauce: https://benjaminfulford.net/2021/04/12/riots-murders-nuclear-terror-and-chaos-as-western-political-system-implodes/

Anonymous ID: 50e8d8 April 12, 2021, 2:29 p.m. No.13411439 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1528

>>13411134

Same trash posted in Canada #16

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 12, 2021, 2:42 p.m. No.13411528 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3838

>>13411439

Same shill posting in the int'l breads.

>>13411528

And yet you have the same ID.

Hmmmm

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 12, 2021, 11:15 p.m. No.13414591 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Magda Szubanski criticised over Jenny Morrison ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ post

James Morrow - April 13, 2021

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint says Magda Szubanski’s “appalling” attack on Jenny Morrison is another example of the double standards shown to women on the centre-right.

The South Australian Liberal MP who announced earlier this year that she was stepping down from politics because of abuse she copped during the last election, was scathing of Ms Szubanski’s tweet about the wife of the Prime Minister.

“I cannot believe the appalling personal attacks on Mrs Morrison, especially by Ms Szubanski, a woman who has received one of our nation’s highest honours,” Ms Flint said.

“I will be writing to the responsible Minister to once again request a review of the standards to which Australian Honours recipients should be held.”

“More broadly, Ms Szubanski’s completely disrespectful comments are yet another example of the double standards demonstrated towards women on the centre-right of politics.

“The sisterhood need to stop picking and choosing which sisters to protect; all women deserve to be treated with respect,” Ms Flint said.

On Sunday, Ms Szubanski retweeted a photo of a conservatively-dressed Jenny Morrison standing to the side as her husband signed a condolence book for Prince Philip.

“I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid’s Tale meme. But no. It’s 21st century Aussie life,” Szubanski wrote.

She retweeted the photo with a message from a left-wing Twitter account called MFWitches, which wrote, “Good morning to everyone else to whom this feels creepy, chilling, terrifying, ominous, enraging, despairing and utterly, completely f*cking depressing.”

Meanwhile a number of prominent female politicians who have been the target of online abuse were quick to hit out at Ms Szubanski for her attacks on Jenny Morrison.

“Ms Szubanski has herself been the target of obscene trolls, yet the hypocritical nature of the Left is here on display,” NSW Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes told The Daily Telegraph.

“This current cry on behalf of women, of supporting women, is of course only applicable if your politics is left of centre.”

Ms Szubanski was recently criticised for not standing up for women when she attacked conservative Queensland Senator Amanda Stoker’s appointment as assistant minister for women, calling her a member of “the small but noisy ‘Christian Soldiers’ faction hijacking the national agenda.”

She also retweeted a photo of the Morrison family posing with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, zooming in on Mrs Morrison’s hand, which showed her thumb and forefinger joined over one of her daughters’ wrists.

In some segments of the internet, the joined thumb and forefinger, as part of the traditional “OK” sign, is seen as an indication of support for white supremacy.

“What’s this little hand signal thingy??”, Ms Szubanski asked in her tweet, which prompted a number of replies from other Twitter users suggesting that Mrs Morrison was somehow signalling support for racist ideology.

Many others tweeted responses showing prominent left-wing politicians like US Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez making the “OK” sign.

In the past, Ms Szubanski has claimed that she herself was the victim of online trolling, most recently after she did a public service announcement supporting Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ draconian COVID lockdown restrictions.

At the time, Israel Folau defended Ms Szubanski, saying, “Please stop the anonymous online attacks on Magda Szubanski, who has entered this debate very respectfully.”

“She is entitled to express her views – let’s all have this important discussion with love in our hearts.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/magda-szubanski-criticised-over-jenny-morrison-handmaids-tale-post/news-story/c7d9ccefa6d58995146d01f1943b1f8d

https://twitter.com/MagdaSzubanski/status/1381084653205954560

https://twitter.com/MagdaSzubanski/status/1381095931404152833

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 12, 2021, 11:27 p.m. No.13414624 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4627 >>1279

>>13351022

Will Australia interfere with NZ’s China policy?

Qin Sheng - Apr 12, 2021

1/2

Voices that accuse New Zealand of not being tough enough on China-related issues have been lately emerging in Western countries, especially Australia. New Zealand was even referred to as the "soft underbelly" of the Five Eyes alliance in a report written by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as early as 2018. The term has been recently hyped up again by Australian media - news.com.au, which said, "There are concerns from New Zealand Five Eyes' allies that it may be the weak link in dealing with China."

In the eye of the Five Eyes, there are many incidents that show Wellington's inconsistent acts with them. This January, New Zealand didn't issue a joint statement together with the other four members of the alliance to express "serious concern" about the situation in Hong Kong. Last month, New Zealand refrained from joining 14 countries, including the other four members of the Five Eyes, in questioning the WHO report on the origins of the novel coronavirus.

An Australian broadcaster even accused New Zealand of "backstabbing" Australia. Even though such a comment does not represent the attitude of the Australian government, it still reflects Australia's horrible mentality, as well as the country's diplomatic philosophy that puts ideology above everything else. As "the deputy sheriff of the US in the Asia-Pacific region," Australia has positioned itself as the hegemony of the South Pacific region. It sees New Zealand as its little brother who should be in line with it regarding China policies.

In fact, New Zealand, as a typical Western country, normally judges international affairs from the standpoint of developed Western countries. However, when Wellington has occasionally raised a different voice, it has caused Canberra deep confusion and discomfort.

Australia has an overwhelming advantage over New Zealand in terms of territory, population, and economic size. And it is New Zealand's second-largest trading partner. Thus, Canberra tends to consider Wellington's latest behavior as "backstabbing." However, this highlights the arrogance of some Australians, and also shows extreme disrespect for its neighbor.

On the other hand, in contrast to the deteriorating China-Australia relationship in recent years, the China-New Zealand relationship has been going well. In 2017, China overtook Australia as New Zealand's top trading partner. In January, China and New Zealand signed an agreement to upgrade their existing free trade pact.

(continued)

>>13414624

2/2

During the same period, there was almost no substantive high-level dialogue between China and Australia, as the anti-China wave in Australia's domestic and foreign affairs was rising. The lack of communication and coordination has directly led to the escalating trade frictions between the two countries. Faced with the smooth development of China-New Zealand relations, Australia did not reflect on its own problems, but tried to use its influence to interfere with the foreign policy of its neighbors.

In the ongoing confrontation with China, Australia has repeatedly hurt Chinese companies and investments on the grounds of national security. This has been done at the expense of its own companies and people, and now Australia wants its neighbors to join in this lose-lose situation. After Australia issued the ban on Chinese tech giant Huawei, the company has terminated its millions of research and development investments in the country, and closed the research and development center there. High-tech workers lost their jobs, and the development of 5G technology in Australia lagged behind seriously. This decision has brought obvious negative effects on Australia's economic development and technological progress.

New Zealand, by contrast, attaches more importance to win-win cooperation and seeks the greatest common ground in bilateral relations from the perspective of development. This is also an important reason for the continuous development and breakthrough of China-New Zealand relations.

At present, the strategic competition between China and the US is becoming more and more complicated. As Washington increasingly pushes other countries to take sides, third countries besides China and the US are playing an increasingly important role in this game. Many countries have made an independent choice between following the US in containing China and deepening cooperation with China, in order to safeguard their vital interests.

Besides New Zealand, Germany, a critical US ally in Europe and the EU's largest economy, has not joined the US-led group challenging the WHO's report on global tracing of COVID-19 origins. More and more countries respect the facts and follow the trend of the times. In sum, the ideological diplomacy of countries such as the US and Australia is losing its market in international community.

The author is an assistant researcher at Asia Pacific and Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1220837.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 12, 2021, 11:36 p.m. No.13414649 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5310 >>1239

Trump receives 'Champion for Freedom Award'

Sky News Australia

13 Apr 2021

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group formed to help the GOP take back the Senate in 2022, has awarded Donald Trump with its inaugural 'Champion for Freedom Award.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11gekSn3n0A

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 13, 2021, 12:56 a.m. No.13414892 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13389623

Australia’s exports to China hit new highs

WILL GLASGOW - APRIL 13, 2021

Australia’s exports to China hit a new record in the first three months of 2021 as strong demand for iron ore continues to more than offset Beijing’s strikes on coal, wine, lobster, timber and barley.

The total value of goods exports from Australia rose by 20.7 per cent to $44.36bn ($US33bn) in the first quarter of the year, according to data released by China’s customs agency.

Exports in March were $17.4bn, the highest monthly total ever.

China’s exports to Australia for the three months to the end of March were up 50.5 per cent to $18.5bn.

The elevated prices of iron ore and liquefied natural gas — Australia’s two biggest exports to China — has undermined the campaign of economic punishment President Xi Jinping’s regime has waged on the Morrison government.

Australia’s ambassador in China Graham Fletcher last month said the lack of impact of the trade restrictions had contributed to the ongoing “stand off” between Beijing and Canberra.

“The total impact on the economy, and on [Australian] government policy frankly, is not delivering the result that China wanted,” Mr Fletcher told the Australia China Business Council at a briefing.

Beijing’s trade strikes — which Ambassador Fletcher described as “deliberate coercion” — began with a thumping 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley exports, imposed weeks after Foreign Minister Marise Payne last April called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus without forewarning her Chinese counterparts.

The barley tariff was followed by the suspension of licences for six Australian beef abattoirs, the imposition of a 200-plus per cent tariff on Australian wine that priced the industry out of what had been its biggest market, the banning of timber after Chinese officials said they had detected pests in Australian cargo, and a blacklisting of lobsters and coal which has never been made official.

Australia had been the dominant supplier of coking coal to China, the world’s biggest steel maker.

Beijing’s ban on coal — which had been Australia’s third biggest export to China, worth $14bn in 2019 — has increased the cost of the steel making ingredient for its local industry.

“It just shows the extent to which China is prepared to pay a price itself to make a political point,” Mr Fletcher said.

According to numbers by China’s customs, no Australian coal has entered China this year.

Despite reports that copper concentrate had also been blacklisted, China’s official numbers show the metal has continued to enter the world’s second biggest economy.

Industry in China has been concerned that copper from Chile — the world’s biggest — may be disrupted by a huge wave of coronavirus in the South American country.

The China Iron and Steel Association met on Tuesday to discuss the high costs of its resource inputs. Australia is China’s main supplier of iron ore, which continues to trade without interruption.

That meeting came a week after President Xi’s top economic adviser Liu He discussed the increase in the prices of bulk commodities with officials.

The new trade numbers show the deep complementarity between resource rich Australia’s resource and China, its biggest trading partner.

They come after new analysis by the Lowy Institute’s chief economist Roland Rajah found most Australian industries caught up in China’s trade campaign have been able to offset much of their lost income by finding new markets.

Australia’s lobster industry - which sold more than 90 per cent of its product to China - and the country’s most China-exposed winemakers have felt the most pain.

“Our friends had to bite the bullet,” China’s deputy head of mission at its Canberra Embassy Wang Xining told a separate Australia China Business Council function in February.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/australias-exports-to-china-hit-new-highs/news-story/dda05455c091f0507593a04a5afaa50d

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 13, 2021, 1:10 a.m. No.13414930 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7342 >>1294

Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine won't be coming to Australia due to AstraZeneca similarities

Tom Lowrey - 13 April 2021

Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine will not be part of Australia's vaccine rollout, at least for now, after the federal government confirmed it would not purchase any doses from the company.

The vaccine is being widely used in the United States and has the advantage of only requiring one dose, unlike the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna alternatives which all require two doses.

The federal government had been in talks with the global pharmaceutical giant about potentially acquiring its vaccine, and the company had previously submitted an application to the Therapeutic Goods Administration for provisional registration.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is based on similar technology to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt said those similarities were the reason the federal government had decided against pursuing the option any further.

"The [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine is an adenovirus vaccine, the same type of vaccine as the AstraZeneca vaccine," they said in a statement.

"The government does not intend to purchase any further adenovirus vaccines at this time."

The news comes despite the fact the federal government has been considering how to increase Australia's vaccine orders in response to changing advice around the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Under new advice, Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is the preferred option for Australians under 50 due to concerns over an extremely small number of cases of a rare blood clotting condition recorded in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Late last week it was confirmed an order for a further 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been lodged.

Australia has deals in place with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novavax, but the Novavax vaccine is yet to be approved.

The federal opposition demanded further explanation about why the government was not pursuing a deal with Johnson & Johnson.

Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler said Australia needed to secure more vaccine deals.

"With this very important vaccine that's rolling out through the US, will start to roll out through the United Kingdom very soon, if there is a decision not to go with it, what are the reasons for that?" Mr Butler said.

"I think this is the problem Australians and Australian businesses are having right now — the communication channels from the government have shut down.

"We've got a Prime Minister that's retreated to Facebook and a minister who's making announcements through a spokesperson without clear background information."

Millions vaccinated abroad with a single dose

As of April 11, nearly 6.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been administered in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because patients only require one dose, full vaccination of a population can be achieved relatively quickly.

The vaccine is approved for use in the European Union, and shipments to Europe reportedly began this week.

At a press conference with the Prime Minister last Friday, Health Department Secretary Brendan Murphy confirmed the government was "still exploring with Johnson & Johnson".

But he also noted that it was a similar type of vaccine to that produced by AstraZeneca.

Last week the European Medicines Agency said it was looking into four blood-clotting cases in the US associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

However, Johnson & Johnson said "no clear causal relationship has been established" between the cases and the vaccine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-13/johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-australia/100064454

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 13, 2021, 3:13 a.m. No.13415137 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7256 >>1307

>>13408002

QAnon Followers Excited by Mike Pompeo ‘Checkmate’ Photo

Sabrina Scotus - April 12, 2021

Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have got excited in a way only they know how after Mike Pompeo tweeted a photo of him playing chess while eating dried pineapple.

The tweet from Pompeo on Sunday night appears to be in support of Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese pineapple imports citing “harmful creatures” that could affect its own crops, which Taiwan leaders argue is more of a political move than any agricultural concerns.

“As a proponent of freedom, enjoying some Taiwanese dried pineapple. Checkmate,” Pompeo tweeted while showing a photo of him playing a game of chess.

For QAnon supporters, the tweet and picture has nothing to do with international trade disputes, and instead is a coded reference which justifies their beliefs and proof that yet another prediction for their so-called “plan” may still come true.

A major part of the QAnon movement is deciphering coded messages which first appeared on 4chan, before later moving to 8chan and 8kun, from a mysterious figure known as “Q” who they believed to have high-level security clearance from the government.

These messages, also known as drops or “crumbs,” were seen as clues which were then interpreted to form the basis of what the conspiracy theorists believe, including that there exists a cabal of satanic pedophiles and “deep state” which Donald Trump would expose during his time as president.

Since October 2017, thousands of these messages appeared online, with the frequency drastically slowing down when Trump lost the election in November.

There hasn’t been a new message since December 8, with a recent HBO series on QAnon concluding that the person who played a major part in writing the messages was not someone with high-level security clearance from the government but actually Ron Watkins, the former administrator of 8kun.

The lack of new drops appearing, or the suggestion their leader is actually an infamous internet troll whose site hosted child pornography, has not affected QAnon.

Instead of waiting for new messages to guide them, their supporters merely decipher the catalogue of thousands already online to suit their needs, including attempts to suggest world events were long predicted by Q.

In this case, QAnon supporters were excited about Pompeo’s use of “checkmate” because the word appears in a drop from May 2020, albeit in a very vague passage about chess tactics.

Others also got excited about the placement of Pompeo’s pieces on the chessboard.

“If this isn’t comms, I don’t know what is. He literally won the game with his Knight on D5,” one widely shared post QAnon Telegram account with nearly 15,000 subscribers wrote.

The account later clarified his post to note that Pompeo has not in fact won the game despite his checkmate comment, but “the Queen is in danger.”

For QAnon, D5 is one of a number of phrases, slogans, and mixture of numbers of letters which they see in everyday life and interpret as a nod to their movement.

D5 is meant to reference December 5, a date which QAnon supporters believed for the past few years would see a day of reckoning to show they were right. Again, the reason for this is Q referencing D5 in a number of his drops in late 2018.

The specifics of what might occur on December 5 was never stated, but QAnon supporters still eagerly awaited the day each year since 2018.

Just like hundreds of failed predictions from QAnon, such as Trump carrying mass executions of satanic pedophiles at Joe Biden’s inauguration or returning as president on March 4, no such major QAnon event has happened in December.

Despite this, some influential QAnon advocates are still choosing to see Pompeo’s post on Twitter as significant using their own distorted interpretations of world events.

“If Mike Pompeo’s latest tweet isn’t comms then I don’t know what is,” wrote the Telegram account Pepe Lives Matter, which has more than 63,000 subscribers.

“Pompeo’s checkmate tweet increased my hopium levels by a factor of 17,” it added. The number 17 is significant in QAnon world because Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet.

“What Pompeo is showing is that his next move from D5 to F6 will give him total control of the board, including the most important center of the board to dictate the moves going forward to Checkmate!” another QAnon supporter wrote in a Telegram channel with more than 72,000 subscribers.

“The position of the board is also showing that no matter what the other side does, Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming…even though the other side has all their pieces still in the game!”

https://thelibertybuzz.com/qanon-mike-pompeo-checkmate-tweet/

>>13415137

Well, now we know at least one journo is still hanging round these boards

Anonymous ID: 50e8d8 April 13, 2021, 11:05 a.m. No.13417342 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1294

>>13414930

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1381929112126775300

New Victorian Catholic abuse process announced

AAP / thewest.com.au - 14 April 2021

Abuse survivors in Victoria are being urged to give feedback on the Catholic Church's proposed new process for handling complaints and redress.

Pathways Victoria will replace the widely-criticised Melbourne Response model, set up by Cardinal George Pell 25 years ago.

The Catholic Dioceses of Victoria have released details of the new scheme and survivors have until May 14 to comment.

"It is important that the voices of those who have experienced abuse are heard, and that their feedback helps to shape this new model," the church said in a statement.

"This new model will offer a set of compassionate, just and appropriately resourced processes to investigate complaints and respond to survivors, as an alternative to existing options such as the national redress scheme and civil litigation.

"It offers a pathway where survivors are listened to, acknowledged, compensated and given care."

The church added the proposed scheme would offer an "operationally independent structure" for implementing its national response protocol released earlier this year.

It says Pathways Victoria will be "person-centred and trauma-informed".

The child abuse royal commission had a series of criticisms about the Melbourne Response, saying it discouraged survivors from contacting police.

Cardinal Pell set up the program when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.

https://thewest.com.au/news/religion-and-belief/new-vic-catholic-abuse-process-announced-c-2589531

—

Public consultation opens on new model for complaints and redress in Victoria

Melbourne Catholic - 13 April 2021

The Catholic Dioceses of Victoria have announced the opening of a public consultation period for a new process of response to complaints and redress relating to abuse in the Catholic Church. It is important that the voices of those who have experienced abuse are heard, and that their feedback helps to shape this new model.

The proposed model, Pathways Victoria, will provide an operationally independent structure for implementing the Catholic Church’s National Response Protocol released earlier this year, and will provide a person-centred and trauma-informed response. This responds directly to Recommendations 7.7 and 16.37 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Pathways Victoria will replace the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing processes that have been in place for nearly twenty-five years and will operate alongside the vital and ongoing services of Carelink.

This new model will offer a set of compassionate, just and appropriately resourced processes to investigate complaints and respond to survivors, as an alternative to existing options such as the National Redress Scheme and civil litigation. It offers a pathway where survivors are listened to, acknowledged, compensated and given care. For those who seek it, survivors have an opportunity to reconnect spiritually, with the restoration of links with the Church community.

Early notification of this announcement was shared with individual survivors and advocacy groups to enable support to be sought where needed, as well as with key stakeholders including the Acting Premier and the Commission for Children and Young People.

Survivors, their support persons and others who have lived with the effects of abuse, or have professional experience in this area, are strongly encouraged to be represented in this consultation phase, which will run from 13 April until 14 May 2021.

A website has been established for Pathways Victoria, providing background and updates on the proposal, as well as information on how to participate in the consultation phase.

https://melbournecatholic.org/news/public-consultation-opens-on-new-model-for-complaints-and-redress-in-victoria

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 12:36 a.m. No.13422593 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1272 >>1295

>>13422589

PATHWAYS VICTORIA

Restorative Journeying with Survivors of Abuse within the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church and religious institutions in Victoria are committed to a safe environment for all children and vulnerable persons with safeguarding embedded within its culture and operations. Clergy, employees and volunteers are committed to upholding the right to safety of all persons, and participating in a creating a culture of safety supported by policies, practices and procedures that strive to prevent abuse in the first instance and to respond appropriately and effectively if abuse does occur.

Within the Catholic Church and participating religious institutions in Victoria there are currently two models that are available to respond to complaints of historic abuse: Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response. Nationally, there is also now the National Redress Scheme and civil litigation for those who seek compensation to redress past abuse.

In light of our contemporary understanding of the impact of abuse and trauma, the Catholic Church and participating religious institutions in Victoria have committed to the development of a consistent and state wide model of responding to complaints. The new approach, called Pathways Victoria, will implement a set of compassionate, just and appropriately resourced professional standards processes based on the National Response Protocol. It will incorporate features from Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response, effectively bringing their processes to a conclusion and providing a new process to investigate complaints and compensate and care for victims. Those who currently receive supports through Carelink will continue to do so. The Pathways Victoria model will offer an alternative to existing mechanisms such as the National Redress Scheme and civil litigation for those who may wish to engage in a pastoral response.

It is the hope that a sense of grace will be the light that shines through the new Pathways Model as it considers:

• the direct experiential feedback from victims, survivors and their families on the impact and effect of institutional abuse and redress processes

• the lessons from the multiple inquiries and report findings.

Consultation with victims and survivors who have engaged in the Melbourne Response or Towards Healing will be sought in addition to advice and input from related professionals, victim advocates and others who have been impacted in the community. This input will both inform and shape the way in which the Catholic Church in Victoria responds to future complaints of abuse with the voices of those with lived experience vital to our commitment of restorative journeying with adult survivors of abuse.

Through the Pathways Victoria model and processes, the Church and participating religious institutions seek to take responsibility for addressing wrongs that have been committed. The model responds to the need of those who wish to connect at a pastoral level with a one-to-one connection with a care coordinator who will walk alongside victims and survivors on their journey. It facilitates a compassionate approach with the opportunity to restore faith and trust with every step of engagement.

We look forward to providing you with further information as the project develops. If you would like to be involved in the Pathways Victoria project, please click the link below to add yourself to our mailing list.

https://www.pathwaysvictoria.com/

https://www.pathwaysvictoria.com/about-2

https://b1150120-7799-40a0-9f2b-795c5d78ff76.filesusr.com/ugd/af9da3_a39983accd314f309f135a4b72dd016a.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 1:16 a.m. No.13422670 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2676 >>1307

We are in a crucial war: not against coronavirus but anti-vaxxers

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - APRIL 14, 2021

1/2

The Morrison Government’s decision to recommend the restricted use of the Astra-Zeneca vaccines was the right one. It was a good decision taken by the government based on expert advice.

It has caused problems, delays in the roll-out but it is easy to get caught up in the fear and anxiety of from a 24-hour news cycle. The success of the roll-out can only be measured a year from today, not in shrieking headlines on a daily basis.

Resist the urge to panic. Stay in touch with your general practitioner. Listen to the experts.

Most of all, we need to reject the misinformation that is spreading from the anti-vax industry who have found fertile ground for their conspiracy theories and outright lies in the wake of the government’s decision.

Last week, The Daily Telegraph caught out an anti-vaxxer “killing off” an intensive care doctor. The doctor was photographed having received her vaccine with an excited thumbs up. The photograph was posted on the doctor’s social media account.

The following day, an anti-vaxxer based in, guess where – Byron Bay posted, “Sadly, moments after her vaccination, this lady passed out and fell into a coma … she is still not conscious … doctors fear she will not recover.”

In reality, the doctor reported only a little fatigue in the 24-hour period after her shot of the vaccine. She didn’t miss any work. She continues to tend to the sick and injured in a hospital in the NSW’s northern rivers region.

This is more grist for the anti-vax mill. It is almost certainly true that anti-vaxxers have killed off more people than all of COVID-19 vaccinations combined.

Remember Margaret Keenan, the first woman to receive a COVID-19 vaccine? The anti-vaxxers initially claimed the now 91-year-old was a ‘crisis actor’. She had, the lies went, actually died in 2008 and obituaries were linked to the claims. It was an obvious con and anyone who bothered to read the obituaries in full would have realised the subject of the obit was another Margaret Keenan. Later, on social media they tried to kill her off again, but Margaret Keenan received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on December 29, 2020 and she remains as fit as a fiddle.

In the distorted world of social media, it is easy to think of anti-vaxxers as almost insurmountable, millions of people, wringing their hands and swapping fictional horror stories online. Yes, it is a multi-billion dollar industry, surrounded as it is from the worst elements or the wellness industry who dismiss medical science, rational thought, and common sense all in one fell swoop.

But it would be a mistake to believe the numbers of anti-vax influencers are in the stratosphere.

In a report released last month, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate named the top twelve key entrepreneurs in the anti-vax industry, all of them US based, all of them generating anti-vaccine propaganda and exporting it to the world.

“Analysis of a sample of anti-vaccine content that was shared or posted on Facebook and Twitter a total of 812,000 times between 1 February and 16 March 2021 shows that 65 per cent of anti-vaccine content is attributable to the Disinformation Dozen,” the report said.

That’s 12 people flogging two thirds of the anti-vax lies. The trouble is that the anti-vax content of those twelve people hits millions of people, most of it indirectly through Facebook shares.

(continued)

>>13422670

2/2

While it is true that social media companies have cracked down on anti-vax content and closed many accounts, it is a case of too little too late.

The so called “Disinformation Dozen” according to the CCDH are as follows: Joseph Mercola, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper and Kevin Jenkins.

Space does not permit a comprehensive analysis of each one, but they share many things in common. They are all grifters. They all have made repeated breaches of the terms of service of social media companies. They are often flogging products, sometimes supplements of little scientific value other than giving their addled consumers very expensive piss.

https://www.facebook.com/tycharlene.bollinger/posts/4033223516708014

Ty Bollinger is a body builder. He flogs supplements. He and his wife made their bones, literally, in the wellness industry by peddling pseudoscience around cancer treatment. In 2015, he urged a teenage girl to reject chemotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma. His influence led to her going to Mexico for an alternative treatment. She’s dead now.

Joseph Mercola is or was a trained physician. He gave up on medical science, preferring the profits to be made from dietary supplements. He is constantly facing fines and warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration. In 2016, Mercola agreed to pay $USD5.3 million in restitution to patients after federal regulators pulled him up over false claims and suggestions of miracle cures he had made about tanning beds he sold. Always the dollars. Always the grift.

Robert F Kennedy Jnr, the son of Bobby Kennedy and nephew of JFK is arguably the granddaddy of anti-vaxxers. Bearing the whiff of legitimacy from his days as an environmental lawyer, Kennedy has been caught out lying on multiple occasions when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remember the nonsense about Bill Gates controlling us through a combination of vaccines and 5G technology? That laughable lie is directly attributable to Kennedy.

Christine Northrup is a qualified obstetrician who, like Mercola, prefers the riches to be made from direct sales of health supplements. She’s also dipped more than a toe into the QAnon rabbit hole - memo to QAnon influencers: You have been bilked by nerds, taken to the psychological cleaners by a couple of deeply disturbed human beings on a psychotic power trip.

The thing to remember about the anti-vaxxers is COVID-19 is their Alamo. An effective global roll out of COVID-19 vaccines and it is all over for them. Sure, they’ll keep hawking their own cons, but the recruitment drive will slow to a crawl and they’ll be left to shout their demented theories to the walls, flogging their worthless goods to shrinking markets.

Likewise, we have to see this as a war. A war against lies, a war against misinformation, a ferocious battle to safely get COVID-19 vaccines into enough arms so we can return to a form of pre-COVID-19 normal. The stakes are incredibly high and we cannot afford to give an inch.

Peter Hoysted is Jack the Insider: a highly placed, dedicated servant of the nation with close ties to leading figures in politics, business and the union movement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/we-are-at-war-not-against-coronavirus-but-antivaxxers/news-story/9e7fb1bde60ba95d8d88e62b26859285

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 1:28 a.m. No.13422688 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2690 >>1239

Spring forward: why Sinodinos is ready to mingle after a ‘hermit-like existence’

Matthew Knott - April 14, 2021

1/2

Washington: Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador to the United States, was relaxing at home on a Saturday night last December when the text messages started streaming in.

It was Sunday morning in Australia and Insiders was airing on the ABC. Respected press gallery veteran Niki Savva used her appearance on the show to unveil a scoop: Sinodinos, a cancer survivor, was planning to return to Australia. The coronavirus pandemic, she said, had made it difficult for him to do the job and Foreign Minister Marise Payne was in line to fill his spot.

People wanted to know: was Sinodinos really leaving Washington after just 10 months? Savva had tried to check the story with him before going on air but Sinodinos missed her messages. So he jumped onto Twitter to correct the record: “Not going anywhere, happy in the service.”

“My ears pricked up because I’ve seen this sort of scenario before: people floating things,” Sinodinos says. “Having survived until late last year in this environment, it didn’t seem like a logical time to be going back just as things were about to turn the corner here.”

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have been told the story was driven by at least one ambitious cabinet member angling to take over the foreign ministry from Payne.

Even by the Machiavellian standards of Canberra, weaponising a former colleague’s cancer history for career advancement seems grubby. But Sinodinos, who served as John Howard’s chief-of-staff for a decade before eight years as a Liberal senator, shrugs it off as the stuff of politics.

“Comrade, in this business never rule out shenanigans,” he says. “I dealt with it and that was the end of that.”

Sinodinos is upfront that his status as a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma curtailed his ability to participate in the schmoozing that defined diplomatic life in pre-pandemic Washington.

As a bone marrow transplant recipient in a country with the world’s highest number of coronavirus cases, he had to take social distancing seriously. Most of his interactions were limited to phone calls and video meetings.

“I would go out for the odd gathering but very limited - involving one or two people - and very rarely,” Sinodinos, 64, says of his past year in the US capital.

“There was an element of it being a hermit-like existence. It would have been nice to have had more ambassadorial things to do.”

That’s rapidly changing. Sinodinos has received both doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, making him one of the 73 million people in the US to be fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday (AEDT) he welcomed the Herald and The Age to White Oaks, his official residence in Washington, for his first in-person interview since the pandemic began. Most officials in the Biden administration are also fully vaccinated, meaning real-world meetings are an option once again.

(continued)

>>13422688

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Although cooped up at home more than he would have liked, Sinodinos has seen plenty of drama since succeeding Joe Hockey in the role last February. As well as the pandemic, he lived through the drama-filled election campaign, the storming of the Capitol on January 6 and the arrival of Joe Biden’s new administration.

At first, there were fears in Australia’s foreign policy community that Australia would lose influence in Washington after Donald Trump’s defeat. Trump’s abrasive relationship with many traditional allies allowed Australia’s cachet to rise: Scott Morrison and Emmanuel Macron were the only two leaders to be granted a state dinner by Trump.

There were also worries that Biden would turn away from the Asia-Pacific as he focused on rebuilding alliances in Europe.

Such anxieties proved unfounded. In March, Biden held his first multilateral meeting since his inauguration with the leaders of “the Quad” nations: Australia, Japan and India. Sinodinos had lobbied hard for the meeting to take place.

Soon after, Kurt Campbell, Biden’s “Asia tsar”, announced in The Herald and The Age that US-China relations will not improve until Beijing stops its economic coercion of Australia.

The Asia-Pacific region is clearly the Biden administration’s number one foreign policy priority, Sinodinos says.

“This administration has put a much greater focus on allies and partners than the previous administration,” he says. “We’ve felt from the beginning more drawn into their processes, particularly when it comes to the Indo-Pacific and China. They are committed to multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organisation.”

He continues: “People in our region are getting the message that the US is back and engaged. Under Trump I wouldn’t say the US necessarily went away but the ‘America First’ approach tended to suggest it was ‘America only’.”

Sinodinos adds that the Biden administration is more orderly - and usually more predictable - than the Trump White House.

Although Australians may be seeing and hearing less of Biden than his predecessor, Sinodinos dismisses the Fox News trope that 78-year old Biden is over the hill and Kamala Harris is running the government.

“Even though Biden is not on Twitter and doing press conferences all the time, he is very much in charge. He’s a very active chief executive, he’s not back in the basement in Delaware.”

While big functions and parties are still a while away, Sinodinos says he has can now host administration officials and members of Congress at the stately ambassadorial residence.

“I’m looking forward to some semblance of normality returning and being able to make use of the splendour of this place,” he says, looking out at the residence’s swimming pool and grass tennis court.

“People have adapted to circumstances but enough is enough.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/spring-forward-why-sinodinos-is-ready-to-mingle-after-a-hermit-like-existance-20210413-p57ite.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 2:04 a.m. No.13422740 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2744 >>1263

AFP confirms probe into Ben Roberts-Smith video allegations

Anthony Galloway and Nick McKenzie - April 14, 2021

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The Australian Federal Police has confirmed it has launched a fresh investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith for allegedly burying sensitive Defence files in his backyard and is treating an accusation he attempted to intimidate a witness in an investigation into war crimes “as a priority”.

Mr Roberts-Smith on Wednesday denied he hid the USB drives in his backyard or that he threatened witnesses to stop them from co-operating with the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s inquiry into war crime allegations.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed on Wednesday the alleged war criminal kept more than a dozen Department of Defence drone videos of Afghanistan military operations buried in his backyard, including videos watermarked as “secret” and only to be shared among certain NATO forces.

The files buried by Mr Roberts-Smith in a pink, child’s lunch box included 13 videos of drone vision taken by NATO military forces in Afghanistan as well as copies of classified operational reports from a Special Air Service mission in Southern Afghanistan and contained images of soldiers misbehaving at a makeshift bar.

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the former SAS Regiment soldier said the allegation he “hid” or failed to disclose material to the Inspector-General’s inquiry was false, saying he fully co-operated with the probe. Mr Roberts-Smith, now a senior executive with Channel Seven, also denied threatening any witness or potential witness to the war crimes inquiry.

“The allegation that he buried USBs in his backyard is false. This simply did not happen,” the statement said.

“Mr Roberts-Smith risked his life for his country, having served in Afghanistan over six years through scores of missions where his safety and that of other members of the SAS was in constant jeopardy.

“He does not seek any special treatment because of those facts, but only the same impartial reporting that is the right of any Australian whose acts may deserve public attention. Nine media’s reporting is a parody of responsible journalism, exhibiting both bias and prejudgment.”

In a separate email to employees at Channel Seven on Wednesday, Mr Roberts-Smith apologised for comments he made in leaked recordings in which he expressed disdain for colleagues and the business, saying he took “full responsibility” for the remarks where he described the company as dysfunctional.

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>>13422740

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Appearing at a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney confirmed federal police opened a new investigation after the matter of the USBs was referred to his agency on March 25.

He said it was determined to be a “sensitive” investigation on March 29. The declaration means the probe will be overseen by the AFP’s Sensitive Investigations Oversight Board and new Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews may also be briefed on the matter.

Mr McCartney said the AFP had opened an investigation into “aspects of that media reporting” but cautioned he would “prefer not to provide a running commentary” on the probe.

He confirmed the AFP now has access to “some material” that was in the buried USB drives.

“Some of that material was actually … referred to the AFP by the journalist in question and also by his newspaper,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied committing war crimes or any other wrongdoing and is suing The Age and Herald for defamation.

But further evidence obtained by this masthead suggests Mr Roberts-Smith arranged to send at least one anonymous letter to a special forces soldier threatening him that he would “go down” if he did not recant war crimes allegations.

Mr McCartney said the allegation was “serious and it is being treated as a priority by the Australian Federal Police”.

Several security sources with knowledge of the matter have confirmed the AFP is investigating the alleged threats to intimidate the witness.

The files that were in Mr Roberts-Smith’s backyard included one created by an American military specialist embedded with the SAS and altered by Mr Roberts-Smith in 2019. A second file also altered by Mr Roberts-Smith is marked as belonging to the “Department of Defence”.

Metadata on some of the documents suggest Mr Roberts-Smith may have shared sensitive files and images with others, including a former member of his SAS patrol team based in the US. The metadata suggests some of the files relate to a 2009 mission in which Mr Roberts-Smith is accused of unlawfully executing an Afghan man.

That killing, over which Mr Roberts-Smith has denied any wrongdoing, is the subject of a federal police taskforce that was launched in 2018 and which recently submitted a brief of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/afp-confirms-probe-into-ben-roberts-smith-video-allegations-20210414-p57j6g.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 2:36 a.m. No.13422819 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

>>13401093

>>13395882

Ghislaine Maxwell’s Family Launches Website as She Endures Over 280 days of Pre-Trial "Torture"

''Brother releases powerful video confirming appeal of third bail application rejection''

Maxwell Family - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 8, 2021

New York, NY – The family of Ghislaine Maxwell today announced the launch of RealGhislaine.com, a website developed and maintained by her brothers, sisters, family & friends, the people who have known the real Ghislaine all her life, not the fictionalized, one-dimensional character created by the media.

The website features on its Home Page a video message from Ghislaine’s brother Ian, filmed in response to the court’s recent rejection of her third bail application, detailing the “cruel and unusual” conditions of her detention and confirming her decision to appeal this latest ruling.

Visitors will find biographical information, interviews and articles, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, legal resources, and links to important bail reform initiatives. The site also details the punishing regime Ghislaine is being subjected to during her extraordinary pre-trial detention

“Because of the continuing misinformation, misrepresentation and mischief in much of the media, Ghislaine’s family started this website, an important resource for the public,” said David Oscar Markus, an attorney for the family and Ms. Maxwell. “Ghislaine is innocent and her treatment by the press and the prison is unconscionable.”

Ghislaine is currently a pre-trial detainee at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York facing allegations by anonymous accusers that date back 25 years. She has been held in this American prison in effective solitary confinement without bail for 280 days and counting, locked in a six-foot by nine-foot cell sometimes for 12 hours a day. She has a light shone in her face every 15 minutes during the night and endures multiple privations that are impacting her health and ability to properly prepare her defense and all this in the middle of the pandemic.

Like anyone else, she has the right to be presumed innocent, a constitutional right which is fundamental to the fairness of the American system of justice.

Ghislaine is a wife, a stepmother, a friend to many and a sister to a family that loves her very much. They believe in her innocence and that she will be exonerated at trial.

Pending the opportunity for Ghislaine to be able to defend herself in a court of law, RealGhislaine.com will be updated frequently with exclusive content, news, commentary and useful resources to help visitors form a more balanced view about the real Ghislaine Maxwell. Members of the news media and anyone else interested in following her status are encouraged to register for email updates.

-ENDS-

For more information:

Visit RealGhislaine.com

Follow @RealGhislaine on Twitter

Subscribe to the family YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtdTVeSuUSmSwEvL5RLL53w

Media and other enquiries: Justice@RealGhislaine.com

https://433da961-4072-4f62-a692-d989a9f700d0.filesusr.com/ugd/ba2454_d6f41f9f8aac4c15b947340db68e6f36.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 3:20 a.m. No.13422888 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2891 >>1294

Anthony Fauci on what the US can learn from Australia's COVID-19 response — and vice versa

Tegan Taylor - 14 April 2021

While the United States likes to describe itself as the leader of the free world, the coronavirus pandemic has hit it just as hard, if not worse, than many developing nations.

No-one knows this better than Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, who on Wednesday spoke to an Australian audience as part of an event hosted by the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales.

Dr Fauci contrasted the "inconsistent response" of the United States with that of Australia's tough border and lockdown policy, which has kept the virus largely at bay here.

"At least looking at it from a distance, and then discussing with my Australian friends and colleagues, you had the capability and the uniformity of your citizens that when you shut down, you really shut down very effectively," he said.

"I'm sure not everybody in Australia was excited about having to shut things down.

"But you did it in a way which was really quite uniform, but importantly, effective.

"We had an inconsistent response, which allowed us, unfortunately, to really do worse than essentially any other country."

What Australia can learn from the US vaccine rollout

In recent months though, the tables have started to turn.

The US has been vaccinating millions of people a day, while Australia — although virtually virus-free — has had a sluggish start to its vaccine rollout.

So what's changed? The president, for starters.

"It was very painful to do, but I had to come out and essentially contradict what [Donald Trump] was saying" — whereas "President Biden wants science to rule".

Dr Fauci says hitting the vaccine rollout from as many directions as possible at a grassroots level has been key.

"What [Joe Biden] has done, for example, is open up community vaccine centres, get vaccines to the pharmacies, develop mobile units to go out to get the people who are in poorly accessible areas," Dr Fauci said.

Mr Biden also got as many people administering the vaccine out into the field as he possibly could.

"Those are retired physicians, military personnel, nurses, medical students," Dr Fauci said.

"[Mr Biden] made it the very, very top priority. He made equity a very important part of this."

And while the US still has a long way to go to protect its citizens, and Australia's vaccine rollout is in its early days, Dr Fauci acknowledged that wealthy nations also have a role to play in ensuring vaccines roll out globally — to protect both rich and poor.

"As long as there's the dynamic of virus replication somewhere, there will always be the threat of the emergence of variants, which could then come back," he said.

"And even though most of the rest of the world is vaccinated, it can threaten the world that has felt that they've controlled the virus, when they're still quite vulnerable."

Lessons from HIV/AIDS

Dr Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the US National Institutes of Health, was speaking at the Inaugural David Cooper Memorial Lecture, honouring the late Australian HIV/AIDS researcher.

While Dr Fauci has become a household name during the coronavirus pandemic over the past year, he's held his position for 40-odd years, advising seven US presidents.

A defining moment in Dr Fauci's own career was the AIDS epidemic. And he said lessons learned in the early days of that epidemic in the 1980s have informed his work in the decades since, including his approach to coronavirus.

"[AIDS] impressed upon me that new infections have always emerged. They are emerging now. And they will continue to emerge," he said.

"So the lesson learnt is that, to the extent possible, prepare yourself as best as you possibly can."

Investment in good public health infrastructure and fundamental science is key, he says.

Advances in structural biology, X-ray crystallography and mRNA vaccine platforms, which have been quietly happening in labs for years, have made our understanding of the new coronavirus and the rapid development of vaccines possible.

He said continuing this investment was our best defence against the next inevitable pathogen that could spark a pandemic.

"It's that kind of investment in research so that when you get confronted with an outbreak, that outbreak doesn't turn into a global pandemic."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2021-04-14/covid-19-anthony-fauci-what-australia-can-learn-from-us/100068256

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 3:21 a.m. No.13422891 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1294

>>13422888

Inaugural David Cooper Lecture | Dr Anthony S. Fauci

University of New South Wales

14 Apr 2021

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating in the USA, Dr Anthony S. Fauci has remained a voice of authority and reason, bringing scientific evidence to the fore.

Throughout an extraordinary career as a scientist, a physician and a public servant, Dr Anthony S. Fauci has been an adviser to seven US presidents on HIV/AIDS, and domestic and global health issues. A key figure in the global response to HIV/AIDS, his experience of this epidemic has informed his career ever since.

As the world struggles to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Anthony S. Fauci sits down with Tegan Taylor, co-host of the ABC’s Coronacast, to discuss the past, the present and the future – from what we learned from the HIV/AIDS epidemic to what the ongoing impact of COVID-19 will be.

The inaugural David Cooper Lecture honours the legacy of the Kirby Institute’s Founding Director. Professor David Cooper AC, who passed away in 2018, was an internationally renowned scientist and HIV clinician, who laid the foundations for Australia’s ongoing global leadership in the fight against the global HIV epidemic.

This event is co-presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas, Kirby Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLVMTn_DePM

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 14, 2021, 11:47 a.m. No.13424966 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4975 >>1263

Army officer facing sack over debauched party in Afghan bar

STEVE JACKSON and BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 14, 2021

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A high-ranking officer implicated in the debaucherous special forces antics at an on-base Afghanistan bar has been stood down and asked to “show cause” as to why he shouldn’t be sacked.

The officer, who was responsible for overseeing ethical standards for much of the army, was this week issued with a termination notice after photographs emerged of him partying with junior soldiers at the unauthorised Fat Lady’s Arms pub set up by Australian troops at their Tarin Kowt headquarters.

Now a colonel based in Sydney, he is the most senior figure to face repercussions over the cultural rot in the special forces since they were linked to dozens of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The career soldier, whom The Australian has chosen not to name, was a major with the Special Air Services Regiment and commander of its disgraced 2 Squadron when the picture was taken at the bar during the special forces’ ninth rotation in Afghanistan in 2009.

In the photograph, he can be seen cheering on a non-commissioned officer kneeling beside him and pretending to engage in a sex act with a piece of plastic protruding through his military fatigues.

The colonel was serving as the G1 of Forces Command — a senior human resources role with vast powers for enforcing cultural and ethical standards — when the photograph was revealed among a cache of images made public on Sunday night.

Some of the pictures were taken during a raucous fancy dress birthday bash for a senior non-commissioned officer at the Fat Lady’s Arms and show one soldier in a Ku Klux Klan uniform and burning a cross while others featured off-duty troops simulating lewd sex acts on a separate night out at the bar.

The colonel had been poised to take on a highly influential, new position as the director of the Defence Special Operations Training Education Centre.

The high-profile role would have seen him given overarching responsibility for leading cultural reform across the army’s elite regiments as well as managing the selection process for aspiring special forces members.

It is understood he is considering his options.

(continued)

>>13424966

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The disciplinary action comes after Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell last month told a Senate estimates hearing he had been unaware of the existence of the Fat Lady’s Arms at the coalition base in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province and any soldier found to have drunk there should face the sack.

The Australian has been made aware of the identity of several officers who allegedly frequented the makeshift pub while on deployment in Afghanistan and who have gone on to hold high-level positions within the army.

Defence confirmed it was investigating the lewd exploits carried out by special forces troops at the Fat Lady’s Arms but would not detail how many members it had identified as having visited the bar nor what action had been taken against them.

“Defence acknowledges behavioural issues centering on the Fat Lady’s Arms in Afghanistan. The Australian Army is inquiring into these issues,” a spokeswoman said.

It comes just months after Justice Paul Brereton revealed the findings of his five-year investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Australian troops between 2005 and 2016.

The report, released in November, recommended 19 soldiers be investigated by police in connection with alleged murders of 39 prisoners and civilians and alleged cruel treatment of two others. It found “credible information” that 25 serving or former ADF personnel were involved in serious crimes or at least had been accessories to them.

It blamed a “warrior culture” within the SASR for creating an environment in which war crimes were allegedly committed and said the existence of the Fat Lady’s Arms demonstrated how the regiment’s ethical leadership had been compromised.

At least 10 Special Air Service Regiment soldiers have since been issued with termination notices, as Defence scrambles to respond to the damning report.

Justice Brereton did not find any credible information that special forces commanders had any knowledge of or were recklessly indifferent to crimes committed and concealed at patrol commander level, but he said senior officers ultimately bore “moral command responsibility and accountability for what happened under their command”.

The photograph of the colonel and revelations that other officers frequented the Fat Lady’s Arms have been seized on by furious SASR troops who believe they have been unfairly criticised in the Brereton report for the regiment’s “broken” culture.

They said it was proof that senior officers were not only aware of some of the regimental practices condemned in Justice Brereton’s findings but had also participated in them.

The images came to light after allegedly being found on USB drives at the home of decorated war hero, Ben Roberts-Smith, a former patrol commander with the SASR’s 2 Squadron.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/army-officer-facing-sack-over-debauched-party-in-afghan-bar/news-story/a2eb5c5a9bdfa2b0bafe1fa9e8f8abad

David John Oates - More Reverse Speech On Dr Death Fauci

https://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/rense/special/rense_020521_fauci.mp3

Joe Biden says it's time to 'end America's longest war', as final Afghanistan withdrawal announced

Andrew Greene - 14 April 2021

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US President Joe Biden says America will finally end its 20-year war in Afghanistan from May 1, with US and allied forces to completely depart no later than September 11 this year.

In a White House speech on Wednesday (local time), Mr Biden said there was little justification for the US's continued military engagement in Afghanistan, adding it was time to end the "forever war" launched in 2001.

"I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," Mr Biden said.

"I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth."

There are roughly 7,000 NATO forces still in Afghanistan in addition to the remaining 2,500 US troops.

Australia's remaining military personnel in Afghanistan are soon expected to leave alongside their NATO-led coalition colleagues, in coordination with the withdrawal decision.

And according to the Defence Department, "Australia currently contributes around 80 defence personnel in Afghanistan" as part of Operation HIGHROAD.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed his government had been discussing withdrawal plans with the United States and other allies.

"Without going into national security matters you can be assured that the Australian government has been working closely with our American partners and allies on these issues," Mr Morrison said.

Military insiders believe Australia will continue to provide aid to the war-ravaged country through defence cooperation programs, but the federal government will no longer provide any "in-country support".

'Now it is time to bring our forces home'

While President Biden's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by September breaks a May 1 withdrawal deadline set by the Trump Administration, it leaves no room for additional extensions.

The current withdrawal plan sets a firm end date on two decades of war that has seen more than 2,200 US troops killed, 20,000 wounded and cost as much as $US1 trillion ($1.3 trillion).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he expected the allies to withdraw together but maintained that neither the US nor NATO would abandon the country despite the impending exodus of troops.

He and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin were meeting senior officials from the alliance's 30 members on Wednesday to discuss NATO's future presence in Afghanistan in light of Washington's announcement.

"Together, we went into Afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us and to make sure that Afghanistan would not again become a haven for terrorists who might attack any of us," Mr Blinken said.

"Now it is time to bring our forces home."

There is a summit planned about Afghanistan starting on April 24 in Istanbul that is due to include the United Nations and Qatar.

The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by US-led forces, said it would not take part in any meetings that would make decisions about Afghanistan until all foreign forces had left the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Wednesday called on Washington to stick with the deadline established by the Trump Administration.

"If the agreement is committed to, the remaining problems will also be solved," Mr Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

"If the agreement is not committed to … the problems will certainly increase."

(continued)

>>13429478

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Withdrawal will diminish intelligence capabilities, CIA director says

Some analysts said the departure plan appeared to surrender Afghanistan to an uncertain fate.

"There is no good way that the US can withdraw from Afghanistan", said Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

"It cannot claim victory, and it cannot wait indefinitely for some cosmetic form of peace."

While successive US presidents have sought to extricate themselves from Afghanistan, these hopes were confounded by concerns about Afghan security forces, endemic corruption in Afghanistan and the resiliency of a Taliban insurgency that enjoyed safe haven across the border in Pakistan.

US officials can claim to have decimated terror group Al Qaeda's core leadership in the region years ago, including tracking down and killing the group's leader Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan in 2011.

But CIA Director William Burns said the withdrawal would "diminish" the US's ability to collect intelligence and act on threats in the region, where ties between the Taliban and Al Qaeda still remain.

"When the time comes for the US military to withdraw, the government's ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. That's simply a fact," he told the US Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Biden Administration will keep "intelligence and military capabilities" in the region to deal with any emerging threats, though Al Qaeda "does not currently possess" the capability for attacks on the continental US, a senior administration official said.

'An unknown future awaits us'

There is also concern over the impact a withdrawal would have on human rights in Afghanistan given the gains, particularly for women and girls, during the past two decades.

"I am worried about my future," said Wida Saghar, a writer and women's rights activist in Kabul.

"An unknown future awaits us, when foreign forces leave and the civil war intensifies … then who will think about women's rights? Who will care about us?"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-14/australians-in-afghanistan-to-leave-with-us-troops/100070342

>>13429478

Australia to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan after Biden’s vow to end war

Anthony Galloway - April 15, 2021

All Australian troops in Afghanistan will leave the country by September this year after United States President Joe Biden announced an end to the 20-year war.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the final 80 Australian military personnel would return home in September, in line with the United States’ move. The US President decided to leave American troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 deadline negotiated between the Taliban and the Trump administration, but has instead set the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks as the new withdrawal date.

“Over the past two years we’ve been reducing our military presence in Afghanistan from a high of over 1500 personnel to around 80 personnel currently. In line with the United States and other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan in September 2021,” Mr Morrison said in Perth on Thursday.

An emotional Mr Morrison read out the names of 41 Australian Defence Force personnel who had died in Afghanistan since 2001.

“This day we dedicate to their memories, we think of their families, their friends, the life they would have lived,” he said.

“The conflict has exacted an enormous toll, also, on the people in Afghanistan and to President [Ashraf] Ghani, once again, we stand with them and the complex task of making peace that lies ahead for those people.”

The United Nations and academics estimate more than 100,000 Afghan civilians and military members have been killed in the 20-year conflict.

Allegations of war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan sparked a wide-ranging review and investigation, but Mr Morrison would not say if Australia could have done better in the conflict.

“There will be time to talk about those things. Today is not that time,” Mr Morrison said.

Michael Shoebridge, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defence program, said Australia had clearly made a decision to withdraw from the campaign.

“Everybody else is going to go. Biden has done what both Obama and Trump wanted to do - and that’s get a plan for a total US and partner withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he said.

Mr Shoebridge said Mr Biden’s announcement was an “emphatic statement” of the US’s re-ordering its priorities to Asia to deal with a rising and more assertive China.

“Trump was doing a unilateral approach, while Obama kept taking advice that it had to be conditions-based.

“You can’t say you are shifting priorities, without stopping doing something. This is Biden saying the 9/11 counter-terrorism era is over, and the era of strategic competition is here. So he is actually putting flesh on the bones of what he has been saying his priorities are.”

Mr Shoebridge said the early phase of the Afghanistan conflict was worth it because the Taliban was giving shelter to Al-Qaeda which was clearly the start of a new global terrorist phenomenon. But he said there was “mission-shift” and it became unclear what the objective was in staying in the country.

“The Afghanistan objectives became very mixed - was it about counter-terrorism, or creating a political future in Afghanistan to ensure it was free from the Taliban, or was it a broader nation-building mission? The mission became very muddy over time.”

Announcing his plan in a speech at the White House speech on Wednesday, Mr Biden said there was little justification for the US staying in Afghanistan, adding it was time to end the “forever war”.

“I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats,” Mr Biden said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-to-withdraw-all-troops-from-afghanistan-after-biden-vows-to-end-war-20210415-p57jeb.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 15, 2021, 12:17 a.m. No.13429600 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

The true story of how Jackie Chan and Kevin Rudd met as labourers

ALICE WORKMAN - APRIL 15, 2021

If Jackie Chan ever runs out of film ideas, he could turn to his own spooky family history for inspiration — surviving war, political upheaval and prime minister Billy McMahon. It could be Australia’s greatest untold spy story.

His parents, Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, worked as the live-in cook and housekeeper at the US embassy in Canberra for decades after immigrating in the 1960s to work under American ambassador Marshall Green.

Charles was a servant in the US embassy in Hong Kong under Green and later trained as a chef. Lee-Lee worked as a housekeeper and laundress at the Hong Kong embassy, where Chan lived as an infant.

According to Chan, his father was a Chinese nationalist agent who originally fled China for Hong Kong to avoid being captured by rival communists. “My father was a spy hiding in Hong Kong and hiding in Australia at the American embassy for so many years,” he said in 2017.

Charles, born in 1915, had a colourful career including time as a military aide, connections with Shanghai gangsters and spying for the nationalist Chinese who were eventually defeated by the communist army. After his first wife died from cancer, Charles relocated to Shanghai. There he met Lee-Lee (who once worked as an opium dealer during Japan’s occupation) and fled to Hong Kong, where Chan was born in 1954.

Chan was six when his parents left for Australia without him. While they navigated the roundabouts of our nation’s capital, Chan studied martial arts and acrobatics at a Hong Kong boarding school. He didn’t see his parents again until he was 18.

Some of the family’s secrets feature in the 2003 documentary Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family. Chan funded the film himself and shot scenes in Canberra with his pipe-smoking father (who reveals his real family name is Fang) before his death. Chan discovers he had two half-brothers (a postman and a pig farmer) living on mainland China from his father’s first marriage, and two half-sisters from his mother’s first marriage.

Charles and Lee-Lee are buried in Gungahlin cemetery, and the servants’ quarters of the US chief of mission’s residence are named the Chan suites in their honour. The action star’s punching bag still hangs in the attic. And it’s thanks to Australia the world knows Chan as Jackie and not Pao-Pao (his parents’ nickname, meaning cannonball) or by his birth name Chan Kong-sang.

While he was studying English at the ACT’s Dickson College in the 1970s, students called him Steve but when Chan took a job as a brickie’s labourer on a Canberra construction site, he recalled: “A guy said, ‘What’s your English name?’ And I said, ‘I don’t have one.’ My friend was a driver for the embassy, his name was Jack.” So Chan became Little Jack, Jacky, and then Jackie.

You know who also lugged bricks with tradie Chan? Kevin Rudd. “Jackie Chan and I have a lot in common,’’ Rudd once reflected. “No, we are not both movie stars. No, I am absolutely terrible at martial arts. But in the 1970s in Canberra, we both lived here and we were both builders’ labourers. He did the work of three men for one year. I lasted for 24 hours.”

The pair met for a rushed hour again during Rudd’s prime ministership when the Australian National University opened the Jackie Chan Science Centre for cancer research. “As my father told me, say less, do more,” Chan said at the opening of his generous donation.

“Australia and Canberra really took care of my family for more than 40 years. I have to do something to thank Australia and Canberra.’’

It’s part of Chan’s new life philosophy, now he’s worth an estimated $40m. “When I was a child, I was very poor and wanted everything. When I got money, I began buying things. Now I want to give away everything,’’ Chan told Forbes magazine in 2011.

“When I give somebody something and see their face, it just makes me so happy.’’

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/the-true-story-of-how-jackie-chan-and-kevin-rudd-met-as-labourers/news-story/3be8615b77ffa1cae0ac361f124a8b6a

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 15, 2021, 12:30 a.m. No.13429624 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

>>13429488

PM holds back tears announcing withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan

Georgia Hitch - 15 April 2021

Prime Minister Scott Morrison became emotional as he read out a list of Australians killed in the war in Afghanistan and announced Australian troops would leave the country by September.

Mr Morrison said the 80 remaining troops would be withdrawn in line with the withdrawal of US troops as announced by President Joe Biden.

More than 39,000 Australians were deployed and 41 of them were killed during the decades-long conflict.

"The loss is great, the sacrifice immense ,the bravery and courage things we can speak of, but not know of personally," Mr Morrison said.

"Many more were wounded, some physically, others mentally and we'll be dealing with the scars, both mental and physical, of their service, for many, many years."

Australian forces first entered Afghanistan in October 2001 in support of US troops who were deployed in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The Prime Minister said it was "an emotional day" but that despite the toll the conflict took, it was worthwhile.

"Freedom is always worth it," Mr Morrison said.

"Australians have always believed that.

"That is why Australians who have served in our defence forces have always pulled on that uniform."

When asked about the allegations some Australian troops committed war crimes while in Afghanistan, Mr Morrison said: "There will be time to talk about those things. Today is not that time."

Mr Morrison said the government would continue to support Afghanistan once the troops had left.

"Once again, we stand with them and the complex task of making peace that lies ahead for those people," he said.

"Australia continues to support the negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

"We encourage both parties to commit to the peace process that so many Australians have died to provide for."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-15/scott-morrison-announces-withdraw-australian-troops-afghanistan/100071606

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Tweet

Did you miss us, #Australia?

(Video by) @USMC Cpl Colton K. Garrett

#ADF #Marines #MRFD #USMC

https://twitter.com/MrfDarwin/status/1381902691320754178

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 15, 2021, 1:53 a.m. No.13429808 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

U.S. Navy Tweet

It's a G'day to #SinkCOVID!

#USNavy Sailors & @USMC with Marine Rotational Force Darwin arrive at @AusAirForce Base after documenting negative #COVID19 tests throughout travel.

Those who had one #COVID19vaccine were able to receive their 2nd before departing to Australia.

https://twitter.com/USNavy/status/1382332875568263169

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 15, 2021, 1:54 a.m. No.13429809 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

13 April 2021

Did you miss us, Australia?

The U.S. Marines are back for a historical 10th iteration of Marine Rotational Force - Darwin. The MRF-D rotation demonstrates the U.S. commitment to combined readiness and shared regional security in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Colton K. Garrett)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/videos/4061916473854956/

https://www.marforpac.marines.mil/MRFDarwin/

FBI director says bureau is not investigating QAnon conspiracy 'in its own right'

Zachary Cohen - April 15, 2021

1/2

Washington (CNN) - For the second time in as many days, FBI director Christopher Wray acknowledged he remains concerned about potential violence incited by QAnon but despite telling lawmakers that the conspiracy theory is something "we look at very seriously" when it is tied to a criminal act, he made clear the bureau is not investigating the online movement itself.

It was a distinction Wray was careful to highlight while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, where he was again pressed on whether the FBI is investigating elements of QAnon and asked to explain the threat it poses given its connection to the US Capitol attack earlier this year.

But despite characterizing QAnon as an online "movement" that in some instances "may be an inspiration for violent attacks," Wray reiterated that the FBI's investigative efforts regarding the conspiracy theory have been limited to instances where there are links to a federal crime.

"We're not investigating the theory in its own right," Wray told the House panel, echoing remarks he had made the day prior during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In both cases, Wray's comments underscore the complex challenge QAnon and other online conspiracy theories pose for the FBI as it investigates the January 6 attack and works with other federal agencies to address the threat of domestic extremism more broadly.

Both tasks are complicated by social media's role in spreading potentially dangerous conspiracy theories and domestic extremist messaging, Wray said Thursday.

"Social media has become, in many ways, the key amplifier to domestic violent extremism just as it has for malign foreign influence," Wray he told House lawmakers. "The same things that attract people to it for good reasons are also capable of causing all kinds of harms that we are entrusted with trying to protect the American people against."

Lawmaker reveals existence of QAnon threat assessment

On Wednesday, Sen. Martin Heinrich revealed that the FBI has provided lawmakers with an assessment of the threat posed by QAnon, the existence of which was not previously known until the New Mexico Democrat pressed Wray to explain why the details of that report have not yet been made public.

Heinrich, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, requested a threat assessment on QAnon late last year and received a response from the FBI in February, he said Wednesday before asking Wray why he "cannot or won't tell the American people directly about the threat."

Wray committed to providing an assessment that could be released publicly but his testimony offered little clarity about the FBI's investigative work, or lack there of, as it relates to QAnon.

"We focus on the violence and the federal criminal activity regardless of the inspiration. We understand QAnon to be more of a reference to a complex conspiracy theory or set of complex conspiracy theories, largely promoted online, which has sort of morphed into more of a movement," Wray said during Wednesday's worldwide threats hearing.

"Like a lot of other conspiracy theories, the effects of Covid, anxiety social, social isolation, financial hardship … all exacerbate people's vulnerability to those theories, and we are concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence, and where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we're going to aggressively pursue it," he added.

Wray also noted that the FBI has arrested "at least five self-identified QAnon adherents related to the January 6 attacks specifically," acknowledging a clear link between the conspiracy theory and the insurrection.

Is the FBI working to identify 'Q'?

Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that former President Donald Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities.

Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had ties to QAnon, and the conspiracy theory has made its way from online message boards into the political mainstream in recent years.

But what steps the FBI has taken to address the threat posed by QAnon, and potentially identify those behind it, remain unclear.

Specifically, questions continue to swirl around whether the FBI is working to confirm the origins of QAnon or the identity of its mysterious standard-bearer, known to adherents as simply "Q."

(continued)

>>13437997

2/2

The threat assessment provided to lawmakers does not delve into the identity of "Q," an anonymous figure whose baseless claim that they are someone with access to the nation's most closely held secrets has often been used to validate Q's cryptic and prophetic social media posts.

Heinrich told CNN on Wednesday that the assessment he was given does not cover Q's identity - for a simple reason, he believes, which is that if the bureau does know, it would have been uncovered by an investigation into the matter. So revealing to lawmakers that the FBI has identified the individual or individuals would expose the existence of the investigation, which of course the FBI does not do, he said.

Still, Heinrich asked Wray about the public speculation around two individuals who have been suspected of posting as "Q."

"You're no doubt familiar with some of the public speculation that Q is really Ron Watkins, the administrator of the internet message board 8con, formerly known as 8chan," Heinrich said Wednesday while questioning Wray on the issue.

"Whether or not Watkins is Q, he and his father, clearly, are responsible for hosting the sites and co-opted further in the QAnon conspiracy phenomenon … given the prominent role that QAnon did play in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, what are the potential legal repercussions for those who might be primarily responsible for propagating these sorts of dangerous, and in some cases, violent messages in these forums?" he asked.

Watkins and his father, Jim, were featured heavily in the recent HBO docuseries "Q: Into the Storm," in which both men deny being Q and posting from the account.

Wray declined to address Heinrich's question about Ron and Jim Watkins directly but did offer some insight into how the FBI views its role in investigating those behind QAnon or other potentially dangerous conspiracy theories.

"From the FBI's perspective, from a law enforcement perspective, we try to be very careful to focus on violence, threats of violence and associated federal criminal activity," Wray said.

"There may be certain instances where language becomes part of a conspiracy, for example, and there are instances where there are other federal statutes which may be violated, but again, those are complicated questions which I would refer to the lawyers over at the Justice Department," he added.

Court documents clearly indicate that QAnon has fueled beliefs of defendants who took part in the insurrection, but whether the conspiracy theory's origins merit criminal investigation has proved to be a difficult jump to make, and there is no indication to date that law enforcement officials are working to determine the identity of the person behind the original message or other similar anonymous social media posts that have emerged in recent years.

"Q is a problem, no question. But FBI has come a long way from Edgar Hoover days - they'd need a compelling investigative reason to care, and it's not clear there would be one here beyond gratification. That said, they are very much examining extent to which this content is being amplified (at a minimum) by foreign powers," a source familiar with the effort told CNN.

"But it's pretty clear that QAnon originated domestically, and the bar for examining Americans who haven't committed an actual crime is a little higher (and sharing conspiracies isn't usually a crime)," they added. "Obviously, the bar is lowered when it instigates real-life violence, but again there's not a clear line here between QAnon and the violence on Jan 6 - just a lot of dotted lines, maybe. But that could change, certainly."

While Wray's comments once again show the FBI's limited investigative bandwidth when it comes to online conspiracy theories like QAnon, other federal agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security, are taking steps to address the issue within the context of a broader push to confront the problem of domestic extremism in the US.

"Domestic violent extremism poses the most lethal, persistent terrorism-related threat to the homeland today. In collaboration with our partners across every level of government and in the private sector, DHS is working to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and other false narratives on social media and other online platforms that can radicalize people to violence and fuel domestic violent extremism," a DHS spokesperson told CNN.

"DHS is also working with its partners to increase public awareness about and resilience to disinformation," the spokesperson added.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/15/politics/fbi-director-wray-qanon-threat/index.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 2:52 a.m. No.13438013 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

>>13437997

Senate Select Intelligence Committee Hearing on National Security and Global Threats

C-SPAN - APRIL 14, 2021

Intelligence agency leaders testified on the current global threats at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines discussed the intelligence community’s annual threat assessment report, emphasizing the national security challenges posed by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. In addition, lawmakers asked about cybersecurity threats, domestic violent extremism, China’s global influence, and the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Also testifying at the hearing was CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and the heads of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

https://www.c-span.org/video/?510592-1/senate-select-intelligence-committee-hearing-national-security-global-threats

01:07:56 - 01:12:24

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 3:12 a.m. No.13438073 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

Ghislaine Maxwell requests sex trafficking trial be delayed by three months

The British socialite's lawyer blamed prosecutors for belatedly adding more charges in March

Reuters News Agency / telegraph.co.uk - 16 April 2021

A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell has asked a US judge to delay the July 12 criminal trial of Jeffrey Epstein's former associate by at least 90 days, blaming prosecutors for belatedly adding sex trafficking charges that frustrate her ability to be ready sooner.

In a Thursday night letter, the lawyer Bobbi Sternheim said prosecutors "effectively added a brand new case on top of the existing case" by adding the new charges in a March 29 indictment.

Maxwell, 59, has now been charged with eight felonies, and could face 80 years in prison if convicted.

"The new charges up the ante," Ms Sternheim wrote to US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan.

"A continuance - the need for which is caused solely by the government - is reasonable and necessary in defence of Ms Maxwell. The denial of a continuance risks a miscarriage of justice."

A spokesman for US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.

The new charges concern accusations that between 2001 and 2004, Maxwell groomed and paid a girl, starting at age 14, to give Epstein nude massages, engage in sex acts with the financier, and recruited others to offer erotic massages.

Maxwell is to be arraigned on those charges on April 23.

She previously pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit, groom and sexually abuse three other girls from 1994 to 1997, and to perjury for lying about her role in depositions taken in 2016 for a separate civil trial.

In seeking a delay, Sternheim cited the need to review "voluminous" materials including more than 2.4 million pages of documents, 214,000 photos and hundreds of hours of audiovisual files.

She also called it "laughable" for prosecutors to defend the indictment's timing by saying travel and safety concerns arising from the Covid-19 pandemic kept them from meeting the fourth Epstein accuser until January.

Maxwell was arrested last July, and is jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

Ms Nathan has rejected bail three times. The federal appeals court in Manhattan is scheduled to hear Maxwell's latest bail appeal on April 26.

Epstein killed himself in jail at age 66 in August 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/16/ghislaine-maxwell-requests-sex-trafficking-trial-delayed-three/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.202.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 3:21 a.m. No.13438087 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Google deceived some Australian mobile users about collection of location data, court finds

Jamie McKinnell - 16 April 2021

Google could face fines in the "many millions" after the Federal Court found the company misled some Australian mobile and tablet users about how it collects location data.

The tech giant was taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over on-screen representations it made on Android devices in 2017 and 2018.

The case centred on two specific Google settings that affected location data collection; 'location history' and 'web & app activity'.

The consumer watchdog claimed Google misled consumers because if 'location history' was disabled but the latter setting was left on, the company continued to collect and use location data.

The result represents a partial victory for the ACCC, because the watchdog identified specific user scenarios which constituted contraventions of consumer law.

"I am satisfied that Google's conduct assessed as a whole was misleading or deceptive of, or likely to mislead or deceive, ordinary members within the class identified by the ACCC, acting reasonably," Justice Thomas Thawley said in his judgment.

"I conclude that Google's conduct assessed as a whole conveyed a representation that having 'web & app activity' turned 'on' would not allow Google to obtain, retain and use personal data about the user's location."

The penalty will be decided at a later date and Google could face a penalty of up to $1.1 million per breach.

The court will need to decide what it considers a breach and how many occurred but ACCC chair Rod Sims said they will be seeking a penalty in the "many millions".

Mr Sims said he was "absolutely delighted" with the result and said it was the first ruling in the world in relation to location data issues.

It sent a "very clear message” to digital platforms about the need to be up front with consumers, he added.

“Data issues are only going to be more important. It's crucial we get some court rulings in relation to what platforms can and can't do," he said.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement the company is "currently reviewing options, including a possible appeal".

"We provide robust controls for location data and are always looking to do more - for example we recently introduced auto delete options for location history, making it even easier to control your data," the spokesperson said.

Google held 'oh shit' meeting

The court heard from experts with expertise in behavioural economics to understand how users approached the task of navigating various screens.

That involved a "cost-benefit analysis" and was subject to "behavioural biases", the court was told.

The experts engaged on behalf of the ACCC and Google agreed there was a "technological trade-off" between privacy and service quality.

The case was run by reference to "classes" of users in three different scenarios, also confined to particular time periods.

These included users who set up a Google account for the first time, others who altered their location settings after the initial set up, and those who later considered disabling the 'web & app' setting.

Justice Thawley found Google's conduct would have misled some but not all reasonable users in the specified categories.

"The number or proportion of reasonable users who were misled, or were likely to have been misled, does not matter for the purposes of establishing contraventions."

After an Associated Press (AP) media article covered the location data and settings issue in August 2018, Google urgently held what was internally referred to as the "oh shit" meeting, the court heard.

A Google director then circulated documents about what work was being carried out to reduce user confusion.

The AP article led to a 500 per cent increase in users disabling both settings, according to internal Google documents.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-16/google-misled-some-australian-mobile-users-over-location-history/100074292

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 3:24 a.m. No.13438093 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Chinese national arrested for importing child-like sex doll parts

Australian Border Force Newsroom - 16-04-2021

A 22-year-old Chinese national was arrested yesterday after Australian Border Force (ABF) officers executed a search warrant at a residential address in Toorak, Melbourne.

During the execution of warrants, ABF officers located and seized a silicone lower torso of a child-like sex doll, items of infant clothing, and a flesh-like apparatus consistent with child-like appearance. Six mobile phones and several computers were also seized.

The man appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and was charged with Import a Prohibited Tier 2 Good, contrary to section 233BAB(5) of the Customs Act 1901 (Cth) (the Act). The Act provides that child-like sex dolls are a form of child abuse material.

Acting ABF Superintendent Investigations, Kelly-Anne Parish, commented on the critical function of the ABF in protecting the community.

“Importing child-like sex dolls is prohibited by law, and can attract a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment,” she said.

“When it comes to child exploitation materials, we have a zero tolerance policy,” Superintendent Parish said.

Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood thanked the ABF for its role in making Australia a safer place.

“This kind of material has no place in Australian society,” Assistant Minister Wood said.

“ABF officers should be commended for their focus on stamping out the importation of abhorrent child exploitation material.”

The man has been remanded in custody until the committal mention on 22 July 2021.

Note to media:

USE OF TERM ‘CHILD ABUSE’ MATERIAL, NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

https://newsroom.abf.gov.au/releases/chinese-national-arrested-for-importing-child-like-sex-doll-parts

Anonymous ID: 50e8d8 April 16, 2021, 3:03 p.m. No.13441634 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Facebook faces mass legal action over data leak

21 April 2021

Facebook users whose data was compromised by a massive data leak are being urged to take legal action against the tech giant.

About 530 million people had some personal information leaked, including, in some cases, phone numbers.

A digital privacy group is preparing to take a case to the Irish courts on behalf of EU citizens affected.

Facebook denies wrongdoing, saying the data was "scraped" from publicly available information on the site.

Antoin Ó Lachtnain, director of Digital Rights Ireland (DRI), warned other tech giants its move could be the beginning of a domino effect.

"This will be the first mass action of its kind but we're sure it won't be the last," he said.

"The scale of this breach, and the depth of personal information compromised, is gob-smacking."

He added: "The laws are there to protect consumers and their personal data and it's time these technology giants wake up to the reality that protection of personal data must be taken seriously."

DRI claims Facebook failed to protect user data and notify those who had been affected.

The data leak was first discovered and fixed in 2019, but was recently made easily available online for free.

DRI said individual users who take part in the legal action could be offered compensation of up to €12,000 (£10,445) if it is successful - based on what it says are similar cases in other countries.

Domino effect

"If successful this could well set a precedent and open the door to further class action down the line," Ray Walsh, a digital privacy expert at ProPrivacy, told the BBC.

"Big Tech might then find that being made to compensate individual users is a strong reminder to work harder on privacy compliance," he added.

On Thursday, the Irish Data Protection Commission announced its decision to launch an investigation into the leak.

It will assess whether any parts of the GDPR or Data Protection Act 2018 were infringed by Facebook.

If found to be in breach, the social media giant could face fines of up to 4% of its turnover.

Responding to DRI's legal case, a Facebook spokesman said: "We understand people's concerns, which is why we continue to strengthen our systems to make scraping from Facebook without our permission more difficult and go after the people behind it."

He also pointed to other firms involved in similar recent leaks.

"As LinkedIn and Clubhouse have shown, no company can completely eliminate scraping or prevent data sets like these from appearing. That's why we devote substantial resources to combat it and will continue to build out our capabilities to help stay ahead of this challenge," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56772772

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 6:11 p.m. No.13443082 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3089 >>1272

Pell prison journals should fascinate friend and foe alike

Peter Craven - April 16, 2021

1/3

What a strange episode in our history the trials of George Pell were.

It is just over a year since the full bench of the High Court in a unanimous decision upheld the appeal of the former Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney over the historic sexual offences of which he had been accused, initially found guilty of in December 2018, and which resulted in his spending more than a year in prison before his release on April 7 last year.

The lawyers always doubted that there was a substantive case against Pell and when he was found guilty by the second jury (the first trial yielded a hung jury) his barrister Robert Richter said (risking contempt of court) that we had convicted an innocent man and it didn’t happen very often. He also said that George Pell was a spiritual man and a humorous one and that he would cope with prison like the man he was.

Recently, we have seen the publication of two volumes of the Cardinal’s prison journals that may come as a surprise to people who think of him as a thug of Catholic conservatism who deserved everything he got even if he was innocent, for not having done more to prevent the sexual abuse of children by the church.

But here is the response of the man who might have played for Richmond to the news of the death, borne of depression, of the former AFL St Kilda captain Danny Frawley: “The more I’m in jail, the more I miss being able to celebrate mass. I knew him as a friendly teenager from my Ballarat years. I so much regretted not being able to offer mass for the repose of his soul and the consolation of his family. My own poor prayers are so inadequate in comparison with the Eucharist. May he rest in peace.”

That’s from the second volume of the journals published on Monday, April 19. He sounds like a man of God trying to make the best of his own ordeal, passionately concerned about human souls and “offering up”, as Christians used to say, his own trivial sufferings for the redemptive sufferings of Christ.

These prison journals will fascinate friend and foe alike. Who would have imagined that they would read George Pell, brooding on war – he supports the idea of the just war, as in the one against Hitler – quoting Ezra Pound from memory. “There died a million,” he writes, whereas Pound wrote “a myriad”.

He also notes that, for all his own support for the Vietnam war in his Oxford days, the poet and sometime Jesuit classicist Peter Levi wiped the floor with his justifications.

He also mentions, early on, in the first volume, that – again, at Oxford – he saw philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe (“probably the most formidable intellect I have ever encountered”) kneel publicly outside the Sheldonian Theatre saying the rosary during the awarding of an honorary doctorate to US president Harry S. Truman because she considered the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan a war crime.

You don’t go to these prison diaries for anecdote, though, of course, it’s fascinating – not least given anti-war positions – that this warrior-like Catholic conservative who revers Churchill’s speeches lets drop “Bobby was my favourite Kennedy, whom I met on Capitol Hill … full of Irish American charm and respectful of a young Aussie priest. When he was shot my love affair with America was over. It returned, but changed.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 6:12 p.m. No.13443089 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3106

>>13443082

2/3

David Marr said to me once, without rancour, that he thought George Pell had the temperament to be a first class headmaster and it’s a bit amazing to see a man of such natural authority wrestling with his God and his wretchedness.

It’s Richter (“who is not a theist but Jewish” the Cardinal reminds himself) who tells him to read the Book of Job, that blackest and most tragic book in the Hebrew Bible. When Pell does revisit it, he argues for the superiority of the Christian vision of redemption compared to the Jewish conception of human identity disappearing as a cloud dissolves when it goes down to Sheol.

This is par for the course and so is his description of the Book of Ecclesiastes (“vanity of vanities … the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl is broken”) as the most pagan book in the Bible. This is not incompatible with the tough cleaner up of Vatican finances or the unyielding bishop who refused communion to those rainbow-sashed gay activists.

What does hit the heart strangely is this kind of thing: “God … give me strength and peace of mind and help my fellow prisoners, especially those who are bad or disturbed or desperately unhappy.”

We expect to cop the George Pell who believes in judgment and damnation and the church’s God-given right and duty to preach traditional morality including what should and should not be done in the bedroom. But we don’t expect this kind of prayerfulness or rigour, this implicit compassion.

Each of the daily journal entries of some thousands of words ends with a prayer of Pell’s own composition or a quotation of his breviary or from some spiritual classic.

So we get Augustine’s yearning to look into the eyes of the most High. “Hide not your face from me. Let me see your face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it.”

And Thomas More’s prayer: “To think my most enemies, my best friends; for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favour as they did him with their malice and hatred.”

There is a constant emphasis on mercy and forgiveness, even though these journals are the work of a naturally forceful man who is both politically and religiously conservative. He says, eloquently enough, “God will forgive any crime” and adds, not unconvincingly, “If Christianity continues to decline, society will be less forgiving.”

He’s sometimes inclined to sound like a high and mighty Catholic version of Israel Folau (“A decent man of simple Christian faith, an old type Protestant”) and admits “starting the Christian defence of freedom of speech and freedom of religion with Folau is not ideal”. But he does want to argue that the promiscuities of sexual liberation are not on.

For some of his co-religionists – including those masters of the manners of the world, the Jesuits – Pell probably represents the challenging paradox of how to tolerate the intolerant.

He thinks that Donald Trump is “a barbarian” but he’s “our barbarian”: though Trump’s election makes him as opposed to the direct election of an Australian president as he was back at the Constitutional Convention in 1998 when he was a republican of the minimalist Turnbull/Keating variety.

(continued)

>>13443089

3/3

On the other hand, he sees little to rejoice at in nominally Catholic politicians. “The selective and superficial Catholicism of politicians like Daniel Andrews, and Malcolm Turnbull, to some extent, even helps them implement their un-Christian ambitions. The Trudeaus also come to mind.”

Pell is nothing if not militant in his moralism and he’s also an enthusiast for Bob Santamaria and Robert Menzies, even though he liked Bob Hawke as a politician with “a Labor heart” and “a Liberal head” and admits that we owe our current prosperity to Hawke and Paul Keating. He says, too, of Hawke that he loved Australia and much is forgiven him because he loved much.

All of this pales compared to the horror of losing his appeal in Victoria. “I was astonished and badly upset,” he writes.

It’s fascinating to learn that his appeal barrister, Bret Walker SC, asked his permission to show the draft of the appeal to Tom Hughes, and that Hughes, brother-in-law of Robert the art critic, and father-in-law of Malcolm Turnbull, had offered to appear for Pell, though the man who was attorney-general for John Gorton must have been 95 at the time.

Fascinating, too, that Marr said to Frank Brennan during the Victorian appeal that the presentation of the prosecution case was “a f—ing train wreck”.

These journals have a thousand facets. The Cardinal and his close associates take a dim view of the progressivist German bishops with their liberal attitudes to faith and morals, in the news earlier this year for initiating a two-year series of talks on what The Wall Street Journal describes as “rethinking church teaching and practice on topics including homosexuality, priestly celibacy and the ordination of women”.

And the Australian prince of the church who supports Brexit takes the dimmest possible view of Vatican financial corruption, which he did everything in his power to clean up.

Pope’s dreaded interviews

At the end of volume two of the prison journals, there is an implicit criticism of Pope Francis: “The Holy Father has given an interview once again on his return flight from Japan. The journalists love these encounters (they have told me so) but I and many others dread them.”

If he sometimes sounds in his diaries half-inclined to justify the burning of heretics, that’s part of his general bullishness.

These journals are notable for the way a vigorous administrative personality, born to rule, not only keeps himself sane in jail by watching Australian Rules and cricket and every possible variety of religious service including the American evangelicals but also by reading War and Peace (which he thinks is the greatest novel he’s read) and by praying strenuously for the insulted and the injured.

He answers the letters of his fellow prisoners, including James Gargasoulas, who drove through a crowd in Bourke Street Mall, and talks calmly of the screams and cries and the Muslim chants.

He’s often funny. He writes to an English friend that he feels greater shame at Australia’s cricket loss to England than he does at being in prison. He puts up with strip searches and being spat at. He’s tough as they come but he believes in the good and the quality of mercy.

How odd of God to choose George Pell as the medium for this portrait of a good priest. Should that be a good enough priest? Hard to imagine he would claim more.

Prison Journals Volume II: The State Court Rejects The Appeal is published by Freedom Publishing on April 19.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/pell-prison-journals-should-fascinate-friend-and-foe-alike-20210415-p57jll.html

https://qanon.pub/?q=Pell

https://qanon.pub/?q=cardinal-george-pell

https://qanon.pub/?q=pecking

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 8:11 p.m. No.13444007 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Liberal Party stalwart Andrew Peacock dies

Natasha Rudra - Apr 16, 2021

Political tributes have poured in for former Australian Liberal leader Andrew Peacock, who has died in the United States at the age of 82.

Mr Peacock was an MP for the Liberal stronghold of Kooyong for 28 years and served as a cabinet minister in three governments.

He also led the party in opposition twice in the 1980s.

Mr Peacock’s death was announced on Friday night by his daughter Ann. She posted a tribute to her “beautiful, loving, most caring, thoughtful, generous and brilliant father” on Instagram.

“You will be so greatly missed, your guidance and deep love for us will live in my heart, we are absolutely devastated,” Ms Peacock wrote.

“You will live within us forever and ever.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Peacock was a great Australian and a treasure of the Liberal Party.

“He was one of our greatest Liberals who helped shape Australia and the Liberal Party over three decades,” Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister also praised Mr Peacock’s “thoroughness, intellect and capacity to make friends far and wide.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who now holds the seat of Kooyong, paid tribute to his predecessor as one of the nation’s political greats.

“He championed Liberal ideals and provided strong and good government. He was authentic, tough and possessed a dry sense of humour.

“He will be remembered fondly by those on both sides of the political aisle as he played his politics as he pursued life - with vigour, dignity and decency,” Mr Frydenberg wrote.

“I will be forever grateful to him for his generous friendship, advice and support.”

Mr Peacock was appointed Australia’s ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2000.

He was good friends with Democratic first couple Bill and Hillary Clinton and credited another former US president, George HW Bush, for setting him up with the woman who would become his third wife, American diplomat Penne Korth.

The couple later retired to Austin, Texas, the city where Ms Korth went to university.

Despite his reputation as a moderate Liberal, Mr Peacock supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election - he told The Australian Financial Review later that he was disquieted by Trump’s performance but still had hope that he would improve.

The tributes did not all come from one side of politics. Former Victorian Labor deputy premier Rob Hulls wrote:

“As a new and very nervous federal MP for Kennedy in 1990, I remember giving my first speech in Parliament. ALP members in the House, as is the practice, came up and congratulated me. Then, to my surprise, a Liberal MP did as well. It was Andrew Peacock.

“Vale Andrew. A decent man.”

Mr Peacock is survived by Penne and his daughters Ann, Jane and Caroline, his children with his first wife Lady Susan Renouf.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/liberal-party-stalwart-andrew-peacock-dies-20210416-p57jzh

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 9:04 p.m. No.13444349 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>4368 >>1301

Ghislaine Maxwell's claims case against her is 'prejudiced' because Jeffrey Epstein would have cleared her if he was still alive

DANIEL BATES - 17 April 2021

1/2

Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed that the case against her is prejudiced because Jeffrey Epstein is dead - and he would have cleared her of wrongdoing if he was alive.

The British socialite, who is accused of being Epstein's top recruiter, said that Epstein would have 'testified that (she) did not engage in the criminal activity with which she is charged'.

The claim was ridiculed by federal prosecutors who said it assumed that Epstein would have agreed to testify and that his testimony would 'help rather than hurt the defendant (Maxwell)'.

The prosecutors are dismissive about each of Maxwell's claims, calling them 'conspiracy theories', saying they 'strain common sense' and are made up of ' bare assertions and conclusory allegations'.

Prosecutors said such an assertion was 'speculative at best'.

The claim was in a document filed to the federal court in New York by prosecutors in response to Maxwell's attempt to have the case dismissed.

Prosecutors dismiss Maxwell's claim that Epstein's non prosecution agreement he signed in 2007 for having sex with underage girls applies to her as well.

Under Maxwell's reading of the agreement, it 'immunized her for future crimes including, for example, perjury offenses that she is charged with committing', the prosecutors said.

Such an interpretation would be 'illogical', the document states.

The prosecutors say that it is a 'false factual narrative' to suggest that a meeting between lawyers for Epstein's victims and their office in 2016 led to them beginning their investigation of Maxwell.

In fact the investigation began two years later after the last known contact between the two parties.

However the notes from the prosecutor who attended the meeting do reveal some details about the case against Maxwell.

Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz wrote down that based on the conversations she had with the lawyers, who represented Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Maxwell was the 'head recruiter' for Epstein.

One note states there were 'photos of naked girls on Maxwell's comp (computer)'.

Giuffre claimed there were cameras all over Epstein's New York mansion which were used for 'extortion' on his powerful and wealthy friends.

She had to 'report back' whenever she was loaned out to anyone for sex - she claims the men included Britian's Prince Andrew, allegations he denies.

Another note says: 'Maxwell + (blank) took sexually explicit photos of her (Giuffre) regularly'. The document says that 'Maxwell gave photo (of Giuffre) to Epstein for bday @ age 16', apparently meaning Giuffre's 16th birthday.

In January, she outlined 12 arguments as to why the charges should be dismissed against her. Her lawyers and the prosecution filed extensive legal documents outlining their arguments.

After weeks of debate about redactions those documents are now being made public, with the 239-page rebuttal from the prosecution being released first.

Judge Alison Nathan dismissed Maxwell's request to dismiss the indictment, meaning she will have to stand trial.

But she did grant Maxwell's request to sever two of the six counts, both for perjury, for a separate trial.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 9:07 p.m. No.13444368 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

>>13444349

2/2

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said that in Maxwell's submissions she argued she has suffered 'substantial prejudice' as a result of the delay in indicting her.

During that time Epstein hanged himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell was arrested in July last year and has been in federal custody since.

The document states: 'She (Maxwell) contends that the loss of Epstein demonstrates actual prejudice because Epstein 'would have' testified that the defendant did not engage in the criminal activity with which she is charged.

'That assertion is speculative at best'.

The prosecution memo dismisses the claim by adding: 'To credit Maxwell's argument is to assume that Epstein, after being indicted with federal sex trafficking charges, would have taken the stand, would not have invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, and would have provided testimony that exculpated Maxwell, which a jury would have credited in the face of contradictory trial evidence.

'This is an exercise in chain upon chain of conjecture that comes nowhere close to meeting the burden of demonstrating actual prejudice.

'The defendant has not and cannot establish that Epstein would have been available to testify in the first instance, much less that he would have voluntarily agreed to testify at her trial in a way that would help, rather than hurt, the defendant'.

Earlier this week Maxwell requested to delay her trial, which is due to start in July, to early 2022 to give her time to prepare her defense.

Maxwell, 59, is due to appear in court next Friday to be arraigned on the two new charges, trafficking a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy.

She has already pleaded not guilty to six counts related to enticing underage girls to Epstein to abuse and perjurying herself in a separate civil case.

In her ruling Judge Nathan sided with the prosecutors and said that Epstein's non prosecution agreement, or NPA, 'does not bar this prosecution'.

She noted that the deal was 'unusual in many respects, including its breadth, leniency, and secrecy'.

But it does not apply to federal prosecutors in New York as the deal was negotiated by US Attorneys in Florida.

Nor does the plea agreement cover the charged offenses as it relates only to offenses from 2001 to 2007.

Judge Nathan wrote: 'Maxwell contends that the NPA's co-conspirator provision lacks any limitation on the offenses covered. The Court disagrees with this improbable interpretation.

Addressing Maxwell's claim that Epstein would have cleared her, Judge Nathan wrote: 'Courts have generally found that vague assertions that a deceased witness might have provided favorable testimony do not justify dismissing an indictment for delay…

'…there are also serious doubts under all of the relevant circumstances that a jury would have found testimony from Epstein credible even if he had waived his right against self-incrimination and testified on her behalf'.

Judge Nathan wrote that the perjury allegations must be tried separately because trying them with the criminal allegations is likely to be 'unduly prejudicial'.

She wrote that it would expose the jury to a 'wider swath of information that is remote from Maxwell's charged conduct'.

The judge wrote: 'This presents a significant risk that the jury will cumulate the evidence of the various crimes charged and find guilt when, if considered separately, it would not do so'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9480697/Ghislaine-Maxwell-claims-case-prejudiced-Epstein-cleared-wrongdoing-alive.html

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.204.0.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.204.5.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.207.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 9:25 p.m. No.13444509 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers cannot challenge plea agreement - U.S. appeals court

Jonathan Stempel - April 17, 2021

A federal appeals court rejected a challenge by a Jeffrey Epstein accuser to an agreement not to prosecute the financier, and to shield his associates from criminal liability for aiding his sexual abuses.

By a 7-4 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled on Thursday that Courtney Wild and other accusers lacked standing under the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act to disturb Epstein's 2007 nonprosecution agreement, though they had been kept in the dark while it was being negotiated.

Judges in the majority said they were "constrained" to rule against Wild, despite having "the profoundest sympathy for Ms. Wild and others like her, who suffered unspeakable horror at Epstein's hands, only to be left in the dark - and, so it seems, affirmatively misled - by government attorneys."

A decision favoring Wild could have permitted accusers to discuss with prosecutors why Epstein's associates should be charged.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and former Epstein associate, has said Epstein's agreement required the dismissal of criminal charges in Manhattan accusing her of aiding his sexual abuse of girls.

Epstein killed himself in jail at age 66 in August 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.

Wild, now in her 30s, was 15 when Epstein first sexually abused her, according to court papers.

"We are disappointed but not surprised," her lawyers, Paul Cassell and Bradley Edwards, said in a joint statement.

They pledged to press Congress for changes to ensure that "the rights of crime victims are never again trampled on in this disturbing way again."

Epstein's agreement with federal prosecutors in southern Florida arose from his alleged sexual abuses at his Palm Beach mansion.

In exchange for immunity, Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges and served just 13 months in jail. The arrangement is now widely considered to have been too lenient.

In court papers made public on Friday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said the agreement did not bind them and did not give Maxwell complete immunity from prosecution for federal crimes.

Maxwell's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

'TRAVESTY'

Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom wrote Thursday's majority opinion. Six of the seven judges in the majority were men, while the four dissenting judges were women.

One dissenter, Circuit Judge Frank Hull, said the majority opinion created a "two-tiered justice system" that exacerbated disparities between wealthy defendants and others.

She said limiting protections of the victims' rights law to the period after people like Epstein are charged leaves federal prosecutors "free to engage in the secret plea deals and deception pre-charge that resulted in the travesty here."

Last April, a divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit said prosecutors had no obligation to disclose Epstein's nonprosecution agreement. It later set aside that ruling so the full appeals court could consider the matter.

"I don't see this as a loss," Wild said in a statement provided by her lawyers. "The judges agreed that the way were treated was wrong. Without this lawsuit, that wrong would have been swept under the rug and would have repeated itself."

In opposing Wild's appeal, the U.S. Department of Justice nonetheless expressed regret for its handling of the matter, and said Wild should be commended for shining a light on Epstein's misconduct.

Epstein's agreement had been negotiated by prosecutors led by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta in Miami.

A Justice Department investigation found in November that Acosta exercised "poor judgment" but did not recommend sanctions.

Shortly after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Acosta resigned as then-President Donald Trump's labor secretary under pressure over the agreement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jeffrey-epsteins-accusers-cannot-challenge-plea-agreement-us-appeals-court-2021-04-16/

https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/

https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 16, 2021, 10:42 p.m. No.13445048 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Chief of Navy Australia Tweet

#HMASAnzac and #HMASSirius took part in the French-led Exercise La Perouse. This rewarding training opportunity has been successfully undertaken by (France, India, Japan and the U.S.). Strengthening Navy-to-Navy relations in the region is vital to enhance #AusNavy’s interoperability & our continued success.

https://twitter.com/CN_Australia/status/1382830007614017538

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 17, 2021, 12:37 a.m. No.13445558 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8193 >>1279

Congressman Mike Gallagher Tweet

Thanks to Ambassador Sinodinos and @AusintheUS for this awesome poster, which I will proudly display in my office.

In light of the CCP's insane tariffs on Australia, we have a duty as mates to drink Australian wine (and Wisconsin beer).

https://twitter.com/RepGallagher/status/1383144537699328003

—

Arthur Sinodinos AO Tweet

Australian wine and Wisconsin beer, an unbeatable combination. Thanks Mike Gallagher a great friend of Australia and decent, humane universal values.

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1383187463515029504

—

About Mike Gallagher

First elected in 2016, Congressman Mike Gallagher represents Wisconsin’s 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mike is a 7th generation Wisconsin native, born and raised in Green Bay.

Mike joined the United States Marine Corps the day he graduated from college and served for seven years on active duty as a Counterintelligence/Human Intelligence Officer and Regional Affairs Officer for the Middle East/North Africa, eventually earning the rank of Captain. He deployed twice to Al Anbar Province, Iraq as a commander of intelligence teams, served on General Petraeus’s Central Command Assessment Team in the Middle East, and worked for three years in the intelligence community, including tours at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Mike also served as the lead Republican staffer for Middle East, North Africa and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prior to taking office, Mike worked in the private sector at a global energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, Mike went on to earn a master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University, a second in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and his PhD in International Relations from Georgetown.

Mike currently serves on the House Armed Services, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

https://gallagher.house.gov/about

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 17, 2021, 2:10 a.m. No.13445768 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Tweet

Cleared for Landing

@USMC UH-1Y Venoms and MV-22B #Ospreys for MRF-D 21.2 have officially landed!

#USwithAus

https://twitter.com/MrfDarwin/status/1382998979323973634

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 17, 2021, 10:21 p.m. No.13452046 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

QAnon congresswoman blasts Rupert Murdoch's newspaper over incest story: 'Shame on them'

Bob Brigham - April 17, 2021

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) rushed to defend Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over allegations of underage sex trafficking, but apparently draws the line at incest.

The controversial Republican on Saturday linked to a story by the New York Post, which is owned by far-right billionaire Rupert Murdoch of Fox News infamy.

The story was on an Australian named Richard Morris who is seeking to change incest laws in 60 countries, but who has received little support.

"We haven't moved any mountains yet," he told the tabloid.

But reporting on the topic was enough to draw condemnation from lawmaker known as the "QAnon congresswoman."

"This repulsive article really just says everything about the media. It just sums it up to exactly what the media is. And what low disgusting level many of them exist on. No wonder everyone is so sick of the news," she wrote.

"Shame on them," she said.

https://www.rawstory.com/qanon-congresswoman-marjorie-taylor-greene-2652620788/

—

Marjorie Taylor Greene Tweet

This repulsive article really just says everything about the media.

It just sums it up to exactly what the media is.

And what low disgusting level many of them exist on.

No wonder everyone is so sick of the news.

Shame on them.

https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1383612009766211594

New York Post @nypost

'Consensual incest' should be decriminalized, advocates say trib.al/URxC6xC

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1383483200081567751

—

‘Consensual incest’ should be decriminalized, advocates say

Kathianne Boniello - April 17, 2021

Consensual incest advocates are rooting for an anonymous New York parent who wants to marry their own adult child.

Australian Richard Morris, who is pushing to change incest laws in about 60 countries, said he supports the legal push in Manhattan Federal Court and that such behavior between consenting adults “should not be criminalized.”

He and other advocates have launched about 130 petitions, mostly on change.org, seeking to change incest laws around the world. Most have received little support.

“We haven’t moved any mountains yet,” he told The Post.

Morris was inspired to fight for those in consenting incestual relationships, he said, after learning about a Scottish case in which a long-separated father and daughter were reunited, started an affair and were then criminally convicted.

Fighting for true “marriage equality” is “the right thing to do, isn’t it?” Morris said.

“It seems to be as unjust as the law that used to imprison gay people, and the law that used to stop people of different races marrying,” he added.

Keith Pullman, who runs the blog Full Marriage Equality, also cheered on the New York lawsuit.

“It is absurd to say that an adult can’t consent to marry their parent. That same adult can be sent to war, take on six or seven figures of debt, operate heavy machinery, be sentenced to death by a federal court, and consent to sex with five strangers (and marriage with one of them) but can’t consent to marry someone they love?” he told The Post. “In some of these cases, the genetic parent didn’t raise them and they met for the first time two years ago. Allegations of ‘grooming’ are laughable attempts to deny someone their rights even though it will have no impact on the person objecting.”

https://nypost.com/2021/04/17/consensual-incest-should-be-decriminalized-advocates-say/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 12:11 a.m. No.13452422 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1268

Alexander Downer Twitter Thread

9News Australia @9NewsAUS

Former High Commissioner @AlexanderDowner was there when the Queen bestowed the Duke of Edinburgh with his Australian knighthood – an event that stirred great controversy in our country. #9News

Special coverage, LIVE on @Channel9.

https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1383405291895607304

—

Shawn Simpson @HomerShawn

Was also there when foreign governments tried to spy on Trump campaign for the Democrats!

https://twitter.com/HomerShawn/status/1383423970259599371

—

Alexander Downer @AlexanderDowner

Sure!!! What’s happened to that conspiracy btw. It seems to have died

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1383525873706422275

—

koenig13091999 @koenig13091999

Indeed. It was a clever Papadopoulos misdirection to reinvent himself as the victim hero. Quite an effective technique,keep asking a series of questions that seem to cast doubt, don’t seek to answer them & keep asking more. I’m surprised you didn’t pursue this actually, was rough

https://twitter.com/koenig13091999/status/1383549787543277568

—

Alexander Downer @AlexanderDowner

Not worth the trouble. It died out as it wasn’t true!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1383554221811793923

—

Shawn Simpson @HomerShawn

You keep telling yourself that!

https://twitter.com/HomerShawn/status/1383564172768595973

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 12:26 a.m. No.13452467 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2472 >>1279

Canberra prepares for Taiwan conflict as tensions escalate

Jacob Greber, Michael Smith and Andrew Tillett - Apr 16, 2021

1/2

The Australian government has sharply escalated its internal preparations for potential military action in the Taiwan Strait.

This is part of a broader show of force by the US and its allies at forcing China to back down on its incursions into the island state’s air space and isolate its economic partners.

Sources have told AFR Weekend that the Australian Defence Force was planning for a potential worst-case scenario if the United States and China clashed over Taiwan, prompting debate over the scope and scale of Canberra’s contribution to what would be an unprecedented conflict in the region.

Options include contributing to an allied effort with submarines, as well as maritime surveillance aircraft, air-to-air refuellers and potentially Super Hornet fighters operating from US bases in Guam or the Philippines, and even Japan.

The intensification has been welcomed as long overdue by seasoned Taiwan watchers, who warn that China’s growing aggression towards the island and the renewed US resolve to help Taipei defend itself could spiral out of control and into a catastrophic open conflict.

Concern is mounting throughout the region, and Taiwan accuses China of sending 25 military aircraft into its air defence identification zone this week – a record incursion.

The chief of Australia’s Defence Force, Angus Campbell, cautioned that conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be “disastrous” and urged Beijing to resolve its differences with Taiwan’s leaders through dialogue.

‘Disastrous experience’

“Conflict over the island of Taiwan would be a disastrous experience for the peoples of the region,” General Campbell told an Indian foreign affairs conference known as the Raisina Dialogue. “It is something we should all work to avoid.”

At the same forum, the heads of the Indian and Japanese militaries were asked if they were collectively planning, as part of a “Quad” effort, to counter China in Taiwan. None responded to the question.

US President Joe Biden was preparing to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington on Friday, where the two leaders are expected to “present a united front on Taiwan” according to a top US official.

Long downplayed as one of the more peculiar anomalies of international relations, Taiwan’s disputed status is becoming a big flashpoint between Beijing and Washington. China regards the island as its territory and President Xi Jinping, who successfully quashed anti-China protests in Hong Kong last year with limited push-back from the West, has made “reunification” of the island with the mainland a top long-term priority.

At the same time, anti-China sentiment in the US is pushing the Biden administration to take a tougher line against any undermining of Taiwan’s self-rule.

Sources and academics said that while a military conflict remained unlikely, Australia wanted to send Beijing a signal that further incursions by Mr Xi’s forces into Taiwan’s territory would not be tolerated.

“There is a lot of development and scenario planning going on,” said a diplomatic source of Canberra’s effort. “It is intended to signal you are not going to blink. It is intended to demonstrate you don’t lack commitment.“

(continued)

>>13452467

2/2

The push coincides with a desire in China to “normalise” incursions into Taiwan and discourage people from investing in the island, which is the world’s most important maker of semiconductor microchips – currently in the grip of a global supply shortage.

Coming off last month’s historic Quad meeting between the leaders of Australia, Japan, India and the US, analysts believe Canberra is under greater pressure to anticipate issues that collectively hurt the members of the grouping.

“A big issue for Australians to realise is that the US and Japan have said they share our problems,” said Michael Shoebridge, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defence program. “The flip side to that is we have to share their problems.”

This includes Japan’s direct sovereignty concerns in the East China Sea – one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

“The only way we can push back on Beijing is for us not to be splintered and not see problems the Americans and Japanese have as their problems,” Mr Shoebridge said. “We can’t expect partners like the US and Japan to support us if we don’t stand with them.”

One Defence official confirmed to AFR Weekend that planning had been under way, describing the prospect of conflict over Taiwan as a highly complex question for the government.

The source said that while the Defence Force had capabilities that could contribute to a Taiwan crisis, the make-up of forces committed would be dictated by the military effects the government sought to make or contribute to. “There has been a lot of thinking done on this and other contingencies – but nothing that you wouldn’t expect the department would be doing as part of prudent military planning,” the source said.

A former Defence official said there would be questions in the department and the government over whether the ANZUS pact applied in the event of a strike against Taiwan.

Incorporating Air Warfare Destroyers as part of US aircraft carrier groups and deploying Collins-class submarines to bottle up the Chinese navy could be an option but there could be some hesitation to commit naval assets because of the threat to them.

The former official said Australia was more likely to contribute air cover, such as maritime surveillance aircraft, air-to-air refuellers, the Wedgetail airborne radar plane and Super Hornet fighter jets, operating from US bases in Guam or the Philippines.

A former senior Australian diplomat said that while the possibility of conflict was not zero, it was unlikely because the Chinese were not prepared yet. Occupation of the island would also turn the whole world against China. “And if your ambition was to get through the middle-income trap and consolidate the Communist Party, that might be a dramatic step to take,” the person said.

Mark Harrison, senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania, said that while a full-scale military invasion by China was unlikely and would be signalled weeks in advance, there were also risks if the US and its allies backed China into a corner.

“Beijing can also use the threat of war itself as a multiplier of more limited action and from which it might attempt to extract incremental concessions from Taipei.

“There are very complex politics in play in Beijing and Taipei with a very weighty history and Canberra policy-makers will need to be fully across all those issues,” he said.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/canberra-prepares-for-taiwan-conflict-as-tensions-escalate-20210416-p57jqv

From having 'hot curries poured over her head' to being 'held under the stairs like Harry Potter': Fate of 'slave torture' couple hangs in the balance as jury enters its 10th week in epic trial

WAYNE FLOWER - 18 April 2021

1/3

A jury of 12 is expected to finally retire to consider its verdict in Melbourne's engrossing 'slave trial' next week after 10 long weeks.

It was still summer when the husband-and-wife, accused of keeping an elderly slave, first faced the jury on February 10.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will spend an uneasy weekend and could learn their fate as early as Tuesday.

Defence barristers for the pair finished their closing arguments on Friday, with Justice Andrew Tinney delivering his final 'charge' throughout the day.

The jury has endured months of evidence, which has included shocking allegations of abuse by the couple against their elderly 'slave'.

When Justice Tinney ends his directions of law - either on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning - the jury will at last retire to consider its verdict.

The couple has been accused of committing 'crimes against humanity' by keeping the woman captive and working her near to death.

The jury has heard allegations their slave had 'hot curries' poured over her head as punishment and lived off just an hour a sleep for years at a time.

The elderly woman was found by paramedics in 2015 in a pool of her own urine and weighing just 40kg.

The husband and wife have pleaded not guilty to intentionally keeping the woman as a slave between July 2007 and July 2015.

The woman was discovered after she collapsed inside the couple's home and they called her an ambulance.

Traumatised and with serious medical conditions, she spent more than two months in hospital recovering - and for much of that time nobody knew her real identity.

In closing the Crown case, prosecutor Richard Maidment QC said the couple's payments to the woman amounted to just $3.39 a day in exchange for childcare, washing, cleaning and preparing meals.

He told the court the pair had fudged their elderly captive's visa documents to allow her to stay in Australia illegally.

The woman had hoped to earn enough money in Australia to help support her family in India, the jury was told.

'By 6 August 2007 she had become an unlawful non citizen with the full knowledge and connivance of (the couple),' Mr Maidment said.

Police believed they were dealing with a real-life Harry Potter when they rescued the woman, the jury heard.

Mr Maidment told the jury there was no need to ponder the motive why the couple would risk their reputations and liberty to keep the woman illegally for so long.

'The Crown says that is crystal clear. It was crystal clear that they wanted essentially to import a true, tried and tested child carer and domestic servant, knowing that they could pay her next to nothing so that they could continue to live and maintain a five-bedroom home, that they could maintain their lifestyle, that (the female accused) could contemplate a part-time job, three days a week, and also to afford family trips overseas pretty much every year and interstate also on a regular basis,' he said.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 12:46 a.m. No.13452539 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2545

>>13452535

2/3

Mr Maidment said the couple made sure they had treated their alleged slave well in front of the children she had been enslaved to raise.

'The children were very fond of her and the notion that they would always be unkind to her or that they wouldn't essentially treat her as part of the household, is ridiculous,' he said.

'Clearly, they were going to be concerned about her relationship with the children. Her willingness to work hard. It was important for them to treat her, in many respects, as a member of the household.'

But Mr Maidment said it didn't alter the level of control that they had for her.

'Or the deep down, disrespect they had for her situation, or their willingness to exploit her in terms of paying her so far below the appropriate remuneration as to amount to an indicator of slavery,' he said.

The jury heard the woman had been effectively stranded in her captive home, unable to even use a bus or call for help from her family back in India.

'Her world, other than that which the (couple) exposed them to by actually taking her to places like Sydney, like Phillip Island, like Cape Woolamai … was the immediate area of the house, Gillian Road Park and that's about it. So that was her world and the backyard,' Mr Maidment said.

'They effectively controlled every aspect of her life, where she went, who she met, controlled her work and her leisure to the extent that she had any and in every practical sense.'

The alleged female slaver, who has been painted for weeks as the brains behind the alleged atrocity, maintains the woman is a rotten liar.

On Monday, barrister Dr Gideon Boas - for the female accused - told the jury his client's accuser was 'not a witness of truth'.

'I do suggest to you that it is only in an alternate universe that the evidence that she gave that she was being woken up by (the accused) every night by having lights switched on, oil poured on her head every night at 4am,' Dr Boas told the jury.

'She’ll be drinking hot coffee and then she will just, you know, pour it on my face … and then she will be grab the gravy and pour it on my head,' the woman said.

'She will say 'curries not nice' and then she will just throw it on me.'

Dr Boas told the jury the federal agents who interviewed his client had believed the alleged victim had been held like the fictional wizard, whom was famously imprisoned under the stairs of his captors in the J.K. Rowling hit books and movies.

'So, no doubt the police had in their minds at this stage they were dealing with somebody like Harry Potter being, you know, held under the stairs or something, right?' he told the jury.

(continued)

>>13452539

3/3

Dr Boas dismissed the woman's claims the alleged slave had been kept confined within the family home for years and insisted she had instead been treated like a beloved member of the family.

'You recall this was a Tamil tradition of feeding somebody cake and she acknowledged that was an expression of love and affection,' he told the jury.

'Well, there's a photo on p.34, depicts (his client) doing that for (the woman on her) birthday. Love and affection, Tamil tradition. Well, the narrative that she came to give about (his client), as we know, is very different. That was then, this is now.'

The jury had heard the woman say under cross examination by Dr Boas that her female captor had bashed her so hard that she had broken her skull.

'(She) kicked, broke my skull'. That was the first time she said that,' Dr Boas said.

'Of course, there's no evidence whatsoever that (she) had a broken skull.'

When the trial opened in February, Dr Boas made it clear the alleged slave had cooked-up the story to avoid being deported back to India after overstaying her temporary visa.

Dr Boas told the jury his client actually considered the woman as family and referred to her affectionately as 'grandmother'.

He claimed the only crime his client had committed was harbouring the woman after her one-month travel visa had expired.

It was fear of prosecution over the visa violation that not only caused the woman to lie to authorities, but the alleged victim to lie about her captivity, the court heard.

The Case Against Alleged Slavers

A couple accused of keeping an Indian woman as a slave before she was discovered with no teeth and emaciated with sepsis claimed she was treated 'like a king'.

The couple are both charged with intentionally possessing a slave and intentionally exercising the right of ownership over a slave between 2007 and 2015.

The pair claim they have been framed and have become embroiled in an elaborate extortion attempt.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard the couple had been heard by police discussing the allegations over phone taps.

'“It seems the suggestion is a letter would be produced which would suggest an extortion attempt had been made to extort 10 laks, the equivalent of $18,000 or $19,000 in order to drop the allegations,' Prosecutor Richard Maidment told jurors.

The court has heard the alleged victim had no teeth when found by police in 2015.

When asked why by police, her alleged keeper claimed she had pulled them out herself and ate only mash.

The woman had allegedly been enslaved after two previous visits with the family.

The alleged slave was found after she became sick and the woman called her an ambulance.

Paramedics found her shivering in a pool of urine in the bathroom.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/melbourne/article-9477927/The-fate-Melbournes-slave-torture-couple-hangs-balance.html

>>13228625 (pb)

How a panicked phone call to the ABC newsroom led to a Four Corners investigation and the dismantling of an alleged sex slave cult

Elise Worthington - 18 April 2021

1/3

It started with a panicked call to the ABC switchboard asking to speak to someone in the newsroom.

The desperate voice on the other end of the line was begging for help.

That initial conversation was the first of dozens that followed a similar pattern — describing how a sex cult was allegedly harming vulnerable young women and despairing that authorities seemed unable or unwilling to intervene.

Weeks later, producer Kyle Taylor and I found ourselves at a dodgy regional New South Wales pub being heckled by the locals who had no idea what was going on as we frantically photographed hundreds of pages of tattered "slave journal" entries.

They were brought to us in a black bum bag by a woman who alleged she was enslaved, forced into sex work, abused, coerced and threatened by a man she was forced to call her "Master".

This is how a five-month investigation by ABC Investigations and Four Corners into former Australian army soldier James Davis and his acolytes, the so-called 'House of Cadifor', began.

It ended with a dramatic police raid after Four Corners provided information to the Australian Federal Police.

Davis was arrested in the car park of the local hardware store by plain-clothed AFP officers and charged with sexual slavery offences.

The journals belonged to Felicity Bourke, Davis's former partner of three years.

Her bravery in speaking out and trusting us with her story is what dozens of women and the families of those still living with Davis had been waiting for.

We spoke with Felicity many times and met with her on three occasions, each over several days, before we filmed a sit-down TV interview.

We spoke to her family, friends and her social worker.

We connected her with lawyers and offered counselling.

Eventually, we would pass her details, with her permission, on to the Australian Federal Police.

Her testimony is what finally led to Davis being charged.

For months, we had agonised over how to investigate and navigate such a complex and traumatic story.

We spent many hours on the phone and in person, meeting and hearing the stories of dozens of women and several men who had known Davis and his associates over the years.

As we continued our research, we came to believe that Davis was using classic cult tactics to indoctrinate the women who followed him.

A complex and challenging story

We found ourselves surrounded by a fog of trauma, stories of horrendous sexual abuse, rape and violence allegedly perpetrated by a number of different men.

Complicating the situation was that many of the alleged incidents they described had occurred within the context of BDSM relationships, which sometimes involved consensual violence.

"There's a clear line between BDSM and abuse and that line is consent," one woman told us.

But we soon realised that the line between consenting and not consenting had been blurred by power imbalances, peer pressure and coercion, as well as by drugs and alcohol.

Some of the women we spoke to had signed contracts consenting to particular sex or violent acts or had agreed in writing to become submissives or slaves to men.

They felt trapped, ashamed and like they couldn't say no because they believed they had signed away their rights.

That was just one reason they'd never come forward about their treatment.

Many were also sex workers with a profound mistrust of law enforcement.

We were faced with people who had complex histories of trauma and who were themselves still coming to terms with difficult questions around what had happened to them, often when they were still quite young.

Had they consented?

Were they able to?

Was it an abuse of power?

What would it mean for them if they were assaulted?

We later learned that there is no such thing as consent to certain offences such as slavery and trafficking.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 1:05 a.m. No.13452615 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2621

>>13452610

2/3

Many of those we spoke to had never told anyone about their experiences before. Some seemed completely numbed to the pain and horror of what they told us.

They recalled in graphic detail what had happened to them.

Sometimes once they started speaking it was hard to interrupt or get them to stop.

They held back little, disclosing the most explicit and violent details.

Few wanted to be interviewed formally or go on the record but every person we spoke to helped us open up a dark and murky world that was difficult to comprehend.

What we uncovered was a BDSM sex cult allegedly targeting vulnerable young women and coercing them into participating in increasingly violent sexual situations, sometimes filmed and sold for profit.

Some of the women went to group sex parties where they were blindfolded, numbered and given drugs and alcohol.

Others participated in elaborate ceremonies and signed contracts of enslavement to men, they wore slave collars and were controlled by men who allegedly instructed them to have sex with others for money.

A traumatic story takes its toll

In the months we spent working on the story, we were sent photos and videos of women being physically assaulted, screaming and crying in pain.

They were sometimes tied, bound and gagged, unable to escape.

This kind of horrific material would be delivered in emails and texts at all hours of the day and night.

There was call after call from women recounting in graphic detail horrendous sexual assaults perpetrated by different men in the BDSM community.

Some of these incidents were totally unconnected to the story we were focused on but word had gone around that there were journalists who were investigating and they wanted to help.

It felt selfish to cut the call short or react emotionally when I wasn't the one who had suffered.

Sometimes I hung up the phone and just cried in despair.

I could hear the pain in their voices and knew there was little I could do to help.

I received calls and texts late at night. Sometimes from women saying they didn't want to live.

I lay awake worried about the impact of our work on the women we spoke to.

What if we made things worse?

How could we be sure that they were supported after they shared their traumatic experiences?

I wasn't a sexual assault counsellor. How was I supposed to respond correctly to what I was hearing?

There were guidelines for dealing with survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence but in many situations, there seemed to be no rule book for exactly how to navigate the complexities involved in this kind of story.

I started seeing a specialist trauma psychologist early in the project when I realised I would need support to be able to keep working on such distressing subject matter.

One day, sitting at my desk at Four Corners, I was told a detail so horrendous I ran to the bathroom and threw up before crying as I struggled to process the horror of what I had been told.

Some days I felt like I was working in slow motion, reading the same sentence over and over again, unable to process it.

I was annoyed at myself for being weak, lazy and unproductive.

I now understand that was a natural reaction to being repeatedly exposed to traumatic material.

I noticed I would sometimes emotionlessly recount graphic details to shocked colleagues who enquired how the story was going.

I became keenly attuned to any perceived power imbalances or signs of abuse in society or social situations.

At times I felt as though I was viewing the world through a completely different and dark lens that few people could understand.

How could such horrendous things be happening with such apparent regularity?

How could the world be so bleak?

How could so many men do such horrendous things to women?

Through therapy, I can see that these are overgeneralisations and thought distortions, which can be a symptom of vicarious trauma.

(continued)

>>13452615

3/3

Journalists need to take vicarious trauma seriously

Vicarious trauma can happen through indirect exposure to traumatic events and can manifest in a range of physical and psychological symptoms.

If not addressed, it can lead to ongoing PTSD and other mental health problems.

Journalists are regularly exposed to crime scenes, the aftermath of natural disasters, violence, raw emotions from grieving families and other traumatic situations.

Many of us have witnessed our colleagues suffer from trauma and PTSD related to their work.

Some have been so profoundly affected they've been unable to continue working.

To journalists working with traumatic subject matter, I implore you to seek help early and speak openly and honestly about how your work is affecting your mental health.

I'm aware I am in the extremely fortunate position of being a journalist in a secure job with supportive bosses and colleagues.

I don't know how I would have coped without having access to a qualified professional to debrief.

When I started seeing a psychologist, the first thing I naively wanted to know was how I could just simply "not be traumatised" by what I was hearing and seeing.

The answer was that without dropping the story altogether, that wouldn't be possible.

Instead, I needed strategies to mitigate the trauma from my exposure.

The obvious and boring ones I deployed with mixed success were eating and sleeping well, exercising and not using alcohol as a coping strategy.

I worked on drawing boundaries around when I would answer calls and respond to texts and tried to clearly separate work and home time, although this wasn't always possible.

Kyle and I shared the load when it came to limiting our exposure to traumatic material.

There were things I found I simply could not watch or read.

Sometimes there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what I would find triggering.

We tried to work on different content during set time periods with breaks in between.

There would be something wrong with us if we weren't moved and upset by what we were seeing.

But the lesson I learned is that there's no way to not be profoundly affected by horrendous material.

What kept us going was the determination of the women who wanted to tell their stories.

Authorities often say that they are powerless to act in these matters without people being willing to come forward and to speak up.

When we set out to discover what was going on for this story we found something different.

We had to make sure we were ready and able to listen.

If you have more information contact the AFP on 131AFP (131 237) or email NOSSC-Client-Liaison@afp.gov.au

If you are a victim of trafficking or know someone who is contact the AFP on 131AFP (131237) or email NOSSC-Client-Liaison@afp.gov.au

https://forms.afp.gov.au/online_forms/human_trafficking_form

You can also contact the Red Cross Support for Trafficked People Program on 03 9345 1800

https://www.redcross.org.au/get-help/help-for-migrants-in-transition/trafficked-people

https://www.abc.net.au/news/backstory/2021-04-18/abc-four-corners-alleged-sex-slave-cult-vicarious-trauma/13303834

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 1:11 a.m. No.13452629 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

>>13452610

Escaping a sex cult: How Australian women were enslaved in plain sight | Four Corners

ABC News In-depth

15 Mar 2021

Warning: This story contains descriptions of extreme violence and sexual abuse that may disturb some readers.

On an isolated property in regional Australia, a sex slave cult has been operating in plain sight.

A five-month long investigation by Four Corners has found the man running it has a long history of physically and sexually abusing women.

James Davis was living with six women he called his slaves until he was arrested and charged with slavery offences by the Australian Federal Police last week.

Now, women are speaking out in a bid to help them and encourage others to come forward.

Sexual assault support services:

1800 Respect national helpline: 1800 737 732

Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114

Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

https://www.1800respect.org.au

https://www.lifeline.org.au

https://www.beyondblue.org.au

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFn3YRQ-puI

The Great Awakening & The Keystone

https://www.bitchute.com/video/sBAXKojzLgA9/

GuidoFawkes Tweet

As you lay asleep in your bed remember there are children who are being tortured and killed for their blood. I am sorry if this upsets you! Honestly I am not sorry! Wake Up you sheep and become Lions! The War is real! The time is Now!

https://twitter.com/GuidoFawkes1976/status/1383689258695729161

—

Q Post #4908

Oct 21 2020 13:41:31 (EST)

Sometimes you can't TELL the public the truth.

YOU MUST SHOW THEM.

ONLY THEN WILL PEOPLE FIND THE WILL TO CHANGE.

Crimes against children unite all humanity [cross party lines]?

Difficult truths.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4908

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 11:32 p.m. No.13459798 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8522 >>1295

>>13459791

Lin Wood OK conference

Roadrunner Girl

19 Apr 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElW1wXGnh1Q

>4:31

Dutton pulls rank on ADF medal ban

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 19, 2021

1/2

Australia’s special forces veterans who served in Afghanistan will retain their Meritorious Unit Citations unless convicted of war crimes or sacked for poor conduct.

Peter Dutton, in his first major public decision in the Defence portfolio, will officially overrule Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell’s decision to strip the citations from more than 3000 special forces soldiers as a “collective punishment” for the alleged crimes uncovered by the Brereton inquiry.

Mr Dutton will announce the move on Monday – just a week out from Anzac Day – declaring “99 per cent of our ADF personnel serve, and have served, our country with distinction”.

Mr Dutton told The Australian the nation would remember the original Anzacs on April 25, “but my focus will be on those who have returned from recent conflicts”.

“We honour these young men and women and they will be wearing their unit citation medal with pride,” he said.

“Almost 40,000 honoured our country with their service in Afghanistan and Iraq and I couldn’t be more proud of their sacrifice. We honour them and their loved ones this Anzac Day.”

In a show of support, Mr Dutton will visit the Special Air Service Regiment – the unit at the centre of the war crimes allegations – at Perth’s Campbell Barracks on Monday afternoon. His ruling will mean soldiers will retain their unit citations unless they are found guilty of a war crime, are sacked as an accessory to an alleged crime, or dismissed for failing to uphold army standards.

The SASR’s 2 Squadron, which was linked to the majority of the alleged war crimes, was abolished earlier this year on the CDF’s orders. But Scott Morrison put General Campbell’s revocation of the unit citation on hold after an outpouring of anger from veterans and their families.

In one case, the father of a commando killed by a Taliban rocket attack said if the CDF wanted to take his son’s service award, he could “collect it himself from my son’s gravestone”.

Mr Dutton’s decision follows a distressing week for some veterans with the decision to withdraw Australia’s remaining troops from Afghanistan along with those of the US, amid fears the pullout could pave the way for a Taliban takeover.

The Meritorious Unit Citation was awarded to special forces soldiers for “sustained and outstanding warlike operational service in Afghanistan from 30 April, 2007 to 31 December, 2013, through the conduct of counter-insurgency operations in support of the International Security Assistance Force”. General Campbell accepted Justice Brereton’s recommendation in November that the citations be revoked, declaring “units live and fight as a team”.

However, he faced immediate pushback from veterans and politicians alike.

A petition to overturn the decision attracted more than 50,000 supporters, while the Prime Minister made it clear he was unhappy with the decision.

(continued)

>>13459865

2/2

Lawyer and former RSL NSW president Glenn Kolomeitz, who was attached to the special operations taskforce in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, described the move at the time as a “knee-jerk reaction by those who are supposed to be strategic leaders”.

“I’m happy to hand mine in as long as the senior leadership – who all got distinguished service medals for their leadership – hand back their awards,” he said.

Justice Brereton’s report for the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force found up to 25 special forces soldiers were involved in the alleged murders of at least 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners, recommending charges be pursued against 19 of them.

Mr Morrison said the government would ensure the actions of a small number of soldiers facing war crimes allegations “do not reflect on the many thousands of others who serve today and who have served before”. “That is how we deal with these issues in Australia … according to the rule of law, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and in accordance with the administrative processes that operate within the Defence Force.”

Chief of Army Rick Burr told a Senate estimates hearing last month 17 Defence personnel had been issued “show cause” notices asking why they shouldn’t be sacked in relation to the Brereton report findings. Eight had since been dismissed, he said. A further “show cause” notice was issued last week to an army colonel after a pixelated photo was published by Nine newspapers showing him partying with junior soldiers in an unauthorised on-base bar in Afghanistan.

The now-colonel, who was due to take up a key position overseeing cultural reform within Special Operations Command, is understood to be considering his options.

Lieutenant General Burr will tell a symposium in Brisbane on Monday that “good character and sound ethical grounding” are vital aspects of “good soldiering”.

“We create strong teams who actively include others and bring people together to be effective and achieve their mission,” he will tell the event.

If you are a current or former ADF member, or a relative, and need counselling or support, contact the Defence All-Hours Support Line on 1800 628 036 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046

https://www1.defence.gov.au/adf-members-families/health-well-being/services-support-fighting-fit/need-help-now/all-hours-support-line

https://www.openarms.gov.au

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dutton-pulls-rank-on-adf-medal-ban/news-story/1fd405366965a34d73dedaf94aaab58e

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 18, 2021, 11:50 p.m. No.13459872 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5268 >>1263

>>13459865

Peter Dutton and PM 'strongly of the same view' on citation stripping reversal

Sky News Australia

19 Apr 2021

Defence Minister Peter Dutton says he and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are “strongly of the same view” when it comes to overruling a decision to strip soldiers who served in Afghanistan of their unit citations.

“The prime minister very strongly supports this position,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.

The ruling will mean only individuals who are dismissed for failing to uphold standards or are found guilty of a war crime will be disciplined.

Three thousand special forces soldiers were set to be have their citations removed as collective punishment for alleged crimes uncovered by the Brereton Inquiry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf9Vl8FEyQw

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 1:16 a.m. No.13460103 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1263

Government announces royal commission into veteran and serving Defence member suicides

abc.net.au - 19 April 2021

A royal commission into veteran and serving Defence personnel suicides has been announced, after the government relented to pressure to support the broad-ranging and powerful inquiry.

In March, a motion passed both chambers of Parliament supporting the creation of the royal commission.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not oppose the motion, the government previously said it wanted to look into the issue through its plan to establish a permanent national commissioner for veteran suicides.

Announcing the royal commission today, Mr Morrison said he hoped the commission would be a "healing process".

"The royal commission will have a mandate to examine the systemic issues and any common themes and past deaths by suicide of Australian Defence Force members and veterans," he said.

"[It will examine] the experience of members and veterans who may continue to be at risk of suicide.

"And it will examine all aspects of service in the Australian Defence Force and the experience of those transitioning from active service."

Mr Morrison said the royal commission would look at past confirmed and suspected suicides.

"Given the sensitive and personal nature of the issues that witnesses may face, the royal commission will be authorised to hold private sessions," he said.

"The inquiry will not be about making findings of civil or criminal wrongdoing."

In February last year, Mr Morrison announced a plan to create a permanent National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention.

At that time there were more than 400 known veteran suicide cases dating back to 2001, but that figure has soared over the past 12 months.

By comparison, 41 Australian defence personnel have died during the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Despite introducing the legislation to establish the National Commissioner last year, it has stalled in the Senate.

The PM said the royal commission would work alongside the National Commissioner, who he hoped would have a "forward-looking role" and would implement any recommendations from the inquiry.

The announcement comes after sustained lobbying by family members of veterans who have taken their own lives, including Julie-Ann Finney.

Ms Finney's son, David, was a petty officer in the Royal Australian Navy.

He took his own life in February 2019 after being medically discharged, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, in 2017.

Ms Finney said she welcomed the announcement, saying it was a "long time coming".

"Finally, the voices of veterans will be heard. Finally, families can stand up and share their stories," she said.

"Today is about veterans. The veterans fighting every day to make it through to the next.

"The veterans who we have lost too soon, who live on in too many broken hearts."

When asked why it had taken the government so long to support a commission, Mr Morrison said he was "just seeking to get things done".

"I'm pragmatic to get the right outcomes for veterans," he said.

Shadow Defence Minister Brendan O'Connor supported the announcement, saying the government's National Commissioner plan was always "flawed".

"We are glad to see the government has made a decision but it does seem it has done so begrudgingly, belatedly and because of the pressure that has been brought to bear upon them by the veterans community [and] the veterans' families," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-19/australian-veteran-suicide-government-announces-royal-commission/100078292

Former Australian prime minister puts Rupert Murdoch on blast

CNN

19 Apr 2021

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks to CNN's Brian Stelter about Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born American media mogul whose global empire includes Fox News.

#CNN #News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P7RkWpS1Wc

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 1:52 a.m. No.13460202 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1268

>>13460196

George Papadopoulos Tweet

Very interesting that the former Australian PM has reared his head again. His governments conduct is reportedly under investigation by John Durham’s team, and Senator Graham called out the Australian ambassador in the US for Alexander Downer’s dubious role in obamagate

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1383973257364180995

—

Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org @froomkin

The former Australian PM told @brianstelter earlier today that the Murdoch media empire no longer operates as a conventional news operation. They have "created a market for crazy”.

Agree.

https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1383914484373155842

—

Malcolm Turnbull @TurnbullMalcolm

It isn’t any longer a matter of right or left leaning media. The problem is media, like Murdoch’s, which are propaganda, that make stuff up, run vendettas, promote conspiracy theories and deny science.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1383912020177604623

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 1:55 a.m. No.13460205 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1239

>>13460196

Greg Kelly Tweet

SO @TurnbullMalcolm doesn’t KNOW anything about what happened in the Nov. election. Malcolm, real quick: describe for us the constitutional issues surrounding Absentee voting in Pennsylvania, esp regarding the State Constitution. DON’T LOOK IT UP, just SPEW (like u did on CNN)

https://twitter.com/gregkellyusa/status/1383956803667460105

—

Malcolm Turnbull @TurnbullMalcolm

Replying to @gregkellyusa

There are Courts to do that. And they did. But here's the thing: a democracy should ensure that every adult eligible to vote is on the roll and is encouraged to vote. And to that end make it easy for people to vote - including by mail - not throw obstacles in their way.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1383994150077419520

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 2:07 a.m. No.13460224 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

Prince Andrew offered $7 million to take Epstein lie detector test

Emily Smith - April 18, 2021

Britain’s Prince Andrew is being offered millions to come to the US and take a public polygraph test about his relationship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Investigative journalist Ian Halperin is offering £5 million pounds (or roughly $7 million US dollars) to Andrew “to come clean and take a polygraph test with a world-leading polygraph examiner,” he tells Page Six.

Halperin wants to quiz Andrew, 61, about claims from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who says she was brought from the US to Britain at age 17 to have sex with the Prince in 2001.

In an interview with The BBC’s “Newsnight,” Giuffre said of Andrew, the Duke of York, “I knew I had to keep him happy, because it’s what Jeffrey and Ghislaine [Maxwell, Epstein’s then-girlfriend] would expect from me.”

Halperin alleged in his latest book, “Controversy: Sex, Lies, Dirty Money,” that the British royals deliberately threw the media glare on Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry to divert from Andrew’s links to Epstein.

Halperin explained to Page Six of his lucrative offer to Andrew — who despite not having worked in a while doesn’t appear to need the money: “I am giving Andrew a chance to finally clear his name.

“I am offering 5 million pounds to Prince Andrew to come clean and take a polygraph test with a world-leading polygraph examiner.

“If he passes, my investment group will hand him over £5 million pounds.”

Halperin insists he has the cash and alleged, “I’m part of a global investment group to stop child sex trafficking.”

Halperin’s book had alleged Andrew was a “sex addict” and a “daring lover,” according to women who claim they were intimate with the British royal after being introduced by Epstein.

Halperin said, “One of Andrew’s ex-lovers said he had a sex addiction because he was always second to Prince Charles … He compared his relationship with his brother … to William and Harry.

“William is looked at as royal material, just like Charles, whereas he and Harry were the bad boys … This led to his playboy lifestyle. He wasn’t getting attention; it made him feel special to get these beautiful women in his bed.”

Halperin has said he uncovered no evidence that Andrew — who has strongly denied allegations that he slept with Giuffre — had sex with underage women, but “there is no doubt that Epstein provided girls to Andrew, and that was the reason they were friends.”

In late 2019, Prince Andrew issued a public statement saying he would be willing to help American law enforcement with their investigation into allegations of sex trafficking by Epstein and his associates.

FBI agents and federal prosecutors in New York reached out to his lawyers and asked to interview him, but there was no response.

Then in January 2020, the United States attorney in Manhattan publicly called out the Prince for breaking his commitment.

“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” prosecutor Geoffrey S. Berman said.

A spokesperson for Prince Andrew did not immediately get back to us.

https://pagesix.com/2021/04/18/prince-andrew-offered-7m-to-take-epstein-lie-detector-test/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 2:32 a.m. No.13460274 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Moreton Bay man charged with child abuse material offences

A man from Queensland’s Moreton Bay who allegedly sent a photograph of a naked boy to someone online and discussed abusing the child is expected to face Caboolture Magistrates Court today (19 April 2021).

The 29-year-old Morayfield man was arrested by the Brisbane Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) on 15 April 2021 and charged with four offences, after police allegedly found child abuse material and records of a sexually explicit chat on his mobile phone.

The investigation was launched after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States about an online user uploading child abuse material to the Kik Messenger platform.

Brisbane JACET, which consists of officers from the AFP and Queensland Police, allegedly identified the 29-year-old man as the person using the account.

Police arrested the man at a shopping centre and allegedly found child abuse material on his mobile phone.

During a search of his home it will be alleged child abuse material was located on a second mobile phone.

The man was refused police bail and has been charged with:

• One count of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, contrary to section 474.22 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth);

• Two counts of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth);

• One count of making child exploitation material, contrary to section 228B of the Criminal Code 1899 (QLD).

The maximum penalty for these offences range from 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment.

AFP Detective Superintendent Child Protection Operations Paula Hudson said the AFP works with partners across Australia and around the world to keep a watch online to protect children.

“It takes a network to break a network, which is why these national and international partnerships are so vital to the work of the AFP in stopping child exploitation and sexual abuse,” she said.

Members of the public who have any information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.

You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button.

http://www.accce.gov.au/report

If you or someone you know are impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation there are support services available, visit the ACCCE to learn more.

https://www.accce.gov.au/support

Note to media:

USE OF TERM ‘CHILD ABUSE’ MATERIAL NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase "child pornography" is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.

Editor’s note: Vision from this arrest is available via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/space/oJmpSjKdoL

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/moreton-bay-man-charged-child-abuse-material-offences

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 2:34 a.m. No.13460278 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Gold Coast man to face court over allegedly possessing child abuse material and child-like sex doll

A 43-year-old Gold Coast man is due to appear in court today (19 April 2021) to face child exploitation offences following an Australian Federal Police (AFP) child protection investigation.

Officers from the Brisbane Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) executed a search warrant at an address in Southport on the Gold Coast on 19 March 2021, after receiving a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States.

The report indicated a person, believed to be in Queensland, was uploading child abuse material using a Google account.

During the search of a Southport unit officers located two mobile phones and two external hard drives allegedly containing child abuse material, as well as a child-like sex doll.

The man was arrested and ordered to appear before court to face three counts of possessing child abuse material and one count each of using a carriage service to access child pornography, making child exploitation material, possessing a child like sex doll and bestiality.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years imprisonment.

He is due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court today.

AFP Detective Superintendent Child Protection Operations Paula Hudson said the AFP sees a wide spectrum of child exploitation offences before court and this is a timely reminder that child-like sex dolls and child abuse material could desensitise anyone who used them to the physical, emotional and psychological harm caused by sexual abuse.

“These dolls are not harmless and the AFP will investigate any activity that reinforces or represents the sexual abuse of children,” Detective Superintendent Hudson said.

“This includes sexual gratification using items depicting children, which is why these dolls are legally considered to be a form of child exploitation material.

“This arrest highlights the continuing collaborative work undertaken by the AFP and its partners to protect children and identify and prosecute anyone who seeks to exploit and harm them.”

Members of the public who have any information about this network or people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button.

https://www.accce.gov.au/report

Note to media:

USE OF TERM ‘CHILD ABUSE’ MATERIAL NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase "child pornography" is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.

Editor's Note: Images related to this investigation are available via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/space/SbMGKVwGRR/files

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/gold-coast-man-face-court-over-allegedly-possessing-child-abuse-material

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 2:45 a.m. No.13460303 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

Do allies still have strong trust in US security commitment?

Tian Jingling - Apr 18, 2021

"Why is Australia building missiles? Because America might hoard all its missiles for itself." This was the title of an article published by Forbes on April 14. "If there is one lesson that nations have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's this: If you don't make a product, then you have to depend on others to make it for you," the author said, adding that "If nations can hoard vaccines, they can also hoard missiles." By hoarding vaccines, Washington has raised allies' doubts against its security commitments.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on March 31 that the country would begin building its own missiles in close collaboration with Washington. This included potential commercial partners, such as large US weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

During the four years of the Trump administration, the US was constantly weakening its alliance system. This being the case, US allies are not sure whether or not the US would still be a reliable ally in emergency situations such as wars. To some extent, US allies have lost their trust in US' security commitments.

Due to the "America First" policy, US allies may have wanted to improve their strategic autonomy and their own defense capabilities. However, the US has many allies, who still rely heavily on the US as a security umbrella. Not all of them have the ability to develop defense capabilities on their own.

Take Australia. It will rely on US companies in building missiles because there is a large technological gap between Australia and the US. Technology is the most critical part of building missiles. Therefore, Australia will heavily depend on the US during their cooperation.

US allies are in a state of unequal strength in their security alliance with Washington. For example, according to an Associated Press report in March, it has been decades since Australia last manufactured advanced missiles. It currently relies on importing them from allies, including the US. In fact, it is very difficult for US allies to rid themselves on dependency from Washington. They are also very unlikely to have their own security policies or autonomy with weapons or equipment.

US allies depend on US' shelter in order to maintain their own security. Some observers in Australia said that Canberra develops its own missiles to cope with the so-called China threat and an ever more unstable situation in the Indo-Pacific region. But when US allies have their own independent security policies, it could become a variable for stability in the region. More importantly, the US will not allow its allies to have their own autonomy - all of the US maneuvers are aimed at serving its alliance system as well as its global hegemonic status.

In February, a report by a task force from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs argued that "fraying American alliances and a rapidly changing security environment have begun to call into question the continued America's nuclear security guarantees and threaten the long-term viability of the 50-year-old nuclear nonproliferation regime." Washington's leadership role and US allies' confidence toward the US security commitment did not fall in one day. They were gradually eroded by the "America First" doctrine and many moves of the Trump administration.

The US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, combined with its inconsistent behaviors, has had a major impact. US' previous positive reputation will not resume with Biden taking office. The US will find it hard to restore its leadership role and rebuild the confidence of its allies. Time is needed as the US fulfills its promises to the international community and its allies under a multilateral world, and as it takes on the responsibility as a major power.

The author is a deputy director of South Pacific Research Study, Institute of Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221364.shtml

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2021/04/14/why-is-australia-building-missiles-because-america-might-hoard-missiles-for-itself/

New Zealand 'uncomfortable with expanding the remit' of Five Eyes, says Foreign Minister

Stephen Dziedzic - 19 April 2021

New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, has sent a clear signal that the country will chart a more independent foreign policy, directly criticising efforts to pressure China through the Five Eyes intelligence sharing group.

The comments are likely to further inflame tensions in New Zealand's relationship with Australia, which believes the Ardern government is undermining collective attempts to push back against increasingly aggressive behaviour from Beijing.

The Five Eyes group – which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – was originally formed as an intelligence sharing network but has expanded its scope in the past few years.

Ms Mahuta today said the group should focus on intelligence.

"That's a matter we have raised with Five Eyes partners. We are uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes relationship," she said.

"We would much rather prefer to look for multilateral opportunities to express our interests on a number of issues."

The comments come only days before Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne visits New Zealand for formal talks with Ms Mahuta and New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

Beijing has responded furiously to recent joint statements from the Five Eyes group criticising crackdowns on Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and threatened reprisals.

In the last six months New Zealand has joined many of those statements, but has been conspicuously absent from some.

Tensions have also flared between Australia and New Zealand over how to handle Beijing, although most of the frustrations have been kept behind closed doors.

Earlier this year New Zealand's Trade Minister, Damien O'Connor, irritated Australian ministers and officials after suggesting that the Morrison government should show China more "respect" in order to avoid campaigns of economic punishment.

Ms Mahuta has not held back from criticising China — including over its treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang – since taking over the role.

But the Foreign Minister said Five Eyes had a "specific purpose" and New Zealand would issue its own statements – or look to "other partners" in the region – when it wanted to lay out its position.

"New Zealand has been very clear, certainly in this term since we've held the portfolio, not to invoke the Five Eyes as the first point of contact on messaging out on a range of issues," she said.

"They really exist outside of the remit of the Five Eyes. We don't favour that type of approach and have expressed that to Five Eyes partners."

The Foreign Minister's comments also cast doubt on moves to expand the diplomatic architecture of Five Eyes.

In recent years ministers from all five countries across several different portfolios – including defence, treasury and foreign affairs – have held Five Eyes meetings.

Minister outlines new approach to China

Ms Mahuta made the comments after giving a major speech designed to reframe New Zealand's approach to its relationship with China.

She said New Zealand wanted to diversify its exports in order to reduce its dependence on China, saying "in terms of thinking about long-term economic resilience … there is value in diversity".

"Resting our trade relationship on just one country, long term, is probably not the way we should be thinking about things," she said.

She said New Zealand wanted mutually respectful ties with China, comparing the relationship to a "dragon and taniwha", in reference to a water-dwelling serpent in Maori mythology.

The Foreign Minister stressed the two countries would not always agree, but needed to deal with each other fairly and honestly.

"There are some things on which New Zealand and China do not, cannot, and will not, agree," Ms Mahuta said.

"It is important to acknowledge this, and to stay true to ourselves, as we seek to manage our disagreements mindful that tikanga [culture, values or customs] or underpinning how we relate to each other must be respected."

She also issued a thinly veiled warning about rising debt levels in the Pacific, although she did not single out China.

"It's no secret there's a significant level of economic vulnerability across the Pacific," she said.

"New Zealand certainty invests in the Pacific … by way of grants, not loans."

"If we're really focused on regional stability and opportunity we need to tackle this particular challenge. I hope that conversation can take place with those who seek to invest in the region."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-19/new-zealand-five-eyes-intelligence-sharing-china-australia/100078834

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 3:17 a.m. No.13460336 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

1st MAW Marines Tweet

A UH-1Y Venom assigned to @MrfDarwin arrives after conducting an air movement from East Arm Wharf to Royal Australian Air Force Base, Darwin, NT, Australia. VMM-363 and HMLA-367 joined MRF-D and are prepared to respond to crisis and contingencies in a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific

https://twitter.com/1stMAW_Marines/status/1383372289006206983

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 11:21 a.m. No.13462856 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2866 >>1245

Feeding Hate With Video: A Former Alt-Right YouTuber Explains His Methods

Focus on conflict. Feed the algorithm. Make sure whatever you produce reinforces a narrative. Don’t worry if it is true.

Cade Metz - April 15, 2021

1/3

In 2018, a far-right activist, Tommy Robinson, posted a video to YouTube claiming he had been attacked by an African migrant in Rome.

The thumbnail image and eight-word title promoting the video indicated Mr. Robinson was assaulted by a Black man outside a train station. Then, in the video, Mr. Robinson punched the man in the jaw, dropping him to the ground.

The video was viewed more than 2.8 million times, and it prompted news stories across the right-wing tabloids in Britain, where Mr. Robinson was rapidly gaining notoriety for his anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic views.

For Caolan Robertson — a filmmaker who worked for Mr. Robinson and helped create the video — it was an instructional moment. It showed the key ingredients needed to attract attention on YouTube and other social media services.

The video played into anti-immigrant sentiments in Britain and across Europe. It also focused squarely on conflict, cutting rapidly between shouts and shoves before showing Mr. Robinson’s punch. It also misrepresented what had actually happened.

“We would choose the most dramatic moment — or fake it and make it look more dramatic,” Mr. Robertson, 25, said in a recent interview. “We realized that if we wanted a future on YouTube, it had to be driven by confrontation. Every time we did that kind of thing, it would explode well beyond anything else.”

Mr. Robertson would go on to produce videos for a who’s who of right-wing YouTube personalities on both sides of the Atlantic, including Lauren Southern, Stefan Molyneux and Alex Jones.

The videos were tailored for the “echo chamber” that is often created by social media networks like YouTube. To keep you watching, YouTube serves up videos similar to those you have watched before. But the longer someone watches, the more extreme the videos can become.

“It can create these very radical people who are like gurus,” said Guillaume Chaslot, a former YouTube engineer who has been critical of the way the company’s algorithms pushed people to extreme content. “In terms of watch time, a guru is wonderful.”

Tech companies, regulators and individuals across the globe are struggling to understand and control the enormous power of YouTube and other social media services. In 2019, YouTube made “important changes to how we recommend videos and prevent the spread of misinformation and hateful content,” Farshad Shadloo, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement. It barred Mr. Molyneaux and Mr. Jones. But extreme videos continue to spread.

In time, Mr. Robertson said, he realized that the videos he worked on stoked dangerous hatred. And in 2019, at a conference in Britain run by a left-wing newspaper, The Byline Times, Mr. Robertson distanced himself from his work with the far right. His change of heart was met with some skepticism.

“He was presented as a prodigal son,” said Louise Raw, an antifascist activist who was onstage for Mr. Robertson’s mea culpa. “But he has not been held to account.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 19, 2021, 11:22 a.m. No.13462866 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2873

>>13462856

2/3

Now, Mr. Robertson is detailing the ways he and his collaborators searched for confrontations to gain popularity on YouTube.

Efforts to contact Mr. Robinson were unsuccessful, and Mr. Jones did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Ms. Southern said she should not be described as a far-right activist, saying she is merely a conservative. She was not involved in “some horrible far-right grift that tried to deceive people into watching our content,” she added. “We were just doing what any other YouTuber does.”

Raw footage of the episode in Rome, provided by Mr. Robertson and reviewed by The New York Times, shows that the YouTube video was edited to give the false impression that Mr. Robinson was threatened. The full footage shows he was the aggressor.

When the man noticed he was being filmed from across the street, he approached the camera, and Mr. Robinson shoved him into an oncoming car. As the man protested, called Mr. Robinson crazy and told him to live his own life, Mr. Robinson escalated the argument.

“There’s one way this is going to go,” he told the man. “You’re going to end up knocked down unconscious.”

Over the more than two years he helped produce and publish videos for Mr. Robinson and others, Mr. Robertson learned how making clever edits and focusing on confrontation could help draw millions of views on YouTube and other services. He also learned how YouTube’s recommendation algorithm often nudged people toward extreme videos.

“It meant that we did more and more extreme videos,” Mr. Robertson said.

Mr. Robertson grew up in Ireland, and after his parents divorced, he moved with his father to a predominantly working-class area in the north of England. Realizing from a very young age that he is gay, he often felt like an outsider. But he said he encountered more overt homophobia when he moved to London for college and walked through the largely Muslim neighborhoods at the East End of the city.

After the 2016 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. — where a Muslim man pledging loyalty to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 more — Mr. Robertson developed an extreme animosity toward Muslims, particularly immigrants. His anger was fueled in large part, he said, by videos he watched on YouTube.

He began watching videos from mainstream outlets, like an episode of the HBO show “Real Time With Bill Maher” in which Sam Harris, an author and a podcast host, advocated greater criticism of Muslim beliefs. YouTube’s recommendation algorithm suggested more-extreme videos involving personalities like Mr. Robinson, a former member of the neo-fascist and white nationalist British National Party who was born Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

In 2017, Mr. Robertson contacted Mr. Robinson and soon began working with him as a video producer. By the end of the year, he was also collaborating with Ms. Southern, an activist from Canada.

Knowing what garnered the most attention on YouTube, Mr. Robertson said, he and Ms. Southern would devise public appearances meant to generate conflict. That December, they attended a women’s march in London and, with Ms. Southern playing the part of a television reporter, approached each woman with the same four-word question: “Women’s rights or Islam?”

They often received a confused, measured or polite response, according to Mr. Robertson. They continued to ask the question and sharpened it. Ms. Southern, for example, said it would be difficult for Muslim women to answer the question because their husbands wouldn’t let them attend the march. That caused anger to build in the crowd.

“It appears in the videos that we are just trying to figure out what is going on, gather information, understand people,” Mr. Robertson said. “But really, we were trying to find the most incendiary way of making them mad.”

(continued)

>>13462866

3/3

The thumbnail image for the YouTube video was indicative of a confrontation: a woman screaming as Ms. Southern walked away. As he often did, Mr. Robertson sharpened the video’s visual contrast — lightening the white colors and darkening the blacks — to subtly make the scene seem more dramatic.

Ms. Southern described the situation differently. “We asked the question because we knew it was going to force people to question their own political views and realize the contradiction in being a hard-core feminist but also supporting a religion that, quite frankly, has questionable practices around women,” she said. And, she added, they used video techniques that any media company would use.

The next year, Mr. Robertson and Ms. Southern traveled as far as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to create similar videos. Over the lifetime of Ms. Southern’s YouTube channel, according to channel statistics reviewed by The Times, her videos were viewed over 63 million times.

More than 71 percent of people who viewed these videos had not subscribed to her YouTube channel. In 2018, at the height of her popularity, at least 30 percent of the views occurred after the videos were automatically recommended to the viewer by YouTube’s algorithms.

Mr. Molyneux shied away from the kind of conflict that Ms. Southern embraced. He fashioned himself as an online philosopher. But the material Mr. Robertson edited slipped in “far-right ideas that appealed to the ethnonationalists — the extreme right-wing audience,” he said.

In 2018, the pair traveled to Poland for a video that painted the country as a place free of hardship and strife. The subtext was that it was because Poland is predominantly white. In an email to The Times, Mr. Molyneux said, “It was nice being in a country wherein I didn’t have to hire protective security.” He added that he felt the same way when he visited Hong Kong.

By early 2019, Mr. Robertson said, he grew disillusioned. There was a noticeable drop in traffic on Ms. Southern’s YouTube channel. Around the same time, YouTube began to remove more videos the company thought encouraged violence and spread misinformation.

After an Australian man killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand — driven in part by anti-immigrant beliefs propagated by YouTube — Mr. Robertson realized, he said, that the videos he had made led to the same kind of violence in the Orlando nightclub in 2016.

“I felt like I had gone full circle that day,” he said.

Now, Mr. Robertson oversees Byline TV, a video offshoot of The Byline Times. He also runs a new organization, Future Freedom, which seeks to de-radicalize right-wing extremists. He is still counting YouTube views.

Mr. Robertson recently boasted in a text that in one day a video targeting Mr. Jones, the conspiracy theorist he once worked with, had been viewed over 250,000 times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/technology/alt-right-youtube-algorithm.html

It Is Payback Time For The Cabal

Benjamin Fulford 4/19/2021

The battle for Planet Earth is reaching an inflection point. We can report from high-level sources the Khazarian Mafia has reached out and is trying to negotiate a transfer of power (see further down for details).

However, sources ranging from the CIA, MI6, Asian secret societies, the FSB, the Pentagon, etc. all agree it is time to stop reacting and start acting. We need to keep up the attack on all fronts until we actually see a surrender followed by a multi-trillion-dollar campaign to fix the planet.

We have heard this surrender talk before and it always turns out to be a way to buy time until some horrible new incident takes place. For example, the Cabal has been repeatedly threatening recently to blow up the Three Gorges Dam in China. This would devastate the 350 million people living downstream. https://www.quora.com/What-would-the-effects-be-if-the-Three-Gorges-Dam-were-to-collapse

It would also result in retaliation in the form of blowing up the Island of La Palma and hitting the U.S. East Coast with a 600 mile per hour 100-meter tsunami, wiping out Florida etc. https://websites.pmc.ucsc.edu/~ward/papers/La_Palma_grl.pdf

That is why reaching a win-win solution is a much better option than mutually assured destruction would be.

Nonetheless, we know the Khazarian Mafia plans events decades, if not longer, in advance. This means now that their Plandemic fear campaign is losing steam, they have something else planned.

On this front, we took note of the Turkish TV broadcast about why the Evergreen ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal at the same time as an Evergreen truck blocked China’s main highway. They claim it was to stop a major and long-planned “global warming,” environmental disaster event. This rings true and we hope the TV broadcast is right and the planned disaster has been stopped. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80l09q

There is also more and more evidence of UFOs and aliens being put out on the corporate propaganda media. https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/04/18/stunning-pentagon-releases-slam-dunk-ufo-video-admits-withholding-far-more-compelling-images/

This may well mean their “invasion by little green men,” campaign, which they have been working on at least since the 1930’s, may soon be brought to a “news” screen near you. Keep an eye in the sky for holograms too.

The rollout of these campaigns is actually a sign of Khazarian Mafia desperation.

Remember how the Romanian dictator Ceausescu kept ramping up oppression until he ended up before a firing squad? The same thing appears to be happening in Canada now. When Ontario Premier Doug Ford called last week for a totalitarian lockdown, using the fake pandemic as an excuse, 39 out of 45 Ontario police stations refused to go along. https://thepostmillennial.com/ontario-government-backpedals-on-extraordinary-police-powers-that-would-have-allowed-police-to-randomly-stop-and-question-people-for-being-outdoors

It should not be long now before the fratricidal Manchurian candidate Justin Castro and his Khazarian Mafia lackeys face their own equivalent of a firing squad.

In the U.S., meanwhile, the coup d’etat that removed democratically elected President Donald Trump is imploding.

Our CIA sources confirm that Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has been overthrown and Marine Corps Gen. David Berger has assumed command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.The new command needs to coordinate with their Canadian counterparts to liberate North America. The shared principles of Democracy, rule of law, division of powers, and meritocracy should be the glue that unites the soon-to-be-born United States of North America. https://realrawnews.com/2021/04/biden-denied-entry-to-pentagon/

We are also now finding out the coup in the U.S. was carried out by members of the same team that helped collapse the Soviet Union and they used similar methods: combining bribery and murder, the CIA sources say. In particular, the Rockefeller crime family and their Fortune 500 lackeys offered $12 trillion in bribes to…

Sauce: https://benjaminfulford.net/2021/04/19/it-is-payback-time-for-the-cabal/

China and Russia 'weaponised' QAnon conspiracy around time of US Capitol attack, report says

CNN / 9news.com.au - Apr 20, 2021

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Foreign adversaries such as Russia and China "weaponised" QAnon messaging to sow further discord among the American population in the months leading up to, and following, the January 6 Capitol attack, according to a new report.

The document released on Monday suggests how these countries are not only utilising the same false narratives to peddle disinformation on social media, but also fuelling a conspiracy theory that could incite more violence by domestic extremists.

The findings, which are detailed in a report produced by the Soufan Centre, suggest "that foreign states are utilising the QAnon conspiracy theory to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes," the independent non-profit group, which is focused on global security, said.

US officials are keenly aware that state-backed actors from countries like Russia have been amplifying QAnon messaging and federal agencies are investigating that foreign nexus as part of a broader effort to address the threat posed by domestic extremists in the wake of January 6, multiple sources told CNN.

FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated last week that the bureau is not looking into the QAnon movement "in its own right" but tracking how foreign actors are amplifying the conspiracy theory is one of the few areas US officials have been able to explore in an otherwise limited investigative effort.

Sources previously told CNN that Russia has been pushing QAnon narratives as part of its long-standing disinformation campaign targeting the US, but Monday's report reveals new evidence that China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have also engaged in similar activity as recently as this year.

"Our data collection and analysis has demonstrated that QAnon has been weaponised by America's adversaries," according to Zach Schwitzky, founder of a research company that partnered with the Soufan Centre to produce the report.

"Actors from Russia, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have all entered the fray amplifying QAnon messaging, most likely as a means to sow further discord and division among the American population."

China emerges as top foreign QAnon promoter

While the QAnon movement is widely believed to have originated within the US, the report notes that these foreign actors were incredibly active in pushing the conspiracy theory in late 2020 and during the first two months of this year."

In both 2020 and for the first two months of 2021, almost one-fifth of all QAnon posts on Facebook originated from administrators overseas," the report states.

While the report found that Russian actors were behind the majority of this activity last year, it says China emerged as "the primary foreign actor touting QAnon-narratives online" in 2021, timing that coincides with Beijing's ramp up of disinformation efforts targeting the US more broadly.

"Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran also contribute to amplifying the QAnon conspiracy theory online to reach a broader audience," the report adds.

"Such activity blurs the line between domestic and foreign disinformation, representing a significant challenge for the US government and international action."

That problem is compounded by the fact that QAnon "has the potential to incite more acts of violence in the foreseeable future," according to the report, an assessment that echoes concerns raised by officials from various federal agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and elements of the intelligence community.

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A complicated challenge

Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that former US President Donald Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities.

Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had ties to QAnon, and the conspiracy theory has made its way from online message boards into the political mainstream in recent years.

A DHS spokesperson previously told CNN that the department is working with its federal partners and those in the private sector "to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and other false narratives on social media and other online platforms that can radicalise people to violence and fuel domestic violent extremism."

During her confirmation hearing in January, President Joe Biden's Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, also committed to investigating any foreign connections to QAnon, though acknowledged that DHS and FBI are in the lead on such issues.

But Mr Wray's testimony last week before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees underscore how the FBI is largely restrained in its ability to investigate elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory despite acknowledging it poses a national security threat.

"Like a lot of other conspiracy theories, the effects of Covid, anxiety social, social isolation, financial hardship … all exacerbate people's vulnerability to those theories, and we are concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence, and where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we're going to aggressively pursue it," he told House members during last week's world wide threats hearing.

Mr Wray also noted that the FBI has arrested "at least five self-identified QAnon adherents related to the January 6 attacks specifically," acknowledging a clear link between the conspiracy theory and the insurrection.

Monday's report also notes that as of February 8, "at least 27 individuals who participated in the Capitol insurrection on 6 January 2021 were affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy."

But while court documents clearly indicate that QAnon has fuelled beliefs of defendants who took part in the insurrection, whether the conspiracy theory's origins merit criminal investigation has proved to be a difficult jump to make, and there is no indication to date that law enforcement officials are working to determine the identity of the person behind the original message or other similar anonymous social media posts that have emerged in recent years.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/qanon-conspiracy-weaponised-by-russia-and-china-capitol-violence/d005e2ba-5c9b-4152-96da-7b13aad0577f

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 12:22 a.m. No.13468290 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

>>13468267

The Soufan Center

ABOUT

The Soufan Center (TSC) is an independent non-profit center offering research, analysis, and strategic dialogue on global security challenges and foreign policy issues, with a particular focus on counterterrorism, violent extremism, armed conflict, and the rule of law. Our work is underpinned by a recognition that human rights and human security perspectives are critical to developing credible, effective, and sustainable solutions. TSC fills a niche role by producing objective and innovative reports and analyses, and fostering dynamic dialogue and exchanges, to effectively equip governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society with key resources to inform policies and practice.

OUR MISSION

The Soufan Center’s mission is to equip key stakeholders – governments, international organizations, the private sector, media, communities, and individuals – with the knowledge and resources needed to understand and address contemporary global security challenges.

OUR WORK

The Soufan Center engages in research, projects, and events across a broad spectrum of violent threats including terrorism, counterterrorism, violent extremism, disinformation, geopolitical dynamics, and armed conflict, including the impact on civil society, humanitarian action, and the rule of law. Through our daily IntelBrief, we provide focused analysis on specific global security issues. In our comprehensive Research reports, we contribute in-depth analysis and evaluate evolving challenges. With our Events, we engage diverse audiences to drive changes in policy and practice. Through our Projects, we seek to amplify voices and perspectives from the field and build capacities for more nuanced analyses of – and responses to – regional and international challenges. Working closely with a wide range of Media, we share our findings and insights on current events, risks, and responses.

OUR HISTORY

Founded in 2017 by former FBI special agent Ali Soufan, The Soufan Center is an independent, non-partisan, and registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Led by Executive Director Naureen Chowdhury Fink, our Team is strengthened by diverse professional and cultural backgrounds, including experience in human rights; international development; federal, state, and local government; international organizations; law enforcement; and the military. Each year, The Soufan Center organizes the Global Security Forum, an annual international conference to address evolving security challenges and bring together senior officials and practitioners for innovative exchanges. Through TSC Arabic, The Soufan Center ensures critical research and analysis is available to Arabic-speaking audiences in the Middle East, North Africa, and across the globe.

https://thesoufancenter.org/about

—

Quantifying The Q Conspiracy: A Data-Driven Approach to Understanding the Threat Posed by QAnon

APRIL 19, 2021

A May 2019 intelligence bulletin from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Phoenix office labeled conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorism threat for the first time. The bulletin mentioned QAnon by name specifically and described the broader movement of “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” as deserving particular attention. “Conspiracy theories promoting violence” was designated one of the most serious aspects of the domestic violent extremism threat in a recently released unclassified report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). QAnon is a far right conspiratorial movement that creates and co- opts “theories” to fit an evolving narrative underpinned by the core notion that the “Deep State,” led by a cabal of elitist pedophiles, is leading the United States. These ideas are fueled by occasional messages from an anonymous individual, known as Q.

https://thesoufancenter.org/research/quantifying-the-q-conspiracy-a-data-driven-approach-to-understanding-the-threat-posed-by-qanon/

https://thesoufancenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TSC-White-Paper_QAnon_16April2021-final-1.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 12:46 a.m. No.13468343 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8349 >>1268

George Papadopoulos Tweet

Learn all about the “five eyes.” It’s at the core of Obamagate and all the headlines moving forward that will break about it

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1384317601136865284

Washington Examiner @dcexaminer

Explainer: What is Five Eyes? washex.am/2QBX1ll

https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1384298063859093509

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 12:54 a.m. No.13468349 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8350 >>1268

>>13468343

Explainer: What is Five Eyes?

Joel Gehrke - April 19, 2021

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New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s new speech on her country’s relationship with China attracted international attention, much of which centered on her statement that New Zealand is “uncomfortable” with the idea of criticizing China under the auspices of the Five Eyes.

“New Zealand has been very clear … not to invoke the Five Eyes as the first point of contact on messaging out on a range of issues that really exist outside of the remit of the Five Eyes,” Mahuta told the New Zealand China Council. “We’ve not favored that type of approach and have expressed that to Five Eyes partners.”

Her comments give a glimpse of debates within a key network of U.S. allies about the purpose of those relationships in a moment of heightened geopolitical tensions.

What is the Five Eyes alliance?

The Five Eyes network is a bloc of English-speaking countries that share intelligence about potential threats and security issues with a high degree of candor, unusual even among allies. The agreement was signed between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1943 at the height of World War II, but it expanded, as that conflict gave way to the Cold War, to include Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The group’s geographic reach thus extends from Europe and North America to the Indo-Pacific — across several of the major dominions of the old British Empire, with the most notable exception of India.

What do the Five Eyes do?

Alliance priorities change with the history of geopolitical threats, but rapid information-sharing is central to the mission of the Five Eyes. “The parties agree to the exchange of the products of the following operations relating to foreign communications: collection of traffic, acquisition of communication documents and equipment, traffic analysis, cryptanalysis, decryption and translation, acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment,” the declassified 1946 agreement states.

The cooperation is eased by the fact that all five countries speak English and enjoy democratic systems of governance. “The Five Eyes is the closest intel-sharing relationship group that exists,” said former Senate Intelligence Committee deputy staff director Emily Harding, now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Our relationship with the Brits is so close that we share a lot of stuff even before we process it.”

The fall of the Berlin Wall heralded the end of the Soviet threat, but the collapse of the World Trade Center at the hands of al Qaeda inaugurated a new mission. “Throughout its history, the Five Eyes alliance allowed its members to pool their complementary capabilities for mutual benefit,” researchers RAND wrote in 2017. “But the alliance may now be facing its greatest challenge — precisely because it no longer faces a single predominant threat.”

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Could Five Eyes membership ever change?

China’s intensifying rivalry with the U.S. could heighten the value of the network for strategists in Washington and clarify the purpose of the alliance, but Beijing also puts pressure on the bloc.

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s low-cost offer of 5G wireless technology threatened to embed communist spy agencies in the communications networks of U.S. allies around the world, but Australian officials banned the company from their 5G network in 2018, followed by New Zealand imposing a security "test" that Huawei couldn't pass in 2019. Those allied steps strengthened the argument, made by American officials, that the U.K. should also reject the company — a step British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to take in 2020.

China has made a rigorous effort to cultivate political influence in both Australia and New Zealand, but the Australian government has taken a stronger stance in response, showing a greater willingness to oppose Beijing in international fora. New Zealand’s meeker posture has alarmed some analysts, but Harding cautioned against over-interpreting diplomatic statements at the expense of understanding the intelligence cooperation underway.

“One of the things that's most valuable about the Five Eyes partnership is that we all speak the same language and we all have the general same approach to the world, but there is still some variety in the approach and the thinking in each place,” Harding said. “And the Kiwis are always pretty good about saying, ‘Well, you know, maybe that’s how you guys see things. This is how we see things.’ … A good counterbalance, making you question assumptions. Their analytical service is really quite strong.”

As China’s geopolitical ambitions take shape, the U.S. and other allies in the network will have to innovate — and perhaps even expand. Then-Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono suggested last year that Tokyo’s intelligence agencies join the bloc as a Sixth Eye, but that idea remains under debate, even as Japan works more closely with the U.S. and other democratic allies to manage potential threats from Beijing.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/explainer-what-is-five-eyes

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 1:24 a.m. No.13468385 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8388 >>1301

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Finally.’ Crews begin razing Jeffrey Epstein’s former Palm Beach house

Home of late sex-trafficker Epstein finally meets bulldozer

Darrell Hofheinz - Apr. 19, 2021

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“Finally.”

That’s the one-word comment developer Todd Michael Glaser offered as crews on Monday began knocking down the infamous Palm Beach mansion that was home to the late sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — a place where he sexually assaulted underage girls and young women in what prosecutors said was a multi-year sex-trafficking scheme.

The lakeside mansion at 358 El Brillo Way is being razed to make room for a new house to be developed on speculation by Glaser, who paid a recorded $18.5 million for the property in March.

Glaser previously told the Daily News that it would be personally satisfying to him to knock down and replace the house.

Palm Beach real estate broker Lawrence A. Moens, who represented Glaser and helped put together the sale, broke his customary rule about not commenting publicly on transactions in which he was involved.

“I only got involved in the sale of Jeffrey Epstein's residence to ensure it would be wiped off the map of Palm Beach,” Moens told the Palm Beach Daily News.

Permits were issued for the demolition late last week, Town Hall records show.

Early Monday, demolition crews from BG Group of Delray Beach used heavy equipment to began pulling down the walls of the mansion. They tore into it again and again, starting on the east side — where vines still clung to the walls, blooming with flowers that were soon crushed — and eating through the house toward the waterfront.

By noon, debris littered the ground, as broken windows pierced walls that remained standing. And still intact was much of the second-floor balcony that overlooked the water, connected to the pool patio below by a graceful spiral staircase.

The residence had stood since 1952 on an acre facing 170 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway at the end of a quiet dead-end street in the Estate Section. With a total of 14,223 square feet, the three structures being razed include the main house, a pool cabana building and a separate building used by household staff. The swimming pool also is being demolished and filled in.

Epstein hanged himself in August 2019 in a New York City jail cell after he was arrested on federal charges of conspiracy and sex-trafficking of underage girls.

Fort Lauderdale attorney Brad Edwards represents about 50 clients — in various legal actions — who say they were abused by Epstein. The demolition can be viewed in some ways as cathartic, he said.

“I think that the symbolic power of destroying the house of horrors cannot be overstated,” Edwards said. “I can imagine there is going to be some amount of relief that the nightmare of what went on at the house been buried to some degree.”

Epstein paid $2.5 million for the Palm Beach house in 1990, Palm Beach County courthouse records show. In 2011, he transferred its ownership from his name to an entity named Laurel Inc., a company registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The house was designed in West Indies-style architecture by the late John L. Volk, a prolific Palm Beach architect. Epstein extensively remodeled the house in the mid-1990s, records show.

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‘A white box’

When designer Daniel Menard of LaBerge & Menard presented the demolition request to the board in December, he said little remained of Volk’s interior detailing.

“I spoke to a person who worked on the … renovation and it appears everything was gutted. So there's nothing left — or very little — of the John Volk period. It's essentially a white box," Menard said.

The property offers views of Tarpon Island and Everglades Island, smaller islands that lie just west of the barrier island that comprises Palm Beach.

Epstein was initially booked in Florida in 2006 after police said he had sex with underage girls whom he paid for massage sessions at the Palm Beach house.

Michael Reiter — the former Palm Beach police chief who years ago led the initial investigation into the accusations against Epstein at the house on El Brillo Way — responded to a request for comment Monday:

“The former owner of this house did unmeasurable damage to the lives of countless children and was able to corrupt the legal system to the point that the courts have called it a national disgrace. While it is critical that we learn from this tragedy, it is nearly as important that we follow with doing everything possible to erase any connection of him from our community,” said Reiter, a Palm Beach resident who today runs his own security and investigative firm.

In 2008, Epstein entered a controversial plea deal that led to his conviction on two state felony counts that included solicitation of a minor. He served nearly 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail before being released for a year of probation on house arrest until August 2010.

His plea deal let him avoid harsher federal charges similar to the ones he was facing in New York when he died.

Last week, justices of the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeal issued a 7-4 ruling that said Epstein victim Courtney Wild had no legal recourse to unravel the 2008 no-prosecution agreement that stemmed from his arrest in Florida.

Epstein could have faced a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison had he been convicted on the federal charges he was facing when he died.

In July, authorities arrested Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in New Hampshire on multiple charges related to Epstein's alleged sexual abuse. She remains jailed without bail.

New house in the works

Glaser spent much of his career in real estate development, restoration and renovation in Miami-Dade County before entering the Palm Beach market about three years ago. Among his most prominent projects in Miami is the 1000 Museum condominium tower downtown.

In Palm Beach he has remodeled and sold landmarked houses, and built and sold houses on speculation.

Acting opposite Lawrence A. Moens Associates in the March sale was listing agent Kerry Warwick of the Corcoran Group, who represented the executors of Epstein’s estate.

The Architectural Commission has not yet reviewed plans for the house Glaser wants to build on the lot. But he told the Daily News last fall it would likely measure about 13,000 square feet. Any design must be signed off by the architectural board.

The Palm Beach house was among several homes Epstein owned across the country and in the Caribbean. His historic Upper East Side townhouse at 9 E. 71st St. in New York City sold in March for $51 million after being listed at $88 million, according to published reports. The townhouse sold to an ownership entity linked to retiring Goldman Sachs executive Michael D. Daffey and his wife, Blake, property records show. They plan to renovate the residence, the New York Times reported.

An independent victims’ compensation fund has been established. But in addition to victims, others are pursuing money from the Epstein estate, including creditors, according to media reports.

https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2021/04/19/work-has-begun-raze-late-jeffrey-epsteins-palm-beach-home/7073935002/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 1:45 a.m. No.13468411 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1301

Ghislaine Maxwell attorneys to 2nd Circuit: She’s no monster

LARRY NEUMEISTER - 19 April 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Defense lawyers insisted Ghislaine Maxwell is “no monster” as they asked an appeals court Monday for her release on bail so she can better prepare for trial on charges she procured girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

The lawyers told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the British socialite has not been given an adequate opportunity to prove that she would not flee if she was allowed to await trial at home under 24-hour armed guard and with collateral posted to support a $28.5 million bail.

The attorneys have thrice failed to convince a Manhattan federal judge to release their 59-year-old client. Maxwell faces an arraignment Friday on sex trafficking charges added to an indictment last month.

Her trial is set for July 12 on charges alleging she recruited and groomed teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend. Last week, her lawyers requested that the trial be delayed until next January, saying the new charges require months of investigation.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty. Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a Manhattan federal lockup as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

As they have repeatedly argued before, lawyers for Maxwell wrote that she is being punished in part because Epstein is out of reach.

“She is no monster, but she is being treated like one because of the ‘Epstein effect,’” they wrote.

The lawyers urged the 2nd Circuit to “test the actual strength” of the government case by insisting on a more thorough bail hearing where they could prove that each story told by the four people who say they were victims of Epstein and Maxwell “has dramatically changed over the years.”

“At first, none of the anonymous accusers even mentioned Ms. Maxwell. As they hired the same law firm, sought money and fame, joined a movement, and only after Epstein died, did the accusers start to point the finger at Ms. Maxwell. Far from corroboration, this is fabrication,” they wrote.

A spokesperson for prosecutors declined comment.

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-jeffrey-epstein-trials-ghislaine-maxwell-courts-d65e143493bb4eeaeb50897ce464e3f1

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 2:59 a.m. No.13468522 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1307

>>13459791

>>13459798

Elise Thomas Tweet

Prominent QAnon figure Lin Wood is openly calling for "them", a them which includes liberal politicians, anti-Trump conservative politicians, journalists, celebrities and opponents of QAnon, to be killed, in front of a cheering crowd.

https://twitter.com/elisethoma5/status/1384094296266067970

PatriotTakes @patriottakes

“Every lie will be revealed. They are killing our children, send them to jail. Put them in front of the firing squad. They are committing acts against humanity. The penalty for an act against humanity is death. Take them out.”

-Lin Wood

https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1383709884114341892

China diplomat’s stinging attack over Huawei

NICHOLAS JENSEN - APRIL 21, 2021

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Xining has launched a blistering attack on Australia’s involvement in banning Huawei in other countries, saying “Australia connived with the United States in a very unethical, illegal, immoral suppression of Chinese companies”.

“Australia has no glorious role in this regard… Australia was among the first to forcefully accuse Huawei of possible security threat,” Mr Wang said in a National Press Club address.

In an effort to ban Huawei, Mr Wang said “the US has mobilised a state power to suppress a particular Chinese company in order to prevent any challenges to traditional businesses.”

“They (the US) even went so far as framing and detaining senior executives… such dirty tactics took place in France and also from Toshiba in Japan.”

Mr Wang accused Australia of turning other countries against China on the rollout of Huawei, saying “Australia was the first to ban Huawei in the domestic telecommunication industry building and then persuaded others”.

“This bewildered me because as far as I know there’s not a single Australia tech communication equipment company that’s on par with Huawei or any other internationally-renowned company in terms of technological advancement… Australia ranked second from the bottom in terms of market digitisation among OECD countries and broadband speeds.”

Mr Wang said Australia must resist “the monolithic presentation of China” and embrace a more truthful, objective and sophisticated understanding of Beijing.

He also rejected claims that China no longer welcomes foreign journalists, saying “those journalists who we have been reprimanded failed to present a truthful image of China. We never discriminate against any journalists. We only hope foreign journalists in China will present a truthful view of China”.

“I think China represents the positive force because we adhere to science, adhere to radical thinking and practice to building social solidarity domestically, and resorting to international collaboration,” Mr Wang said.

Mr Wang said he was proud that China had continued to grow and develop, despite the effects of the pandemic, suggesting a strong China translates to a strong Australia.

“We like to share our yoke with all partners through the difficulties caused by COVID-19 and sail through this trying time,” he said.

However, he warned: “China is not a cow. I don’t think people should fancy the idea of milking China when she’s in her prime and then plot to slaughter it in the end.”

Mr Wang defended China’s foreign policy approach to Australia, saying it has always been consistent.

“We have done nothing intentionally to hurt this relationship,” he said. “We have seen too many incidents over the past few years that China’s interest has been hurt.”

China’s deputy head of mission in Canberra has insisted that relations between Washington and Beijing remain stable and consistent, saying “we don’t have a bad relationship with the US”, adding China’s policy has always remained the same.

“What we want is non-confrontation and mutual co-operation and have that principle be adhered to by both sides, China and the US,” Wang Xining said.

Asked about the Five Eyes relationship, Mr Wang said China had good relations with its members, highlighting its present links with New Zealand.

“We have issues but the issues should be handled according to a standardised, mechanised, bilateral or international forums, like the WHO and WTO.”

“Why don’t we follow the mechanism and get things done within that mechanism?,” Mr Wang asked. “You want a rules-based international system and you want rule-abiding countries … So what we (China) do is just follow the rules.”

Mr Wang also railed against journalists and the shallow understanding of China that prevails throughout much of Australia and the west.

“I want to say the correct wording in English is the Communist Party of China. It’s CPC, not CCP… You make (the mistake) because there is a very shallow understanding of the role of – the Communist Party of China.

“It’s amazing to see how the western journalists love to see more trouble and more unrest in China, where my party, my government, my people, look forward to a peaceful influence in society and in the country.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/china-diplomats-stinging-attack-over-huawei/news-story/edcad65db09246c8c28fff51151f4c79

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 11:52 p.m. No.13477192 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13477187

Senior Chinese diplomat accuses Australia and US of ‘conniving’ on Huawei ban

Sky News Australia

21 Apr 2021

A senior Chinese diplomat has sensationally accused Australia and the United States of collaborating in a “very unethical, illegal, and immoral” way to suppress Chinese state-owned companies.

China’s Deputy Head of Mission in Australia Wang Xining attacked the US and Australia for “suppressing” Huawei.

Mr Wang told the Press Club on Wednesday Australia was one of the first to ban Huawei from the 5G rollout and actually “persuaded others to follow suit”.

Australia blocked the massive state-owned telecommunications company from the 5G rollout under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull over security concerns.

Former president Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2018 prohibiting federal agencies or contractors from using the Huawei network which sparked mass backlash in Beijing.

Mr Wang said Australia “connived” with the United States in an “unethical, illegal, immoral suppression of Chinese companies”.

The deputy head of mission then went on to attack Australia’s telecommunications industry and claimed Huawei’s “technological advancement” contributed to its banning in the Australian market.

“I wonder why your intelligence and security operators has the guts to claim that they know what the threat is posed by Huawei,” he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_GiH5RiSwg

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 20, 2021, 11:53 p.m. No.13477194 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13477187

Chinese diplomat quotes Churchill while defending Chinese sovereignty

Sky News Australia

21 Apr 2021

Chinese diplomat Wang Xining says Beijing hopes to see a “nirvana” of the relationship between between Australia and Chia but delivered a strong warning to those seeking to undermine the interests of the communist government.

He said Beijing was open to “collaboration and cooperation” with Australia but would remain “very strong” in defending their national interests.

Speaking at the launch of the 2020 China Story Yearbook, Deputy Head of Mission Wang Xining said he does not agree with “all the analysis” but commended the authors for presenting a “multi-dimensional image of China”.

“It is of particular importance at this moment to have truthful objective and sophisticated understanding of China for Australia as a country and for the Australians as a people," he said.

Mr Wang pointed to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s quote “never let a good crisis go to waste” and said the Chinese understood the word to encompass both “peril and opportunity”.

He added China hopes to see a global “nirvana” in relation to the economy and welfare in the wake of the pandemic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byRMMPpTrf8

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 12:03 a.m. No.13477230 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

New Zealand backs “Five Eyes” alliance, but wants human rights raised in broader group

Kirsty Needham - Apr 20, 2021

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand expressed support for its Five Eyes alliance with Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States, calling it a "vital security and intelligence partnership", a day after saying it didn't support broadening the group's role.

Following a speech on China on Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand was "uncomfortable" with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes, raising speculation that Wellington didn't back recent Five Eyes statements critical of Beijing.

China, New Zealand's largest trading partner, has accused the Five Eyes of ganging up on China by issuing statements on Hong Kong and the treatment of ethnic Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

In a statement to Reuters on Tuesday, Mahuta said the Five Eyes remained vital for New Zealand for intelligence, police, border security, defence and cyber cooperation.

"New Zealand is a real beneficiary of the arrangement and will continue to actively engage with the Five Eyes alliance as we always have," she said.

"There will be some areas on which it's useful to coordinate through the Five Eyes platform; but there will be other areas - human rights for example - where we want to look to building a broader coalition of countries to take positions."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Tuesday that New Zealand was "absolutely reaffirming our commitment to that Five Eyes partnership".

Ardern added that sometimes the Five Eyes will make collective statements, and in other cases New Zealand would make statements with Australia, or on its own.

"Not every issue we speak as New Zealand is a security and intelligence issue," she said.

Australia's foreign affairs minister Marise Payne will travel to New Zealand on Wednesday for meetings with Mahuta and Ardern, the first diplomatic visit between the neighbouring countries since borders reopened both ways.

https://whbl.com/2021/04/20/new-zealand-backs-five-eyes-alliance-but-wants-human-rights-raised-in-broader-group/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 12:08 a.m. No.13477249 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7274 >>1245

Japan should join Five Eyes intelligence network, says ambassador

Peter Hartcher - April 21, 2021

Japan is making progress toward joining the Anglophone world’s post-war spying network known as Five Eyes, according to Japan’s ambassador to Australia.

“I am very much optimistic about the near future,” said Shingo Yamagami, who took up his post in December, 2020. He said he “would like to see this idea become reality in the near future”.

Australia and New Zealand in 1956 joined the US, Britain and Canada to complete the Five Eyes group and that was the last time any new member was admitted.

“Logically, in terms of interests and capability, Japan is the best candidate,” said the head of ANU’s National Security College, Rory Medcalf.

“If there’s a country with a fine-grained understanding of China, Japan is it. For most of its life, the Five Eyes has been seen as one unchangeable bloc but I think it’s important to move with the times.”

The idea of Japan becoming the “sixth eye” is gaining traction just as New Zealand is expressing reservations about any increase in the network’s reach.

Yamagami, formerly the head of the intelligence branch of Japan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said: “We keep building specific blocks with the Australian intelligence community and Japanese intelligence community and with the rest of the Five Eyes community.

“So this is something that’s really going on on the ground and Japanese politicians and officials are becoming increasingly aware of its importance,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in an interview.

“It’s a sign of these countries sharing universal values and strategic interests,” he said. All six are democracies and all six see China as a strategic rival.

The Five Eyes nations share their electronic intelligence with each other in a continuous, top-secret exchange. Professor Medcalf said that “it’s really about intelligence agencies trusting each other with some of their most sensitive material”.

Japan would be a useful addition because it “is believed to have a substantial intelligence collection and assessment capacity of its own”.

He said it would be a “major institutional challenge” for Japan to meet the Five Eyes rules and protocols necessary to be fully embraced. It was more realistic to imagine Five Eyes plus one before developing into a formal Six Eyes group.

At the same time, NZ’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said that her government was not interested in using the Five Eyes group as a diplomatic platform.

“We are uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes,” she told the NZ China Council on Monday.

“We would much rather prefer to look for multilateral opportunities to express our interests.” Mahuta appeared to be deferring to complaints from Beijing.

A Chinese government spokesperson criticised the Five Eyes countries for issuing a joint statement deploring Beijing’s repression of pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong in November.

“No matter if they have five eyes or 10 eyes, if they dare to harm China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded,” said China’s Foreign Ministry’s Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing in November last year.

Japan is a longtime treaty ally of the US and hosts major US military bases. Yamagami said that for Japan to join Five Eyes the group would require Tokyo to “make a lot of preparation” in “improving Japan’s intelligence community and legislation”.

Yamagami described Japan’s relationship with Australia as “excellent” and said that “the sky is the limit”.

He said that “the eyes of the world are now on Australia going through tremendous difficulties” under punitive trade sanctions imposed by China’s government.

He said that the weekend summit between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga “was a good meeting for Australia” because the two leaders specifically condemned use of economic coercion in their joint statement.

“Everyone understands what they are referring to, so this is a good step forward”, Yamagami said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison joined Biden and Suga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the inaugural leader-level meeting of the Quad group in March.

The four democratic leaders committed to “a free and open Indo-Pacific” in an indirect rebuke of Beijing’s territorial ambitions in the region.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/japan-should-join-five-eyes-intelligence-network-says-ambassador-20210420-p57kv6.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 12:14 a.m. No.13477274 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13477249

Washington the one undermining Five Eyes solidarity

Zhou Fangyin - Apr 20, 2021

New Zealand is opposed to the Five Eyes alliance's expand its remit and take positions on issues such as China's human rights record, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Monday. She also said Wellington will not provoke or engage with China through the Five Eyes alliance apart from intelligence matters.

Mahuta's remarks show Wellington is pragmatic, and has a clear knowledge of the issue. New Zealand is also a member of the West and may have different views on human rights from China. However, New Zealand believes that it is reasonable to raise questions, but it is inappropriate to for the US to build up the Five Eyes alliance into a joint anti-China mechanism.

Washington is purely using "human rights" as a cover to suppress and contain Beijing with its allies. The US now sees everything in terms of competition with China, which is very different from New Zealand. Wellington believes that containing Beijing is not beneficial to its national interests. It will be vain to follow the US' lead. Nor does Wellington want its moves and narratives to be hijacked by wily Washington.

The New Zealand foreign minister's remarks also serve as a reminder to the other three members that the Five Eyes alliance itself is merely an intelligence-sharing mechanism. Now the US, for its own needs, especially for containing China's development, has expanded the contents of the cooperation among the five countries. It wants to intimidate its members to go along with its anti-China activities. If they indulge the US in doing so, the three countries' relations with China will be fully mastered by the US. This is definitely not the result they want to see.

New Zealand's foreign policy, particularly its China policy, differs from the other four members of the Five Eyes. It has to do with how Wellington positions itself. New Zealand has no great geopolitical ambitions. Instead, the country is pragmatic in pursuing its own interests.

There are some noises saying New Zealand is undermining the solidarity of the Five Eyes. This reflects the domineering side of Washington. According to its logic, following the US is to maintain the unity of the alliance. Otherwise, it is to destroy the solidarity.

The one which impairs the solidarity of the alliance is Washington, which forces other Five Eyes members to join its anti-Beijing chariot. If these countries disagree, they may encounter suppressions from the US. This will increase tensions within the alliance.

The Five Eyes is merely an intelligence-sharing alliance. The US now wants other members of the alliance to join the boycott of Huawei, as well as to take a stand on China's so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. It is not what an intelligence-sharing alliance should do. Mahuta's narrative is actually an attempt to return the alliance to its original position. Wellington does not refuse to share intelligence, but it disagrees with Washington's desire to steer the Five Eye in the direction it wants to go.

Although New Zealand sometimes expresses ideas different from other members of the Five Eyes, especially when it comes to China, this country is unlikely to exit from this alliance in the short-run. But in regard to matters of national interest, Wellington tends to be independent and persistent.

The US is reluctant to see New Zealand's withdraw from the Five Eyes. When the US attempts to pursue Five Eyes' expansion, New Zealand's quitting would be negative for the US' plans and designs for the alliance. It is expected the US will, to some extent, appease and rope in New Zealand instead of strong arm it.

As a response to US' attempts to expand Five Eyes, Japan has expressed its intent to become the "sixth eye" of the alliance. The Five Eyes is traditionally an alliance consisting of five "Anglo-Saxon" countries. From the perspective of ethnicity, it will be difficult for members of the alliance to accept Japan. Furthermore, even if Tokyo is not a member of the Five Eyes alliance, this country will proactively cooperate with Washington's policy. The US will not receive much more gains because Japan becomes a member of the intelligence-sharing alliance. Therefore, Washington may not approve of Japan's membership.

The author is a professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221599.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 1:13 a.m. No.13477403 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7409 >>1245

Former US intelligence director backs Turnbull and Rudd’s call for Murdoch media inquiry

James Clapper says royal commission into Rupert Murdoch’s empire in Australia a ‘good idea for the sake of transparency’

Katharine Murphy - 21 Apr 2021

1/2

The former US director of national intelligence James Clapper has backed a call by former Australian prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull for a royal commission into the Murdoch media, saying Australia needs to take preventative steps to avoid any slide into “truth decay”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Clapper, a retired lieutenant general in the US air force and the top intelligence official for seven years under former US president Barack Obama, said Fox News was a “megaphone for conspiracies and falsehoods” in America. He said the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January had demonstrated a clear connection between truth decay and the risk of civil disobedience and unrest.

“I have spoken a lot about a phenomenon that is not just in the United States but in other places as well of what the Rand Corporation has very aptly and cleverly called truth decay,” Clapper, who is a CNN analyst, said. “This is the whole business of disregarding facts and objective analysis and empirical data.

“Unfortunately, in this country we’ve fallen into two separate reality bubbles, one of which is fomented and amplified by Fox News.

“Rupert Murdoch and Fox is part of a larger issue we have in this country. To the extent that anyone feeds, amplifies, expands, embellishes truth decay – that is insidious and dangerous to democracy.”

Clapper said his view was an inquiry into the activities of the Murdoch-owned media led by credible people in Australia would be “a good idea for the sake of transparency and objectivity”.

The former top US intelligence official entered the fray after Turnbull was interviewed this week by the US cable news network CNN and, in his remarks, drew a link between the “assault on democracy” on 6 January in Washington and the hyper-polarisation “delivered by Fox News and by other players in the right-wing populist media echo system”.

“The question you have to ask yourself is, ‘Is America a more divided country than it was before thanks to Murdoch’s influence?’, and the answer must be ‘yes’,” Turnbull said on CNN.

The two former Australian prime ministers have spearheaded the royal commission campaign as a means of highlighting the need for greater media diversity in Australia.

(continued)

>>13477403

2/2

Clapper said there had been an effort in the US after the riot in Washington to put together a bipartisan commission to study the causes and events surrounding the insurrection on 6 January, “but that [had] run into all kinds of difficulty”.

He said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the United States House of Representatives, had wanted to establish the commission “a la 9/11 to do a detailed critique of what led to the insurrection and the events of that day – but that [had] run into partisan headwinds because Republicans don’t want to do that”.

“We should have, in my mind, and the minds of many other people, we should have a commission similar to what was done after 9/11 for what happened on January 6, and I would certainly think [a commission] would be a good thing for Australia to do.”

Clapper said, having watched the storming of the Capitol by enraged supporters of the former Republican president Donald Trump, he was struck by “the fanaticism of the people, the ferocity of their fanaticism – they believed the big lie [that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by the Democratic party] and that’s why what I’m calling truth decay is so dangerous to the fabric of a democracy”.

He said Fox News was “the principal media component of this general trend towards truth decay” in the US, and the trend was “quite threatening to the basis of our country and society”.

He said the main challenge of establishing any inquiry either in the US or Australia would be “putting together a group of people who would be viewed as objective, and not partisan, to do that”.

“But I think it’s absolutely crucial.”

Clapper – a regular visitor to Australia – said Australia would be well placed to bolster its institutions and examine any corrosive forces because the country still had time to counter truth decay.

“It appears to me from afar that the case of truth decay that Australia might have is not nearly as severe as what we have.”

Half a million people signed a petition supporting a royal commission into the Murdoch media and broader issues of media diversity.

Both Rudd and Turnbull have appeared before a Senate inquiry into media diversity examining the dominance of News Corp Australia and its impact on democracy – a probe triggered by that petition.

News Corp executives hit back strongly against the campaign when they fronted the media diversity inquiry in February.

Michael Miller, the executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, dismissed what he termed “sloganeering” about the outsized influence of the editors in the organisation, noting Australia currently had nine federal, state and territory governments – four of them Coalition-run and five Labor-run.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/21/former-us-intelligence-director-backs-turnbull-and-rudds-call-for-murdoch-media-inquiry

>https://qanon.pub/?q=clapper

Australia’s ambition on climate change is held back by a toxic mix of rightwing politics, media and vested interests

Two former prime ministers, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, write the world shouldn’t give up hope on Australia just yet

Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull - Wed 21 Apr 2021

1/2

It was always expected that Joe Biden’s election would be a massive shot in the arm for international climate action, but the scale of that boost has been genuinely surprising.

The new president has now invited 40 world leaders to a virtual climate change summit coinciding with Earth Day this Thursday. China’s Xi Jinping will be there, following productive face-to-face talks last week between Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Shanghai. Even Vladimir Putin is attending, despite divisions between Washington and the Russian leader over new sanctions.

Japan, South Korea and Canada are all expected to announce new medium-term 2030 emissions reduction plans this week, after earlier refusing to do so. Even China – the world’s largest emitter – last week signalled they may also be prepared to do more this decade above and beyond commitments they made at the end of last year.

Our country, however, continues to bury its head in the sand, despite the fact that Australia remains dangerously at risk of the economic and environmental consequences that will come from the climate crisis barrelling towards us.

Prime minister Scott Morrison’s refusal to adopt both a firm timeline to reach net zero emissions and to increase its own interim 2030 target leaves us effectively isolated in the western world. It also goes against what we signed up to through the Paris agreement – which both our governments worked so hard to secure.

According to our independent Climate Change Authority (CCA) and the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo), not only should Australia be doing much more as “our fair share” towards global efforts to reduce emissions, but importantly we also now have the capacity to do more.

The reality is Australia’s current target, set in 2015, to reduce emissions by 26 to 28% on 2005 levels by 2030 is now woefully inadequate – and was always intended to be updated this year. The Obama administration had exactly the same target as Australia, but aimed to achieve it five years earlier than us, which in reality made it much more ambitious than ours. And this week, the Biden administration is expected to announce a new 2030 pledge twice as deep as Australia’s current effort. This will set a new global litmus test for Australia’s own ambition, which as the CCA has said should be at least a 45% cut by 2030.

But, as two former prime ministers representing our nation’s centre-left and centre-right parties, the world shouldn’t give up hope on our country just yet. Thankfully, there is some cause for optimism. Our sun-drenched country has the highest per capita penetration of rooftop solar in the world. And with the right approach, Aemo has said that renewables could go from providing a quarter of electricity market demand on our populous eastern seaboard today to 75% in less than five years. The fact we are in a position to even be able to seize this technological opportunity is in large part due to the introduction in 2009 of a 20% clean renewable energy target for 2020 and the launching of the largest renewable clean energy project in our nation’s history (Snowy Hydro 2.0) by our respective governments.

The national consensus for climate action in Australia has also shifted markedly in recent years. Every state and territory government is now committed to net zero emissions, so too are our peak industry, business and agriculture groups, as well as our national airline, and even our largest mining company.

The main thing holding back Australia’s climate ambition is politics: a toxic coalition of the Murdoch press, the right wing of the Liberal and National parties, and vested interests in the fossil fuel sector.

(continued)

>>13477434

2/2

Sadly, instead of seizing this technological opportunity and embracing this newfound national consensus, the government remains hell-bent on a “gas-fired recovery” from Covid-19. Old coal plants still generate around 75% of Australia’s electricity. But these are being replaced by renewables plus storage because they are a cheaper form of generation than the alternatives on offer.

Gas has a role to play in the transition, but that role is to steadily diminish as renewables continue to grow. To bet big on the future role of gas is to bet against the best engineering and economic advice coming out of Aemo, and to ignore the scientific advice that more gas in the grid will simply lead to more emissions. The only long-term gas-fired future we should be planning is green hydrogen made by electrolysing water with renewable energy.

Australia may be able to get away with showing up empty-handed to this week’s summit, but will find it even more difficult to do as a special guest of the British at the G7 leaders’ summit in June. We would be the only developed country in the room that is not committed to net zero by 2050. And we will find it even harder again to show up empty-handed at the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow at the end of the year, given more than 100 countries in the world have pledged to increase their ambition.

There are also consequences for this inaction.

As the rolling apocalypse of fires and floods in our country demonstrates, Australia is on the global frontline of this climate crisis. Last year’s wildfires claimed dozens of lives, destroyed thousands of homes, wiped out billions of animals, and cost billions of dollars.

With more than 70% of Australia’s trade now with countries committed to net zero, the prospect of carbon border taxes being introduced – beginning with the European Union – also leaves us economically exposed. So too does our continued faith in coal as a leading export commodity, especially with many of the 50 proposed new coalmines in Australia already struggling to attract finance. Instead of expanding coal, we should be increasing our support for ground-breaking projects such as the Asian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara region which could allow us to become a green hydrogen supplier for Asia’s clean energy transition. There are also promising new hydrogen projects planned for Queensland centred on Gladstone, a traditional coal port. Building dozens of new coalmines won’t set Australia up for the future; it will lock us into the past.

Australians like to think we “punch above our weight” on the global stage. We certainly do when we come to climate change: we emit more than 40 other countries with larger populations, and our per capita emissions are the highest of any advanced economy. This is not a record we should be proud of at all.

It’s often fatuously claimed that what countries like Australia do make no difference to the global climate because we account for only about 1.2% of emissions. The reality is that Australia is the third-largest fossil fuel exporter in the world. Our own environment is especially vulnerable to global warming as the recent massive bushfires demonstrated. Our economy is also vulnerable to the transition away from fossil fuels. Denial of the reality of global warming and the need to transition to a prosperous clean energy economy is abandoning our responsibilities as much to Australian workers as it is to the world.

Hopefully, at this week’s summit the prime minister will receive the wake-up call the government needs. In the meantime, the rest of the world should not give up on us yet. If our country’s last decade has demonstrated anything – with five prime ministers in just eight years – it’s that political winds can change very quickly.

• Kevin Rudd, from the Australian Labor party, was Australia’s prime minister between 2007 and 2010, and again in 2013. Malcolm Turnbull, from the Liberal party of Australia, was prime minister between 2015 and 2018

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/21/australias-ambition-on-climate-change-is-held-back-by-a-toxic-mix-of-rightwing-politics-media-and-vested-interests

>SHADOW GOVERNMENT.

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 2:02 a.m. No.13477508 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are upset that media outlets keep talking about the accused sex-trafficker's sex life

Jacob Shamsian - 21 April 2021

Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are annoyed that media outlets have reported on the accused trafficker's sex life, asking a judge to keep evidence related to her criminal case sealed.

In a new filing in the case — where Maxwell faces sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and perjury charges — her lawyers argue the testimony prosecutors seek to unseal is "undeniably private" and should remain under seal.

"Every sentence that is publicly released in this case has been widely publicized, in print, broadcast and online media, both within and without this jurisdiction," the lawyers write in the filing. "Quotations from testimony concerning 'three-way sexual' activity and 'sex toys' 'cater to a "craving for that which is sensational and impure"' rather than serve a legitimate issue of public interest."

Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of acting as the late Jeffrey Epstein's right-hand woman in an alleged sex-trafficking ring of girls between the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as participating in sexual abuse herself.

In the new filing, Maxwell's lawyers bemoan the widespread media coverage of her sex life since a judge unsealed old deposition transcripts from Maxwell and other people in her circle. Maxwell's lawyers ask that Judge Alison Nathan, who is overseeing the case, limit any further unsealing of disposition transcripts.

"The testimony at issue is undeniably private: it relates exclusively to Ms. Maxwell's consensual adult sexual activities involving 'sex toys or devices used in sexual activities' and a 'three-way sexual' encounter involving an adult 'blond and brunette,'" the filing says.

Maxwell's lawyers also take aim at prosecutors for using a pseudonym for an accuser who says Maxwell sexually abused her as a teenager. They say the accuser has given interviews to the New York Times and ABC News, and for a Netflix documentary.

The criminal case, scheduled for trial in July, has involved a long battle over unsealing deposition transcripts from Maxwell.

The depositions were taken as part of a civil lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre, who accused both Epstein and Maxwell of sexual misconduct. Prosecutors say Maxwell lied during the depositions, warranting a perjury charge. This week, Nathan granted Maxwell's request to have a separate trial over the perjury accusations.

Nathan has in the past refused some of the prosecutors' requests to unseal parts of the transcripts, ruling they were too "sensational and impure."

In an earlier round of arguments over unsealing, Maxwell's lawyers argued she didn't understand what questioners meant by "sexual activities" during one of the depositions.

"It is entirely unclear how someone may 'be aware of the presence' of these, apparently, spectral objects," the attorneys wrote. "What exactly is a 'device' used in 'sexual activities?' Would bath oil, a tub, or a table qualify?"

https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-lawyers-upset-media-coverage-sex-life-2021-4

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.217.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 2:19 a.m. No.13477544 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Resignations in the news

John Osborne: Dreamworld CEO unexpectedly resigns

DREAMWORLD boss John Osborne has resigned as head of Ardent Leisure’s theme parks division, effective immediately.

In a statement to the ASX Wednesday morning, Ardent said chief operating officer Greg Yong would step into the $550,000-a-year role.

The statement said Mr Osborne had agreed to consult to the company “on several projects considered to be of strategic importance for Ardent”.

Long-time Gold Coaster Mr Yong has held the role of Chief Operating Officer of Ardent Leisure Theme Parks and Attractions (COO) since May 2019.

Ardent Chairman Gary Weiss said Mr Osborne was leaving for personal reasons.

“Since John’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer of our Theme Parks and Attractions division in November 2018, he has overseen not only the resolution of the many legacy issues facing the business but also skilfully and expertly led the business through the significant challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr Weiss said.

“During his tenure, John has built an outstanding leadership team and positioned the business to restore value for Ardent shareholders over the coming years.

“We fully understand John’s wish to spend more time with his family after such a tumultuous period, and we are pleased that he has agreed to remain as a consultant to Ardent to assist in the delivery of several significant projects that are currently underway.

“We are delighted that Greg has accepted the offer to become Chief Executive. Greg has substantial experience in the theme parks industry in Australia and overseas and has played a critical role, as a key member of the leadership team, in restoring the performance of Dreamworld and SkyPoint. We are confident that Greg will build on all that has been achieved in the business over the last few years”.

Mr Osborne said his tenure had been “challenging and transformational”.

“I believe it is an optimal time for me to hand the reins over to Greg so I can spend more time with my family,” he said.

“I am incredibly proud of the fantastic leadership team that has been put in place over the last three years.

“Greg is an outstanding executive and leader, and I know that he and the team will build on the platform we have put in place and ultimately restore Dreamworld to its rightful position as the best and most successful theme park in Australia.”

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/business/john-osborne-dreamworld-ceo-unexpectedly-resigns/news-story/3f14355f999aa8f79e3036c58bb63ed6

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 21, 2021, 2:23 a.m. No.13477554 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

Child sex doll offender Terry Dunnett pleads guilty, released on supervised probation

Talissa Siganto - 21 April 2021

A Brisbane man has been the first person in Queensland to be convicted and sentenced for the "heinous crime" of possessing child sex dolls, after new federal laws were introduced to combat child abuse offences.

Terry Dunnett, 45, today pleaded guilty in the District Court in Brisbane to two counts of possessing a child sex doll, one count of attempting to possess a child sex doll, and possessing child exploitation material.

The court heard that in January last year the state's Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team started investigating Dunnett when Australian Border Force (ABF) officers detected an "anatomically-correct doll" in a shipment from China addressed to him.

Several days later, officers raided Dunnett's home at Riverhills in Brisbane's west and discovered two other female dolls depicting estimated age ranges of between four and five years old.

Child-exploitation material was also found on a laptop belonging to Dunnett.

During a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the court heard Dunnett had admitted to police on the day of his arrest that the dolls and the exploitation material belonged to him.

The court heard he told officers he had purchased the dolls, including the one intercepted by ABF, between 2014 and 2020 from the Chinese e-commerce website AliExpress, with the latest costing him about $400.

The prosecution told the court Dunnett should serve an actual term in custody, while his defence lawyer argued a community-based sentence would be more suitable as a psychologist determined he was a "low risk" of actually offending against a child.

Judge Orazio Rinaudo sentenced Dunnett to two years in jail, but ordered he be immediately released under probation supervision.

He also placed him on a good behaviour bond for two years and ordered that he pay a $2,000 recognisance surety only if he reoffends.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Rinaudo said it was "a heinous crime to be involved in the exploitation of children" and that such offences could cause "desensitisation" to child sexual abuse or lead to an escalation of offending against a child.

"They are life-like dolls depicting female children with cavities," Judge Rinaudo said.

"The risk of the sale of such items objectifying children as sexual beings could be used to groom children for sex."

However, Judge Rinaudo said he had to take into consideration Dunnett's early guilty plea and remorse, when determining his sentence.

"I'm satisfied that you now understand that possession of these dolls and other items was wrong," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/child-like-sex-doll-court-terry-dunnett-brisbane/100084650

>>13477187

A top China academic has cast doubt over Chinese human rights abuses in Xinjiang

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 21, 2021

The chair of parliament’s intelligence and security committee has blasted the head of Australia’s top China-focused academic institution after she cast doubt over Chinese human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Professor Jane Golley, the director of ANU’s taxpayer-funded Centre on China in the World, told the National Press Club on Wednesday she had read a “convincing” but anonymous paper contradicting media reports of China’s widespread mistreatment of Uighurs.

“Just last week I received a scholarly article that debunks much of what you have read in the Western media on this topic, including the figure of one million Uighurs in detention camps, the pervasive use of forced labour, and of calling it genocide,” she said, standing along China’s deputy ambassador to Australia Wang Xining.

“The authors sent it anonymously because they fear the reaction here in Australia by those who are committed to the dominant narrative, fact or not.

“This tells me that threats to academic freedom are not confined only to China.”

Professor Golley, an economist, conceded she was not an expert on Xinjiang, so could not make a judgment on the report’s veracity.

“I have to wait for it to be peer-reviewed by other experts. But what it did tell me is there are some convincing elements of what I read that would run against the dominant narrative that we read in the press.”

Senator James Paterson, the Joint intelligence and security committee chairman, said he was astonished Professor Golley would endorse an unverified report over extensive evidence of grave human rights abuses against Chinese Uighurs.

“It is concerning to see any academic publicly elevate an anonymous, unpublished article, which has not been peer-reviewed, above the years of scholarly evidence, investigative journalism and reports from reputable human rights organisations, which has exposed what is happening in Xinjiang,” he said.

“It’s even worse that the head of one of our pre-eminent taxpayer-funded university centres should do so at the National Press Club. Taxpayers are entitled to expect much higher standards of academic rigour than that.”

China strongly denies human rights abuses against Uighurs, arguing that facilities branded detention camps in the West are in fact vocational training centres.

Mr Wang told the National Press Club that China was “a positive force in the world”, dismissing a question about an Australian Uighur family seeking information on a relative who had been sentenced to 25 years jail in Xinjiang.

“I don’t know every case … whether they are of any particular ethnic group,” he said.

Mr Wang said China wanted “every ethnic group to live a good life — and we know how to deal with that”.

Human Rights Watch’s Australian director Elaine Pearson said she was “shocked” at Professor Golley’s comments, which came just a day after a Stanford University report found “the Chinese government has committed — and continues to commit — crimes against humanity against the Turkic Muslim population”.

Ms Pearson said: “While the Chinese government is in denial about these abuses, and refuses to allow access to UN human rights monitors, it is critically important that foreign governments do act and take strong, co-ordinated action.

“This is why we need a UN commission of inquiry to ensure an impartial investigation into alleged violations in Xinjiang.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/a-top-china-academic-has-cast-doubt-over-chinese-human-rights-abuses-in-xinjiang/news-story/d3db923ab37d3b4d476de5ce2fe113d2

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6249585315001

Victoria’s Belt and Road deal with China torn up

Anthony Galloway and Eryk Bagshaw - April 21, 2021

1/2

The Australian government has torn up Victoria’s controversial Belt and Road agreement with China, saying it falls foul of the country’s national interest, in a move that will further inflame tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

China’s foreign mission reacted swiftly on Wednesday night, warning the decision would put any recovery in the relationship between Australia and its largest trading partner in jeopardy.

“This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China,” said a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy.

“It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself.”

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced on Wednesday night that the Belt and Road Initiative deal – which tied the state to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature initiative to bankroll infrastructure projects around the world – has been cancelled under the Commonwealth’s new foreign veto laws.

The federal government also announced it was cancelling two Victorian government education agreements – one struck with Iran in 2004 and another with Syria in 1999. They have been ruled unlawful under the laws passed late last year.

Senator Payne said she considered the agreements to be “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations”.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been locked in an ongoing feud with the Morrison government over its decision to sign on to the $1.5 trillion global infrastructure initiative, which would have allowed for Chinese investment in Victoria and for Victorian companies to participate in Chinese government projects overseas under the BRI banner. Mr Andrews has always defended the deal on the basis it would provide more jobs and economic opportunities for the state.

The federal government and national security experts were concerned that China was using the Victorian agreement as a propaganda win to claim the Victorian government had broken ranks with Australia’s China policy. They are also worried that China was using the BRI to load up poorer countries with debt and reduce Australia’s influence in the region.

The Chinese government has maintained the BRI is an economic co-operation initiative, which “upholds the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and transparency”.

“It has brought tangible benefits to the participating parties,” the Chinese embassy spokesperson said. “The BRI co-operation between China and the Victoria state is conducive to deepening economic and trade relations between the two sides, and will promote economic growth and the well-being of the people of Victoria.”

No financial commitments had been made under the arrangement, which was largely seen as symbolic, but it had driven foreign policy disputes between Victoria and the federal government after more than a year of tension with Beijing. Diplomatic sources in Canberra, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the scrapping of the deal could set a precedent for other countries attempting to balance the economic firepower of China with its international ambition.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:19 a.m. No.13485013 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

2/2

State governments had until last month to provide a list of all of their agreements with foreign governments and Victoria listed its two BRI deals with the Chinese government as potentially falling within the new regime.

The Commonwealth ruled that both agreements contradicted Australia’s foreign policy, which has been reworked to compete with China’s infrastructure spending blitz in the region.

The new foreign veto scheme requires the Foreign Minister to cancel agreements that states, territories, local governments and universities enter into with an overseas government if they contradict Australia’s national interest.

Announcing the new laws last year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was “vital that when it comes to Australia’s dealings with the rest of the world we speak with one voice and work to one plan.

“Australians rightly expect the federal government they elect to set foreign policy. While many agreements and partnerships are of a routine nature … Where any of these agreements undermine how the federal government is protecting and promoting our national interests they can be cancelled.”

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed last year that Victoria did not consult the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before signing a key “framework agreement” with the Chinese government for the BRI on October 23, 2019.

While Victoria briefly consulted DFAT on an earlier memorandum of understanding with Beijing in 2018, and made some changes based on its advice, the Andrews government decided not to show the draft version of the more substantial framework agreement to the Commonwealth a year later before signing it. Both agreements have now been ruled invalid.

A spokesperson for the Victorian government said the Foreign Relations Act was “entirely a matter for the Commonwealth Government”.

“The Victorian Government will continue to work hard to deliver jobs, trade and economic opportunities for our state,” the spokesperson said.

Previously Mr Andrews had repeatedly defended the deal, saying last year that it was all about Victorian employment and that Australia’s relationship with China might improve if the Commonwealth focused on jobs.

“The agreement, like all agreements that Victoria enters into, and I expect the Commonwealth and other states are no different – it’s all about making sure that more Victorian product is sent to our biggest and smallest customers,” the Premier said in December.

“Whether it’s to China or any other part of the world, it’s all about jobs.

“We would be probably better off in our relationship if all of us focused on the fact, and I think the Prime Minister and all of us … are all about having the best economic partnerships with customers, large and small, in every part of the world because that means jobs and prosperity and profitability for families back home.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victoria-s-belt-and-road-deal-with-china-torn-up-20210421-p57l9q.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:20 a.m. No.13485018 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

Decisions under Australia’s Foreign Arrangements Scheme

Senator the Hon Marise Payne

Media release

21 April 2021

Australia's Foreign Arrangements Scheme has been in operation since 10 December 2020. The Scheme requires states and territories, local governments and Australian public universities to notify the Minister for Foreign Affairs of existing and proposed foreign arrangements. I have so far been notified of over 1,000 arrangements.

States and territories have now completed their initial audit of existing arrangements with foreign national governments.

The more than 1,000 notified so far reflect the richness and breadth of Australia's international interests and demonstrate the important role played by Australia's states, territories, universities and local governments in advancing Australia's interests abroad.

I thank the states and territories for their cooperation and for what is developing as a cooperative approach under the Scheme.

Following review and consideration of arrangements, I can advise that the following four will be cancelled:

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Education and Training (Victoria) and the Technical and Vocational Training Organisation, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Islamic Republic of Iran, signed 25 November 2004.

• Protocol of Scientific Cooperation between the Ministry of Higher Education in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Training of Victoria, signed 31 March 1999.

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Victoria and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China on Cooperation within the Framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, signed 8 October 2018.

• Framework Agreement between the Government of Victoria and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China on Jointly Promoting the Framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, signed on 23 October 2019.

I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations in line with the relevant test in Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020.

I have also decided to approve a proposed Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Human Resources Development in Energy and Mineral Resources Sector between the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation of the Government of Western Australia and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia.

I will continue to consider foreign arrangements notified under the Scheme. I expect the overwhelming majority of them to remain unaffected. I look forward to ongoing collaboration with states, territories, universities and local governments in implementing the Foreign Arrangements Scheme.

https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/decisions-under-australias-foreign-arrangements-scheme

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:21 a.m. No.13485027 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

Federal government swoops in and cancels controversial Belt and Roads deal

Sky News Australia

22 Apr 2021

The federal government has torn up Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with China because it was inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy.

The Commonwealth used its new veto laws to cancel four agreements — all negotiated by Victorian authorities — including a 2004 deal between the state's Education and Training Department with Iran and a 1999 scientific co-operation agreement with Syria.

The move is expected to further escalate tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kwfWkPFhNY

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia

Chinese Embassy Spokesperson's Remarks

2021/04/21

We express our strong displeasure and resolute opposition to the Australian Foreign Minister’s announcement on April 21 to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation within the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the related Framework Agreement between the Chinese side and Government of Victoria.

The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, which follows the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and upholds the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and transparency. It has brought tangible benefits to the participating parties. The BRI cooperation between China and the Victoria state is conducive to deepening economic and trade relations between the two sides, and will promote economic growth and the well-being of the people of Victoria.

This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China. It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself.

http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/sghdxwfb_1/t1870484.htm

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:24 a.m. No.13485037 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

China criticises Australia's 'provocative' decision to tear up Victoria's Belt and Road agreement

Foreign Minister Marise Payne's decision to scrap Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure deal with China has angered Beijing.

22 April 2021

China has slammed Australia's "provocative" decision to tear up Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative agreement with Beijing, warning the move will further damage bilateral relations.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced on Wednesday night that the infrastructure deal had been cancelled under new foreign veto powers.

China's embassy in Australia responded swiftly, expressing "strong displeasure and resolute opposition" to Senator Payne's announcement.

"This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China," a Chinese embassy spokesperson said in a statement.

"It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations.

"It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself."

The Morrison government in December granted itself the ability to torpedo deals between individual states and foreign powers under the Foreign Relations Act.

The foreign minister can assess such arrangements to check if they align with Australia's foreign policy goals.

Senator Payne said four agreements would be cancelled, two of which related to Victoria's Belt and Road deal for infrastructure investment.

"I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations," she said in a statement.

Victoria signed a memorandum of understanding in relation to the Chinese regional infrastructure initiative in 2018 and then signed a "framework agreement" with Beijing in 2019.

Areas of cooperation included increasing participation of Chinese companies in Victoria's infrastructure program and promoting cooperation of Victorian businesses in China.

It also allowed Victoria's engineering and design firms to bid for contracts for Belt and Road Initiative projects around the world.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has previously advised against the cancellation of the deal, saying it would place Victorian jobs at risk.

A state government spokeswoman told AAP the Foreign Relations Act was a matter for the Commonwealth.

"The Victorian government will continue to work hard to deliver jobs, trade and economic opportunities for our state," she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Beijing has previously raised Canberra's veto power as one of 14 grievances damaging to bilateral relations.

China has in the past 12 months launched a series of damaging trade strikes against Australia after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese government also remains furious with Australia over foreign interference and investment laws and the decision to ban Huawei from the country's 5G rollout.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/china-criticises-australia-s-provocative-decision-to-tear-up-victoria-s-belt-and-road-agreement

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:27 a.m. No.13485047 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5051 >>1279

Beijing hits back as Marise Payne cancels Daniel Andrews’ Belt and Road agreements

BEN PACKHAM and JOE KELLY - APRIL 22, 2021

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Foreign Minister Marise Payne says she expects more deals to be scrapped following the tearing up of Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement with China.

Speaking in Wellington alongside her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta, Senator Payne said she anticipated there would be “further decisions” made on agreements between Australian institutions and foreign powers.

“They will be informed by my department on the consistency of all of those arrangements with the relevant legal test as it’s set out in the legislation,” she said.

She said there was a “fundamental difference” between the governance of New Zealand and Australia.

“We are, of course, a federation so states and territories that enter into those agreements are now required to consult and to advise the commonwealth as they do that. The process that I’m going through now is addressing those that have been made in the past.”

Senator Payne spoke of her decision to tear up four agreements entered into by the Victorian government concerning Syria, Iran, and China. “The determination that we have formed is that they are not consistent with Australia’s approach to foreign policy and under the legislation will be terminated,” she said. “I do expect there will be further decisions to be made in due course.”

China hits back over BRI

Earlier, Beijing has hit back after Senator Payne tore up Victoria’s controversial Belt and Road agreements with China, warning the “provocative” move could throw relations between the two countries “into the abyss.”

In the first use of new powers allowing the commonwealth to unilaterally veto deals it views as contrary to the national interest, Senator Payne revealed on Wednesday night she had cancelled four agreements — all negotiated by Victorian authorities — including a 2004 deal between the state‘s Education and Training Department with Iran and a 1999 scientific co-operation agreement with Syria.

The two BRI deals include the 2018 Memorandum of Understanding between the Andrews’ government and the National Development and Reform Commission of China, and the 2019 Framework Agreement, which built on the earlier deal.

“I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations in line with the relevant test in Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020,” Ms Payne said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy said the move was “another unreasonable and provocative move… against China.”

He added: “It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself.”

The Global Times, Beijing’s mouthpiece, went further, quoting Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre at the East China Normal University that the move marked a “significant escalation that could push icy bilateral relations into an abyss.”

The newspaper reported: “The latest move appears to be a calculated and deliberate step taken by Australia against China and could prompt a response from Beijing”.

Senator Payne on Thursday said the new powers weren’t aimed at “any one country” and that Australia would continue to emphasise its commitment to engaging with China.

“It is most certainly not intended to harm Australia’s relationships with any countries,” she told ABC AM.

“I hope that if there are any concerns they will be raised with the government.”

Senator Payne rejected the assertion that Australian producers should prepare for more retaliation from China – despite wine and barley producers being slapped with tariffs, and seafood, coal and timber facing customs issues last year.

“Australia is operating in our national interests, we are very careful and very considered in that approach,” she said.

“It’s about ensuring we have a consistent approach to foreign policy.”

(continued)

>>13485047

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Asked this morning if the Biden administration had been in touch with Canberra over the issue, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “How we can work together as a global community and in a coordinated fashion as it relates to China is part of nearly every discussion the President has with a European partner or country in the region”.

Senator Payne’s move follows an examination of more than 1000 agreements with foreign countries struck by states and territories, local government and universities.

Announcing the new powers last year, Scott Morrison said Australia’s foreign policies and relationships “must always be set to serve Australia’s interests”.

“One of the most important jobs of the federal government is to protect and promote Australia’s national interest,” the Prime Minister said.

“It is vital that when it comes to Australia’s dealings with the rest of the world we speak with one voice and work to one plan.”

Senator Payne said she had decided to approve a proposed MOU between Indonesia’s Energy Ministry and Western Australia’s Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.

The agreements examined “reflect the richness and breadth of Australia’s international interests”, and the role played by Australia’s states, territories, universities and local governments “in advancing Australia’s interests abroad”, she said.

Senator Payne said she would continue to examine foreign arrangements notified under the scheme, which commenced in December last year, but expected the “overwhelming majority” to be unaffected.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews last year defended his state’s deal with China after the Morrison government announced in August that it would push through its Foreign Relations legislation, saying Victoria relied heavily on international students due to its lack of natural resources.

“I dare say that given the announcements the Prime Minister’s made … he’ll no doubt very soon be able to list a full range of other free-trade agreements and other markets that we’ll be sending Victorian products to. I look forward to that,” he said.

President Xi Jinping’s BRI program is used as a vehicle by the Chinese Communist Party to expand Beijing’s soft power reach into the region, but the deals have raised alarm in intelligence and security agencies over heightening levels of Chinese espionage and coercive influence.

Victoria’s BRI framework – deepening co-operation between the state and Beijing on infrastructure, innovation and trade development – was always expected to be one of the first major agreements to fall under Mr Morrison’s Foreign Relations Bill.

The Victorian government’s 2019 framework agreement with the National Development and Reform Commission of China saw both sides agree to the establishment of a working group to promote the BRI, to be jointly chaired by Mr Andrews and Vice Chairman Ning Jizhe of the NDRC.

Both sides agreed to closer communication – including visits and video conferences – to increase the “participation of Chinese infrastructure companies” in Victoria’s construction program; deepen research and innovation in high-end manufacturing, biotechnology and agriculture; enhance two way trade and strengthen co-operate in the management of ageing populations.

Under the agreement, Chinese infrastructure firms were encouraged to establish a presence in Victoria with a view to “participating in the tendering process for Victoria’s significant projects” while the state agreed to send regular delegations of local infrastructure companies to China.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/maris-payne-cancels-daniel-andrews-belt-and-road-agreements-with-china/news-story/9a1056e93952a9d5ba45df47de783e4c

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:30 a.m. No.13485059 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13485031

Scrapping BRI deal will hurt Australia: Chinese Embassy

Global Times - Apr 21, 2021

The Chinese Embassy in Australia on Wednesday criticized a move by the Australian government to cancel an agreement signed between the state of Victoria and China to cooperate under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), warning that the move will bring further damage to bilateral ties and will only hurt Australia.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that a memorandum of understanding and framework agreement Victoria signed with China in relation to the BRI had been cancelled under new Commonwealth veto laws, claiming "the arrangement is inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or hurts its foreign relations."

It is the first time the Australian federal government has used the new veto law, which permits it to cancel agreements states and territories strike with other countries, media reports. The law has been widely regarded as a move targeting China.

Responding to the move, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Australia said that the move is another "unreasonable and provocative" move taken by Australia against China.

"It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself," the spokesperson said.

The Australian move came as China-Australia bilateral relations is at near freezing point, and trade and economic ties have also been seriously disrupted, after Canberra launched a series of anti-China policies.

The latest move could further plunge already-frosty bilateral relations into an even lower abyss and threatens further serious disruptions to trade and economic ties, analysts said. That might warrant a corresponding response from China, they added.

"To tear up the BRI cooperation agreement from the federal perspective is a gross intervention in the development policy of the state, which will inevitably have a negative impact on the economic development of Victoria in the future," Song Wei, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Joining the BRI has brought considerable economic benefits to Victoria and created a large number of employment opportunities for the region. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also defended the agreement as "more jobs and more trade and investment for Victorians."

Furthermore, economic and trade relations between China and Australia will plunge even further, Song noted.

Following serious damage to Australian businesses due to tense diplomatic relations, Australian officials have said that they have been reaching out to Chinese officials to address trade issues but have not received any response. Chinese officials criticized Australia for its anti-China policies and urged Canberra to take concrete actions to rectify its mistakes.

The latest move is in the opposite direction and could further complicate the relationship, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that it completely disregarded the mutually beneficial and comprehensive strategic partnership between Australia and China.

"It was of major benefit to Victoria that the agreement at the time did not deal with any sensitive sectors or national security," noted Chen.

While the Australian government's decision is very damaging, it was expected, experts said.

"There was a belief that the agreement was targeting the BRI agreement when the federal government passed its Foreign Relations Bill, which allows the federal government to override any state agreement under the so-called national security threat," Chen said, adding that if Australia continues on the wrong path, "China will surely respond accordingly."

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221757.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 12:31 a.m. No.13485065 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5068 >>1279

>>13485031

Australia faces serious consequences for unreasonable provocation against China over BRI deals: observer

Global Times - Apr 22, 2021

1/2

Australia has essentially fired a major shot in what could lead up to a potential trade conflict with China and could face serious consequences for its "unreasonable provocation" against China, Chinese experts said on Wednesday after Canberra moved to use what has been viewed as an anti-China law to revoke agreements signed between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

By tearing up the agreements, Australia's federal government is not only going over its head to provoke China but also stepping over its state jurisdiction for its own political interests which could be a serious blow to both federal and local economies, observers said.

Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said that a memorandum of understanding and framework agreement the state of Victoria signed with China in relation to the BRI had been cancelled under the new Commonwealth veto laws, claiming that "the arrangement is inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or hurts its foreign relations."

It was the first time the Australian federal government used the new veto law, which allows it to cancel agreements states and territories strike with other countries, according to media reports. The law has been widely regarded as a move primarily targeting China.

Responding to the Australian move, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Australia expressed on Wednesday a "resolute opposition" to the Australian move, calling it another "unreasonable and provocative" action taken by Australia against China.

"It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations. It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations and will only end up hurting itself," the spokesperson said.

"The move is not only unreasonable to China but also to Victoria. It is also a deliberate provocation that goes beyond Australia's strength and could result in serious consequences," an observer told the Global Times on Wednesday.

While bilateral relations have already plunged to a near frozen state due to a series of hostile actions from Australia against China, including banning Chinese firm Huawei and interfering into China's internal affairs regarding Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the latest move marks a significant escalation that could push icy bilateral relations into an abyss, experts noted.

"By using this domestic law, Australia basically fired the first major shot against China in trade and investment," Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at the East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

(continued)

>>13485065

2/2

Chen said that despite previous moves by Australia against China, Beijing has not taken "official response" in terms of trade and investment. However, the latest move appears to be a calculated and deliberate step taken by Australia against China and could prompt a response from Beijing. "China will surely respond accordingly," he said.

Australian officials have repeatedly claimed that they have been reaching out to Chinese officials to resolve issues but have not received any response from the Chinese side. Chinese officials criticized Australia for its anti-China policies and urged Canberra to take concrete actions to rectify its mistakes.

"Australian officials are fully aware of the consequences of the move, but they went ahead with it… that clearly shows Australia's intention to further escalate tensions with China rather than deescalate," Chen said.

That could inflict damage on not only Victoria's local economy but also bilateral trade between China and Australia, experts said.

"To tear up the BRI cooperation agreement from the federal perspective is a gross intervention in the development policy of the state which will inevitably have a negative impact on the economic development of Victoria in the future," Song Wei, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday adding that "it would also worsen the China-Australia trade relationship."

Joining the BRI has brought considerable economic benefits to Victoria and created a large number of employment opportunities for the region, officials have said. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also defended the agreement as offering "more jobs and more trade and investment for Victorians."

Some Australian businesses, including winemakers and timber firms, have already reported losses in trade with China due to tense diplomatic relations. Last month, China imposed up to 218 percent anti-dumping duties on Australian wines for five years. China also suspended imports of timber and beef from Australia, citing violations of Chinese regulations.

Chinese officials stressed that those measures were taken in accordance with its domestic law and regulations to protect Chinese consumers.

"China has not officially responded to Australia's actions against China in terms of trade and investment," Chen said. However, Australia's intention to pick up a trade conflict with China is clear which warrants a response from China, according to Chen.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221766.shtml

Belt and Road Initiative: Inside Daniel Andrews’ secret China deal

DAMON JOHNSTON - APRIL 22, 2021

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In the midst of the first coronavirus lockdown, one of Daniel Andrews’ senior lieutenants walked into a room where public servants managing the government’s relations with China were sitting, and declared: “We need to get some positive stories up about the BRI! Find some!”

If the bureaucrats found some gold, Victorians were never told, because the “positive stories” were never sold to the public. Given the imprecise nature of the Belt and Road Initiative, it is possible the Andrews government didn’t promote them because they didn’t exist.

Last May, concern was taking hold within the Victorian government as the Premier’s BRI agreements were catching a dose of coronavirus, the pandemic which started in China.

In 2019, Andrews believed breaking ranks with the federal government and signing up to the BRI was a global economic coup for a state. Billions would flow into Victoria, and jobs would boom, he predicted.

But by 2020, with COVID-19 sweeping the world, and growing fears of China’s expansionism, Andrews found himself out beyond the wire. Concerns about the real agenda of the communist regime’s global investment initiative were now front and centre.

As diplomatic tensions exploded between the Morrison Government and China, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas made an astounding intervention to take the side of the communist dictatorship.

He said the “vilification” of China by the Australian government was “dangerous, damaging and probably irresponsible”.

It emerged the next day, on the front page of The Australian, that the Pallas intervention came as Victoria was locked in critical final negotiations with Beijing to sign the next stage of the BRI.

The “framework agreement” underpinning the Victoria-China deal was signed by the Premier and Vice-Chairman Ning Jizhe of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China on October 23, 2019.

The “framework agreement” had gone largely unnoticed. But in 2020, in the grip of the pandemic, it made extraordinary reading.

The “co-operation principles” in the nine-page agreement — entitled Jointly Promoting the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road — used exceptionally reverential language to mandate how Victoria should conduct its state-to-superpower relationship.

Article 1 states Victoria and China must: “Adhere to the principle of mutual consultation, joint efforts and shared benefits. Bearing the Silk Road spirit of peace, co-operation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

“Adhere to the principles of business-dominated, market-orientated and government-guided.

“The governments of both sides should strengthen co-ordination and guidance, as well as policy support to ensure long-term and sustainable co-operation … stick to all-round co-operation … with a focus on pushing forward important areas and major projects that have a bearing on the long-term interests of the two sides.”

(continued)

>>13485072

2/2

Andrews’ decision to side with Beijing can, in part, be explained by his longstanding close relations with the communist regime. For a progressive Labor leader, Andrews had spent years flirting with Beijing. In opposition, he toured the Great Wall and other sites. Then as premier, he inked the BRI deal.

With a dismissive wave of his hand, he set aside the brutality of the communist regime, compartmentalised the human rights abuses of the Uighurs and turned his back on the repression of the democratic protests in Hong Kong. This was all about investment and jobs, and nothing else mattered.

Adding to the intrigue of the Premier’s dealings with China was the emergence of a young Chinese-born self-proclaimed global influencer by the name of Jean Dong.

Dong, aged in her early 30s, who in 2011 was crowned the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant winner, had established the Australian China Belt and Road Initiative organisation and managed to get VIP access to the Premier to lobby him to sign the BRI.

In fact, he agreed to attend one of her promotional events. She had recruited former Liberal federal trade Minister Andrew Robb and former Labor Minister Lindsay Tanner to the organisation too.

And in taxpayer-funded contracts never fully explained, Andrews’ government paid Ms Dong’s company more than $36,000 to advise it on China’s global commercial play.

Ms Dong claimed, in a self-made YouTube promotional video, that she played a key role in getting Victoria to sign up as she embarked on what she described as her “journey of influence”.

Many questions about the BRI have been left unanswered by Andrews. While there is no shortage of Chinese links to some of the firms building the Premier’s major roads and tunnels, the actual investment deals that would flow from the BRI were never detailed.

It is likely, the BRI memorandum of understanding and the later framework agreement were all about laying down the broad parameters of the China-Victoria relationship, and Andrews hoped this would be the first steps to billions of dollars.

For China, landing the Premier’s signature, may well have been the main game because signing a state-based leader delivered the communist regime a global diplomatic victory.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/belt-and-road-initiative-inside-daniel-andrews-secret-china-deal/news-story/b40e9ef9c398d420d31727fe1f77a02b

>INFILTRATION NOT INVASION.

>https://qanon.pub/?q=infiltration

>https://qanon.pub/?q=china

>>13485072

>>13485075

Dan Andrews and China’s Aussie influencer

RACHEL BAXENDALE, REMY VARGA and DAMON JOHNSTON - MAY 25, 2020

1/2

Meet Jean Dong. She is the 32-year-old Chinese-Australian businesswoman who by her own description is on a global “journey of influence”.

A professionally filmed and edited YouTube biography provides an extraordinary insight into the life of the young woman who is emerging as a key player in the unfolding political row over Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s controversial decision to sign up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In the short promotional film, Ms Dong claims to have played key roles in bringing about the China-Australia free-trade agreement, and Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative deal, telling the story of her journey from student journalist in Beijing, to rubbing shoulders with Australian prime ministers and premiers and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Australian can reveal that Ms Dong, director and chief executive of the Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative company, was part of a youth delegation sent to China in 2014, alongside Mike Yang, a former adviser to Mr Andrews.

Mr Yang is credited with being the architect of the strong and enduring relationship between Mr Andrews and China’s communist government.

Asked whether the pair met each other on the trip, and whether they had an ongoing association, Ms Dong’s spokesman said only: “Mike Yang had left the Victorian government when ACBRI was asked to advise on BRI opportunities.”

Mr Yang, who was photographed with Mr Andrews on the Great Wall of China in 2013, has been a vice-president of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, an organisation criticised as being a front for spreading pro-Community Party policies and messages in Australia. Mr Yang has defended the group, describing it as nothing more than another Chinese community group.

The Australian revealed on Monday that ACBRI was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts valued at $36,850 to advise the Andrews government on the Belt and Road Inititiative.

Ms Dong’s 2015 promotional video, entitled Journey of Influence, shows her standing on a bayside promontory with Melbourne’s skyline behind her, speaking of the people she says have been inspirational “sparks” in her life.

It was recorded during her time as managing director of Spark Corporation Group — a business she has described as being focused on Chinese investment in Australian agriculture and resources and “expansion of Australian businesses into Chinese markets through strategic partnerships”.

“It was my mother that first inspired me that nothing comes easy, but never give up. At the age of three, I started playing the piano,” Ms Dong says, as the video cuts to her engaged in a musical performance.

“It was the first female journalists who lived in war zones and promoted peace through reporting the truth that inspired me to understand that having courage and purpose to always keep me motivated to fight for what I believe.

“At the age of 11, I challenged the old Chinese media rules and opened the doors for thousands of youth to raise their voice.”

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 1:13 a.m. No.13485166 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13485161

2/2

Ms Dong’s profile when she attended the Australia-China Youth Dialogue in Beijing with Mr Yang in 2014 said she had “enjoyed a rich experience as the editor of Youth newspaper (China) and national reporter for CCTV television station (China)”.

China Central Television is the predominant network in mainland China, owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

It is not clear which newspaper Ms Dong was describing in her reference to “Youth”. Asked whether she was referring to the China Youth Daily — run by the Communist Youth League of China — a spokesman for Ms Dong played down her role. “Jean has never been a career journalist,” he said. “She was briefly a volunteer reporter for a high school student newspaper before she came to Australia as a teenager.”

Ms Dong studied commerce at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 2009, and gained employment with consulting firm PwC.

“At the age of 21 I presented and convinced the PwC Australian leadership to consider Asia growth as a priority strategy and to achieve a clear advantage over its competitors,” Ms Dong says in her video as photos are displayed of her with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, then Tasmanian Liberal premier Will Hodgman and former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr.

“At the age of 26 I successfully facilitated a mutual and long-term economic collaboration agreement through China-Australia free-trade agreement for both countries,” she says as a photo appears of then prime minister Tony Abbott, Mr Xi and then trade minister Andrew Robb signing ChAFTA. The Australian has established that in 2014 Ms Dong entered the orbit of Mr Yang. The two emerging influential figures in the Chinese-Australian community were delegates at the 2014 Australia-Chinese Youth Dialogue in Beijing.

Mr Yang worked for Mr Andrews while he was opposition leader, from 2011 to 2013, and is credited with being the architect of the now Premier’s pro-China strategy. There were only 30 delegates to the Beijing conference.

While it is unclear if the pair interacted during the conference, it is the first known association between Ms Dong and someone close to the Andrews camp.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dan-andrews-and-chinas-aussie-influencer/news-story/1e1763bf4fd699f3eecafa7d27830913

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 1:15 a.m. No.13485169 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5174 >>1279

>>13485072

>>13485075

>>13485161

Chinese pageant winner Jean Dong’s meteoric journey to influence

DAMON JOHNSTON, REMY VARGA and RACHEL BAXENDALE - MAY 28, 2020

1/3

“We’ve now reached the most exciting part of the competition — we are about to award the crown of Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant 2011, and the winner is … contestant No 5, Dong Jin.”

The Crown casino ballroom in Melbourne erupts and the newly crowned queen radiates confidence, waving and soaking in the adulation. A sash, tiara and a giant $10,000 cheque are handed to Dong Jin, the young woman who, the hosts note, prevailed after an exhaustive five rounds of questions that “definitely weren’t easy”.

As the victor, she would go on to represent Australia in the Asia-Pacific finals of the pageant in New Zealand. Dong Jin’s crowning glory was an important step in her transformation into Jean Dong, who in 2011 was getting ready to embark on a self-proclaimed “journey of influence”.

It’s a road that in the past week has seen her emerge as a central figure in the political row over Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s decision to sign up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The Chinese-born former Adelaide University commerce student always seemed destined for bigger things. Her vanity biopic on YouTube says she started playing the piano at the age of three, and was soon playing at the “highest level”.

By 11, she was, by her account, challenging old Chinese media rules and opening the doors “for thousands of youth to raise their voices”.

And at 21, Dong says she was an emerging figure within consultancy PwC and “convinced the PwC Australian leadership to consider Asia growth as a priority strategy”.

Intelligence, drive, dynamism and relentless networking were Jean Dong’s door-openers as she moved to Melbourne and rapidly made her dream of becoming a successful businesswoman and influencer come true.

She easily rubbed shoulders with political leaders, including Malcolm Turnbull and former NSW premier Bob Carr, during this period.

Among the opportunities that winning the 2011 pageant afforded the 24-year-old was a return ticket to the following year’s event to hand over the crown to the next winner.

New alliances

In 2012, as she sat in the audience as the reigning pageant queen, Dong was in the company of two other Chinese Australians emerging in Victorian politics — Mike Yang and Gladys Liu.

Yang was the China adviser to then opposition leader Daniel Andrews.

He held the job from 2011-13, and is credited with being the architect of the now Premier’s strong and enduring — and now controversial — bond with the Chinese communist government.

The next year, Yang would accompany a youthful Andrews on an official trip to China, the pair photographed smiling on The Great Wall.

Liu, now the federal Liberal MP for the eastern Melbourne seat of Chisholm, was then an adviser to Victorian premier Ted Baillieu.

Two years later, while Liu was working for Baillieu’s successor, Denis Napthine, Dong would describe herself in a profile for the October 2014 Australia-China Youth Dialogue as being “heavily involved in advising (the) Victorian state government on Australian-Chinese engagement”.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 1:16 a.m. No.13485174 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5178

>>13485169

2/3

Liu worked for the Victorian Liberal Party from 2007-2014, running as an upper house candidate at the 2010 and 2014 state elections, having become known for her prodigious ability to raise funds and mobilise support from Melbourne’s Chinese community.

She came under fire last year after she failed to explain why she had been listed as a member of organisations linked to the Chinese government’s foreign interference operations when nominating to run for Chisholm.

In an interview with Sky News host Andrew Bolt, Liu refused to condemn Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea and continually evaded a question about whether she believed Chinese President Xi Jinping was a dictator.

Yang and Liu may have shared a Chinese heritage but they were drawn to different sides of politics. Ultimately, though, they would share very similar political problems: being at the centre of accusations they were pushing a pro-Chinese Communist Party agenda through Australia.

Chinese-language reports place them both at the 2012 gala event with Dong.

It is unclear if they met that night. While Dong, Yang and Liu were in the room, several other Chinese-Australians, who have since emerged as characters of interest in Chinese-Australian relations, were also involved in the pageant and its broadcast.

The year Dong was crowned Miss Cosmos, the event was organised by then general manager of Ostar, Holly Zhenghong Huang, who would later become one of exiled billionaire Huang Xiangmo’s key lieutenants.

Xiangmo was barred entry to Australia after the government rescinded his permanent residency in December 2018 following advice from ASIO over possible foreign political interference.

Huang later became general manager of Xiangmo’s property development company Yuhu Group.

Media mogul Tommy Jiang had taken the reins of Ostar by the time Dong returned to the Miss Cosmos pageant as the reigning queen.

The political donor until last year also ran a global Chinese-language media company in conjunction with the Chinese Communist Party.

Company records show Global CAMG Media Group is 60 per cent owned by Guoguang Century Media Consultancy, a subsidiary of state-owned media company China Radio International.

Jiang seems to have taken a move back from his media empire, stepping down as director of Ostar and CAMG last year, according to company records, although 10 radio licences remain in his name.

As well as being behind the Miss Cosmos beauty pageant, Jiang is credited as co-producing a video of Dong that championed her as an example of Chinese student excellence.

The Ostar-run Australian China Elite Business Awards donated $260,000 to the Labor Party in 2013-14, but Jiang is quoted in a Fairfax media article as saying he had donated to both sides.

China meeting

In 2014, it can be said with certainty that Dong and Yang had come into each other’s orbit again.

Both attended the Australia-Chinese Youth Delegation in Beijing. Yang had left Andrews’s office in 2013 but maintained good relations with his former boss, who in 2014 would be elected premier.

Dong, who says she worked as a “volunteer” journalist, presented to the delegation on the future of media.

She has dodged questions this week as to whether she met Yang on this trip, which was attended by up to 30 young people, saying only: “Mike Yang had left the Victorian government when ACBRI was asked to advise on BRI opportunities.”

(continued)

>>13485174

3/3

Belt and Road

On November 2, 2015, the 28-year-old established one company whose mission statement was crystal clear — Australia-China One Belt and One Road Initiative Ltd. Dong was the director, shareholder and secretary of this company.

Australian businessmen were appointed to the advisory board, and later two former federal ministers — then Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb and Labor finance minister Lindsay Tanner — would join the board.

Both, according to Dong, are paid nothing for their roles on ACBRI.

In 2016, trading as ACBRI, it quickly started building a profile from scratch.

Its rise to prominence was, in fact, exceptionally fast.

By May 2017, a little under 18 months after Dong formed ACBRI, she was flying, moving in the same circles as Andrews.

Dong boasted on a website linked to the Chinese consulate that ACBRI had been appointed as a consultant by Andrews to advise his government on what at that stage were secret negotiations to sign up to China’s global investment scheme, which critics claim is more about spreading ideology and power.

The website post states: “In May this year (2017), the centre (ACBRI) was appointed as a consultant unit by the Premier of Victoria.

“The next step will be to assist the state government to sign a co-operation agreement with the National Development and Reform Commission and to set up the ‘belt and road initiative’ office.

“The centre will be responsible for planning and implementing specific projects, and strive to make Victoria a model for Sino-Australian ‘belt and road initiative’ co-operation.”

Dong even pulled off a coup, getting the Premier to address an ACBRI event. The company’s website shows photos of Andrews and Dong together.

While the date of the event is unclear, the website, which was pulled down this week, quoted the Premier talking about a “new energy” in Chinese-Victorian relations.

Government grants

The blossoming relationship between Dong’s company and the Labor government was cemented with the granting of two taxpayer-funded, and undisclosed, consultancies totalling $36,850.

By now, Dong’s company was promoting China’s mega global play to the Premier and also being paid by his government to provide advice on the deal.

The ACBRI website says in 2015 Dong was invited to meet Mr Xi and was also invited by Australia’s then trade minister Robb to witness the signing of the ChAFTA trade deal.

By her own measure, Dong was rocketing along.

Experienced China watchers in Australia have been watching Dong’s progress closely over the past few years.

They describe her self-promotion as “brazen” and consistent with someone wanting to impress decision-makers in Beijing with her network of contacts in Australia.

One observer said she had gained a reputation in parts of the federal public service as being “pushy” and had a reputation for trying to “insinuate herself into meetings”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/chinese-pageant-winner-jean-dongs-meteoric-journey-to-influence/news-story/469e8bab247899a089f05f19f138e2b0

>>13477434

Australia definitely needs fixing. Let's start by pushing the Milky Bar Kid and his partner in crime off a cliff. That should clean things up.we need a clean slate not the same criminal element.

>>13459872

what needs to be done is strip dutton and morrison then "Tar and Feather them" Just evil individuals

>>13414649

he is not the former President, Mr Trump IS The President

Australia was blindsided when Five Eyes ally New Zealand backed away from China criticism

Anthony Galloway - April 22, 2021

1/2

Australian officials were blindsided when New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta criticised efforts to pressure China through the 70-year-old spy alliance known as the “Five Eyes”.

“We would much rather prefer to look for multilateral opportunities to express our interests on a number of issues,” Mahuta said on Monday.

The language is carefully couched but it has real consequences. Our nearest neighbour did not inform Australia of its position before Mahuta this week voiced her government’s discomfort about the “expanding remit” of Five Eyes. While Wellington’s conspicuous absence from a few joint statements had caused unease in Canberra over the past year, Australian officials did not know about New Zealand’s official opposition to using the spy network to exert diplomatic pressure on Beijing.

While there have been other incidents over the past year demonstrating how strained trans-Tasman relations have become, this development is likely to cause diplomatic friction in the coming weeks.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit New Zealand in two weeks to meet with his counterpart Jacinda Ardern. The future of Five Eyes will be a hot topic of discussion. The issue will be discussed at senior levels before then, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne and International Development Minister Zed Seselja flying to New Zealand on Wednesday to meet their counterparts.

While no one in the Australian government is seriously suggesting New Zealand is at risk of being booted out of the intelligence-sharing network, Canberra and Washington are concerned by Wellington’s attempt to curtail its expansion. In Canberra, joking references to the “Four Eyes” have only increased in recent months.

The Five Eyes group – which includes the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – was formed in 1941 to share secrets and signals intelligence during World War II.

Over the past few years, it has gradually expanded into a diplomatic grouping, issuing joint statements criticising China over crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang . While New Zealand has joined many of these statements, it was notably absent from some over the past year.

Tensions between Canberra and Wellington have been building for years, with Ardern repeatedly criticising Australia for deporting Kiwi citizens and cancelling the citizenship of dual citizens accused of terrorism. But it is the question of how to handle the growing assertiveness of China that has caused the biggest frictions.

In December last year, Mahuta offered to mediate a truce between Australia and China and said both parties needed to “concede in some areas where they are currently not seeing eye to eye”. Months later, New Zealand’s new Trade Minister Damien O’Connor suggested Australia should speak with more “respect” and “diplomacy” towards China.

Senior officials in the Australian government repeatedly put these interventions down to rookie ministers still learning their brief, and did not necessarily see them as the views of Ardern. However, the latest comments from Mahuta are different.

Australian officials were put off by the suggestion that New Zealand was charting a more “independent” course; they believe there’s nothing independent about using your trade relationship with China as a justification for not criticising Beijing. It is Australia, they argue, who has been the one standing on its two feet: the first to ban Chinese telecom giant Huawei from next-generation networks, first to enact foreign interference laws and ahead of the curve on blocking foreign investment in critical national infrastructure.

Some Australian officials also dispute Wellington’s assertion that there has been a significant “expansion” of Five Eyes, saying it has always been a diplomatic grouping.

(continued)

>>13485324

2/2

But there is also sympathy for Wellington’s position in Canberra. New Zealand has not yet faced the economic coercion, or the widespread espionage and foreign interference activity, that Australia has endured. Wellington is at least three years behind where Canberra is at and may only just be waking up to the threat.

While Ardern spoke with a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday, she backed in her foreign minister by suggesting that Five Eyes was not the most appropriate forum for issuing joint statements criticising China. She said the statements could be issued by wider groupings of countries or could be as narrow as Australia and New Zealand.

“Is that best done under the banner of a grouping of countries around a security intelligence platform, or is it best done around a group of countries with shared values – some of which might not belong to that five eyes partnership?” Ardern said.

Rory Medcalf, the head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said Five Eyes was an “extremely trusted and long-serving intelligence-sharing arrangement” and that was always going to translate into co-ordinating policy as well.

“If you trust countries enough to share your most sensitive secrets with them, then surely you are going to often co-ordinate with them on areas of shared interest,” he said.

“The point that Mahuta made, and Ardern has reinforced, is that New Zealand would look at other arrangements for co-ordinating policy arrangements. Well of course that’s the case, and Australia has been doing the same thing, whether it’s through the QUAD, bilaterals, trilaterals, etc. If that’s New Zealand’s position then that’s not so gravely at odds with Australia’s position or anyone else’s.”

New Zealand’s bid to contain the Five Eyes goes against the grain of where the group is headed. Not only is the grouping being expanded into a strategic and economic partnership to counter China, but countries including Japan want to join it.

Professor Medcalf said an ideal future arrangement would be “Five Eyes-plus” whereby other countries such as Japan and France are incrementally brought into the intelligence-sharing arrangement but cautioned “you can’t substitute for 70 years of trust overnight”.

“Although Japan is a logical place to look, you have 70 years of institutionalised and highly personalised trust among intelligence and security agencies in the existing Five Eyes countries,” he says. “Our intelligence and security agencies trust the agencies of their Five Eyes partners almost as much as they trust themselves.”

Jonathan Pryke, director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program, said New Zealand had been “more insulated” to some of the more serious threats of China’s growing assertiveness than other Fives Eyes nations.

He said there were clearly tensions in the relationship between Australia and New Zealand and he hoped face-to-face meetings between ministers and prime ministers could sort out the differences.

“Maybe these are strongly held convictions from the New Zealanders and it may reflect the start of a growing schism in the Five Eyes community,” he said.

For the time being, Canberra wants to ensure that does not eventuate.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-was-blindsided-when-five-eyes-ally-new-zealand-backed-away-from-china-criticism-20210421-p57l5d.html

Australia reminds Kiwis of Five Eyes value

Daniel McCulloch - APRIL 22 2021

Australia has reminded New Zealand of the importance of the Five Eyes alliance during a meeting of trans-Tasman foreign ministers.

Marise Payne met with her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington on Thursday.

Ms Mahuta raised eyebrows ahead of the diplomatic trip by arguing the Five Eyes group should focus solely on intelligence sharing.

She does not want the network straying to other matters, such as speaking out against China for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Senator Payne stressed the importance of the Five Eyes alliance during the bilateral meeting.

"Australia will continue to emphasise the vital nature of the Five Eyes alliance in security and in intelligence," she told ABC radio ahead of the meeting.

The foreign minister refused to say whether Ms Mahuta's comments had placed a strain on the coalition.

"There is a depth of commitment in the relationship between Australia and New Zealand that is very significant," she said.

"In terms of the Five Eyes, what I have found in the last year in particular and certainly in the last little while, is a very significant level of engagement across counterparts."

However, during a joint press conference after the meeting, Senator Payne played down the starkly different approaches to the alliance between Australia and New Zealand.

She did not criticise New Zealand for its unwillingness to support moving Five Eyes "out of the shadows" and expanding its remit into public diplomacy.

"What we see in Five Eyes, which I think is very much shared across the members, is a vital strategic alliance that is key to our security and intelligence interests," Senator Payne told reporters.

"A lot of issues with which we deal are dealt with in the shadows, but not all, and some have been able to be dealt with openly and publicly through the Five Eyes process."

Ms Mahuta said while the five countries shared common values and principles, the alliance was primarily focused on intelligence and security.

"It's not necessary all the time on every issue to invoke Five Eyes as your first port of call in terms of creating a coalition of support around particular issues in the human rights space," she said.

Senator Payne said the allies could address issues of concern in whatever forum they deemed appropriate and consistent with their national interests.

"But our respect for each other - Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada - is enduring and continuing."

At a separate media conference, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country's relationship with the alliance had not changed.

"Five Eyes remains our most important security and intelligence partnership and that has not changed," she told reporters.

"New Zealand also has an independent foreign policy, and that equally has not changed."

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7220154/australia-reminds-kiwis-of-five-eyes-value/?cs=9676

>>13485327

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

Today’s Foreign Ministerial Consultations in #Wellington, our first face-to-face meeting since COVID-19, allowed for a deep discussion as friends about shared priorities, including our Pacific partnerships, as we navigate 2021 together.

Statement bit. ly/3xhN3qj

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1385098085072662530

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 2:33 a.m. No.13485337 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

>>13485327

>>13485332

Strengthening trans-Tasman ties: Australia-New Zealand Foreign Minister Consultations

Senator the Hon Marise Payne

Joint statement with

The Hon Nanaia Mahuta

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Minister of Local Government

Associate Minister of Maori Development

New Zealand

22 April 2021

New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, met in Wellington today for biannual Australia-New Zealand Foreign Minister Consultations.

Minister Payne’s visit is the first official visit to New Zealand by Australia since both countries imposed border restrictions in response to COVID-19 in March 2020.

The Ministers welcomed the chance to meet in person for the first time, following the commencement of two-way quarantine-free travel on 19 April.

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss ways to continue and deepen cooperation between Australia and New Zealand to meet the shared challenges facing our region.

New Zealand and Australia stand together in facing a challenging global environment. Ministers discussed the importance of promoting our shared interests in an open, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific. They reaffirmed their intent to work together to preserve the liberal international order that has underpinned stability and prosperity in the region, and to foster a sustainable regional balance where all countries- large and small – can freely pursue their legitimate interests.

The Ministers discussed responses to increasing pressure on the international rules-based system and rising protectionism, and agreed on the need for coordinated regional and global action on issues such as human rights and climate change, including work Australia and New Zealand are doing together to strengthen the climate resilience of our Pacific island partners.

The Ministers also highlighted the importance of strengthening gender equality, including promoting women in leadership in the Pacific and initiatives on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Minister Payne and Minister Mahuta agreed on the value of coordinating with other likeminded countries and building broad coalitions on issues of common interest.

Ministers also reiterated both governments’ commitment to a resilient and united Pacific region underpinned by robust regional architecture, and to continuing to help Pacific island countries manage the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, including support for the rollout of vaccines.

The two Ministers welcomed progress on the Australia-New Zealand Single Economic Market agenda. They acknowledged the contribution quarantine-free travel would make to the economic recovery in both countries, especially in the travel and tourism sectors. The Ministers also discussed the situation of New Zealanders living and working in Australia.

The Ministers reaffirmed the closeness and importance of the Australia-New Zealand relationship.

“Australia is New Zealand’s closest and most important international partner. It’s appropriate that Minister Payne was the first counterpart I have welcomed from overseas since becoming Foreign Minister” said Nanaia Mahuta.

“New Zealand also looks forward to welcoming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for our annual leaders’ talks.”

Marise Payne expressed appreciation for New Zealand’s warmth and hospitality. “I look forward to continuing our strong tradition of trans-Tasman partnership, working closely with Minister Mahuta to promote even closer economic ties and personal connections between Australia and New Zealand.”

https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/strengthening-trans-tasman-ties-australia-new-zealand-foreign-minister-consultations

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 2:41 a.m. No.13485346 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5350 >>1245

Former NSA boss says misinformation a threat to democracy

Max Mason - Apr 22, 2021

A former director of America’s National Security Agency says misinformation is one of the greatest threats to democratic governments, and social media companies need to take more responsibility for content being pushed out on their platforms.

Admiral (retired) Michael Rogers, who is also a former commander of US Cyber Command within the Defence Department, said the challenge presented by misinformation – or fake news – campaigns, largely through social media, can’t be solved by governments or private business alone.

“The one that is hardest for a democracy to deal with is the disinformation side, and the Russians are the best there,” Admiral Rogers said in a streamed video chat with Alastair MacGibbon, former cyber-security adviser to Australia’s Prime Minister and now chief strategy officer at local cyber security firm CyberCX.

“They’re the most aggressive about it – you saw it play out in their attempts to influence the 2016 presidential cycle for us,” Admiral Rogers said.

“They’ve acted very aggressively to use cyber as a tool to keep us in somewhat of a disarray internally against each other, to keep us so we’re destabilised, to undermine our institutions.

“That is hard to deal with in a democracy.”

Admiral Rogers, who worked under former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, joined CyberCX’s global cyber-security advisory board in November 2020.

Government slow to grasp fake news

Facebook, Twitter and Google have been heavily criticised since the 2016 US election, which brought the surprise victory of Mr Trump.

The social media sites and search engine were blamed for circulation of false stories before the election, and the continued spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory that claims a ring of Satan-worshipping paedophiles are battling Mr Trump.

Facebook and Twitter, among other social media platforms, have been widely criticised after they were used by Trump supporters to organise riots and the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington in January 2021.

Admiral Rogers said that when Facebook, Twitter and Google were founded there was little appreciation of how ingrained they would become in society.

“In the United States, we have these series of conventions, for example, that says if you are electronic media or print, a newspaper or a television station, there is a series of broadcast standards you must adhere to.

“When we looked at this for social media companies, and you have to go back 20 years now, we said to ourselves ‘Well, people don’t really rely on social media as the primary distribution of content, as their primary way of getting information, as their primary way of developing views of the world around them on different issues. So we don’t really need to put any conventions or standards in place, because it’s secondary, everyone is going to continue to focus on newspapers and television.’

“Well, how’s that played out for us?

“I do think we need to acknowledge in the social media world, those who host platforms, who project content, have some responsibilities here in this. It can’t be just ‘Hey, it’s not my job, I’m just a host, the content is up to others, I just provide the forum.’”

Admiral Rogers said the US, until 2016, did not fully appreciate the level of misinformation that Russia was, and continues to, execute.

“It’s not just about a single event like an election. You’re watching them sustain this effort over time. I would argue you see it in Australia and other nations around the world.

“Backlash may be too strong a characterisation, but there’s definitely a discussion now that didn’t exist 10 years ago about what is the role of tech within our societies, and what kind of oversights or regulator regimes should be considered for them,” he said.

Another major concern was the use of cyberspace to disrupt day-to-day activities in nations across the world, including critical infrastructure such as power, water and finance, Admiral Rogers said.

In December 2017, Russian government-backed hackers were credited with a major cyber attack on the Ukraine, which cut power across the northern area of its capital Kiev.

“We’ve seen unsurpassed economic activity, huge growth, great economic prosperity powered by this hyper-connected world we live in,” Admiral Rogers said.

“The flip side is this dependency makes us ever more vulnerable.”

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/former-nsa-boss-says-misinformation-a-threat-to-democracy-20210421-p57l77

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 22, 2021, 2:42 a.m. No.13485350 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

>>13485346

CyberCX Cyber Dialogue: In conversation with Admiral Michael Rogers and Alastair MacGibbon

CyberCX

21 Apr 2021

CyberCX Chief Strategy Officer Alastair MacGibbon is joined by Admiral Michael Rogers (ret.) for an in-depth conversation about key trends in the global cyber security threat landscape, predictions for how the behaviour of cyber criminals and nation-state actors will evolve in the year ahead and the latest findings from the CyberCX Annual Threat Assessment.

Mike was a four-star Admiral who served under Presidents Obama and Trump, headed the US National Security Agency, commanded the US Cyber Command and was chief of the Central Security Service.

He has a unique understanding of the world’s most advanced cyber security technologies and tactics, an intimate knowledge of international threat actors and behaviours, and deep insights into how geopolitical security trends are impacting public and private organisations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S565KEuUAgw

>https://qanon.pub/?q=rogers

Anonymous ID: 0a3452 April 22, 2021, 11:25 a.m. No.13487880 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1295

How the arrest of two accused Australian paedophiles saved children as young as SIX from a horrific 'den of child abuse run by female pimps' in the Philippines

Three children were rescued from a den of alleged abuse in the Philippines

Kids aged from six to 17 were removed from harm thanks to Australian intel

AFP tipped off Philippines law enforcement after arresting man, 66, in Brisbane

A 40-year-old NSW man was later found to be paying same Filipino woman

Two female alleged pimps, both aged 27, were arrested in Manila

Three children have been rescued from a den of alleged abuse in the Philippines thanks to the arrests of two accused predators by Australian authorities.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the kids, aged between six and 17, were freed last month from the Manila hovel where child abuse was allegedly livestreamed.

Not only were the children removed from harm's way, but the Philippine National Police also caught two alleged female 'pimps', both aged 27.

The children's rescue was brought about by Australian intelligence after Federal Police officers arrested a Brisbane man, 66, last August.

Police allegedly found a disturbing trove of child abuse material linked to the Philippines at the man's Jamboree Heights home, in the city's south-west.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9498463/Filipino-children-rescued-abuse-livestreaming-den-Manila-Australian-arrests.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 12:21 a.m. No.13493224 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3238 >>1279

Hu Xijin 胡锡进 Tweet

China state-affiliated media

A formal agreement has been cancelled so easily. Australians, is your country a uncivilized rogue that deserves stern admonition and punishment?

https://twitter.com/HuXijin_GT/status/1384905850423291912

AFP News Agency @AFP

#BREAKING Australia cancels state's Belt and Road deal with China

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1384821548826177538

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 12:23 a.m. No.13493238 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1279

>>13493224

Australia leads the world confronting China, for better or worse

Eryk Bagshaw - April 21, 2021

There will be those who dismiss the scrapping of Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement as merely the end of a memorandum of understanding – a deal that commits no funds and no projects while offering nothing but trouble for its two major players.

But nothing could be further from the truth. For China, the BRI represents its greatest global project. It’s a multi-trillion dollar investment vehicle through which Beijing projects its influence and prestige throughout the world.

“The East is rising and the West is declining,” China’s President Xi Jinping said in March. The BRI, which sweeps across Asia, the Pacific and into Europe, connecting trade, transport, digital networks and infrastructure, is the embodiment of that ethos.

Australia has already infuriated China by banning Huawei and implementing world-leading foreign interference legislation. On Wednesday it set a global precedent by tearing up an agreement similar to one that China has signed with dozens of other countries.

Australia’s relationship with China was already broken. This decision pushes the repair job out by years, if not decades.

Witness China’s deputy ambassador Wang Xining at the National Press Club on Wednesday three years after the Huawei decision: “Australia was the first to ban Huawei in the domestic telecommunication industry and then Australia even persuaded others to follow suit,” he said.

“By doing so I think Australia connived with the United States in a very unethical, illegal, immoral suppression of Chinese companies.”

Beijing’s wrath over the BRI decision will be sharper and longer. After nearly four months of relative calm in the rollicking Australia-China relationship, the temptation for the Morrison government must have been to let the agreement sit and gather dust.

But this also misstates the fundamental judgment of Australia’s foreign policy leaders. The BRI deal should never have been signed. In doing so, Victoria ventured ignorantly into the waters of sovereignty. Treasurer Tim Pallas subsequently questioned Australia’s foreign policy and Beijing revelled in the disunity.

After the government legislated the ability to tear up the agreement if they wanted to, some in diplomatic circles in Canberra believed it had achieved what it desired. It had reasserted control over rogue state policies and sent a signal to Beijing that no more such deals were to be done.

Canberra could have gone through the New Zealand and European models. These countries told their telecommunications operators that they should not use Huawei, but they did not explicitly ban the Chinese company. They are likely to take a similar tack with many of their approaches to the BRI.

But Australia, which knows the dangers of Chinese Communist Party influence better than most, chose not to take that path. Now, more trade strikes are on the table. Half a dozen industries covering $20 billion in trade have already been hit. Education and yes - even iron ore - could be in the firing line.

Australia is once again a world leader. And its exporters will pay the price.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-leads-the-world-confronting-china-for-better-or-worse-20210421-p57laj.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 12:56 a.m. No.13493355 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3366 >>1245

‘Bankable’: Morrison promotes Australia’s climate record at US summit

Matthew Knott - April 23, 2021

Washington: Scott Morrison has told a summit of world leaders that Australia is on a pathway to achieve net zero emissions as he hit out at carbon taxes for destroying industries and eliminating jobs.

Suggesting that other countries may make impressive climate pledges while failing to deliver on them, Morrison said the international community could rely on Australia because it only made “bankable” promises on emissions reduction.

The beginning of the summit, which is being held virtually, was marred by technical glitches. Morrison’s microphone was muted for the early part of his speech, meaning those watching could not make out what he was saying.

“Mr Prime Minister, I’m not sure we’re hearing you here,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before the sound was restored.

Morrison’s speech followed an announcement by US President Joe Biden of an ambitious new target of a 50-52 per cent cut in America’s emissions by 2030 based on 2005 levels.

The Japanese, British and Canadian prime ministers also used the summit to commit to new 2030 targets.

Morrison struck a different tone from many other leaders by saying that Australia was focused on the question of how it could reduce greenhouse emissions through technology rather than setting targets.

“Future generations will thank us not for what we have promised but for what we deliver and on that score Australia can be relied upon,” Morrison said.

“It’s right to speak to our ambitions at this summit, it’s also right to focus on performance.”

Morrison assured Biden and the other world leaders that they could “always be sure the commitments Australia makes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are bankable”.

“We have proven performance, transparent emissions accounting and transformative technology targets to unlock pathways to net zero,” he said.

Without announcing a specific timeline, Morrison said: “Australia is on the pathway to net zero.

“Our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can through technology that enables and transforms our industries, not taxes that eliminate them and the jobs and livelihoods they support and create – especially in our regions.”

Other leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stressed the importance of carbon price mechanisms, such as carbon taxes, in their speeches to the summit.

Morrison said that Australia was well on its way to “meet and beat” its Paris Accord commitments and that it would update its emissions reduction strategy before the November climate summit in Glasgow.

In his opening speech to the summit, organised by the White House, Biden described climate change as the “existential crisis of our time”.

“This is the decisive decade,” he said.

“The United States isn’t waiting. We are resolving to take action.”

Biden said the world faces a “moment of peril but also extraordinary possibilities” when it comes to tackling climate change.

“The countries that take decisive action now to create the industries of the future will be the ones that reap the benefits of the clean energy boom that’s coming,” he said.

“We really have no choice. We have to get this done.”

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan would strive to cut its 2030 emissions by 46 per cent from 2013 levels, up from its earlier goal of 26 per cent. Suga said Japan would try to push the reduction as high as 50 per cent.

“It will not be easy,” Suga said.

Trudeau announced that Canada would aim to reduce its emissions by 40-45 per cent by 2030 based on 2005 levels, up from 30 per cent previously.

Canada was on track to “blow past” its previous climate target, he said.

Many speakers at the summit praised Biden for again claiming a leadership role for the US on climate change after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Accords.

“I’m delighted to see the United States is back,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/bankable-morrison-promotes-australia-s-climate-record-at-us-summit-20210422-p57lo4.html

>>13493355

Scott Morrison resists pressure for new emissions target at Joe Biden climate summit

Barbara Miller - 23 April 2021

1/3

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to bow to pressure from the US to use a global climate summit convened by President Joe Biden to announce an increased target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We are well on the way to meet our Paris commitments," Mr Morrison told the summit, which laid bare the gulf between Australia and many of its key allies in how best to tackle the climate crisis.

"We'll update our long-term emissions reduction strategy for Glasgow", he said, referring to the COP26 climate action conference to be held in Scotland in November.

That leaves Australia aiming for a reduction of between 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, an ambition about half the size of the revised US goal.

Mr Biden announced the US would aim to increase its Paris target to a reduction in emissions of between 50 to 52 per cent by 2030 on 2005 levels.

He told the 40 countries invited to the virtual gathering that there was a "moral imperative" to take action.

"The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. But the cost of inaction keeps mounting," Mr Biden said.

"The United States isn't waiting."

Ahead of the meeting, US officials had said they expected all countries, including Australia, to come to the table with increased ambitions on reducing emissions if there was to be a chance of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius and ideally closer to 1.5 degrees on pre-industrial levels.

"It's insufficient to follow the existing trajectory and hope that they [Australia] will be on a course to deep decarbonization and getting to net zero emissions by mid-century," a senior official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The official said Australia now "recognises that there's going to have to be a shift".

If the running order at the summit was anything to go by no-one was truly expecting that shift to be announced anytime soon.

Morrison's speech plagued by technical difficulties

Mr Morrison was called on as 21st of 27 speakers, well behind China, Russia, Japan, the UK, South Korea and Canada.

Despite the late hour in Canberra, Bangladesh, Brazil and Bhutan were all afforded the opportunity to speak ahead of Australia.

State Department spokesman Ned Price later told the ABC the he "wouldn't read more into the order or the sequence than is necessary".

"I do not think order was indicative of anything other than temporal sequencing," he said.

By the time Mr Morrison's turn came, Mr Biden had already excused himself from the session.

When Mr Morrison did begin speaking some of his words were lost due to technical difficulties that plagued a number of segments in the summit.

"Mr Prime Minister I'm not sure we are hearing you," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ventured, before another long pause as Mr Morrison was seen but not heard.

Mr Morrison outlined his stated belief that technology trumps climate action targets.

He did not commit Australia to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, as more than 100 nations have now done, including the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Korea.

China has said it hopes to reach net zero emissions by 2060, an aspiration President Xi Jinping repeated at the summit, telling world leaders that "to protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to improve the environment is to boost productivity".

"The truth is as simple as that", Mr Xi stated, saying China was looking forward to working with the US and the international community, "to jointly advance global environmental governance".

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 1:01 a.m. No.13493368 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3372

>>13493366

2/3

Beeps, echoes and leaders on mute

Technical glitches arose from the beginning of the summit. US Vice-President Kamala Harris's voice echoed as she kicked off the two-day summit by introducing Mr Biden.

That set a tone for the event, which also featured random beeps, still more echoes and the accidental disclosure that French President Emmanuel Macron's speech seemed to be taped.

Mr Macron was just minutes into a speech about the urgency of climate action when Mr Blinken cut in, saying: "Thank you very much Mr President, I now turn the floor to the President of the Russian Federation, his Excellency Vladimir Putin."

Mr Macron's voice continued, however, while the camera switched to the Washington meeting room where Mr Biden, climate envoy John Kerry and Mr Blinken were looking at Mr Putin on a big screen.

The sound then cut as a puzzled-looking Mr Putin could be seen consulting with an aide as he waited for his microphone to be opened.

For more than a minute, the Russian leader was silent on screen, staring forward and not talking except to turn his head toward aides.

"The floor is now to the President of the Russian Federation, Mr Vladimir Putin. Mr President," Mr Blinken continued, inviting Mr Putin to speak.

Mr Putin kept waiting as Mr Blinken could be heard saying off-screen: "We may be getting a tape, because that was a tape of Macron."

Moments later, Mr Putin delivered his speech, after which Mr Macron's speech started again from the beginning.

"We had some technical difficulties," Mr Blinken said.

Mr Macron's office confirmed that his speech had been pre-recorded, as he would be travelling to Chad to attend the funeral of late President Idriss Deby.

During several leaders' talks, phone-dialling beeps intruded and there were several times when stray voices talked over leaders.

Australia creating 'hydrogen valley'

On net zero emissions Mr Morrison said the goal was "to get there as soon as we possibly can, through technology that enables and transforms our industries.

"Not taxes that eliminate them and the jobs and livelihoods they support and create, especially in our regions.

"For Australia, it is not a question of if or even by when for net zero, but importantly, how."

In the run-up to the summit Mr Morrison announced investments of $275 million in regional hydrogen hubs and $263.7 million for carbon capture and storage projects and hubs.

He told the meeting Australia aspired "to produce the cheapest green hydrogen in the world".

"Mr President in United States, you have the Silicon Valley. Here in Australia, we are creating our own hydrogen valley," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison said future generations would "thank us not for what we have promised, but what we deliver. And on that score, Australia can always be relied upon."

Earlier this week the Prime Minister suggested the desire for climate targets was strongest among urban elites, when he said Australia would "not achieve net zero in the cafes, dinner parties and wine bars of our inner cities."

(continued)

>>13493368

3/3

'Nothing wrong with bunny hugging'

UK leader Boris Johnson indirectly addressed this vein of thought when he told the summit: "This is not all about some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging."

"There's nothing wrong with bunny hugging but you know what I'm driving at friends and colleagues. This is about growth and jobs," Mr Johnson said, after this week announcing his country would aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 78 per cent on 1990 levels by 2035.

"'Cake have eat' is my message to you", Mr Johnson said.

Jobs, jobs, jobs was also the mantra Mr Biden was attempting to drive home as he addressed the summit, outlining a vision where workers were gainfully employed building a cleaner energy grid, capping abandoned oil and gas wells and building the next generation of electric vehicles.

The summit was an attempt within his first 100 days in office for the US to re-assert itself as a leader and reliable partner in action on climate change, following a disastrous four years on that front under former US president Donald Trump, who walked away from the Paris agreement.

"It is so good to have the US back on our side in the fight against climate change", said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said the summit had been a success for the US.

"I think the most important thing that this summit did was that it happened, it's a coming-out party in a sense for the US," she said.

"[It's] saying that we're back."

A number of countries did come to the table with increased targets, including Japan which announced that it aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46 per cent by 2030 compared with 2013 levels, up from 26 per cent; and Canada, which was aiming for a 40 to 45 per cent reduction by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from 30 per cent.

Ms Gross said "there's time" for other countries including Australia to follow suit ahead of the much-anticipated COP26 in Glasgow.

If Australia doesn't, it may find itself slipping even further down the speaking order.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-23/scott-morrison-rejects-us-calls-for-new-climate-change-target/100087492

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 1:41 a.m. No.13493449 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Israeli minister to be prosecuted over alleged interference in Malka Leifer extradition

Cait Kelly - Apr 23, 2021

A former Israeli Health Minister is set to be prosecuted for interfering in the Malka Leifer case by attempting to prevent her extradition to Australia.

Ms Leifer, 54, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this month and is facing 74 charges of child sex abuse, including multiple counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child.

She is accused of abusing three sisters – Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper – during her time as headmistress of Adass Israel School in Elsternwick between 2001 and 2008.

Israeli media is now reporting the former health minister Yaakov Litzman will be prosecuted for trying to prevent Ms Leifer from being extradited to Australia to face justice.

The Israeli police fraud unit has been investigating Mr Litzman for several months after it was alleged he pressured psychiatrists to state Ms Leifer was unfit to stand trial in Australia while the extradition case was ongoing.

It is alleged he contacted the three senior psychiatrists who were assessing Ms Leifer on multiple occasions, offering them promotions to find her unfit to travel.

Dassi Erlich previously told AAP she had long believed he had tried to interfere with the case, saying she had met him in Israel.

“He did not seem to want to talk to us until [he was] repeatedly asked to have a word,” Ms Erlich said.

“He looked us in the eye and said – ‘I do not support extradition, and I will not, But I will not intervene.’”

Manny Waks, chief executive of VoiCSA, said his organisation had concerns Mr Litzman had been interfering with the case.

“Having sat through most of the 70 plus court hearings in Israel, it was clear to me, and to many others, that something was amiss,” Mr Waks said.

“When it was announced that Israel Police was investigating Litzman for interfering in this prolonged case, and ultimately recommended that he be indicted, it all made sense.”

The sisters are among 10 witnesses set to give evidence against Leifer in a five-day Melbourne Magistrates Court committal hearing scheduled for September.

Ms Leifer has long maintained her innocence.

Last year the deputy health minister’s office released a statement denying any wrongdoing, continuing to say Mr Litzman was cooperating fully with police.

Ms Leifer flew to Israel 2008 but was arrested there in February 2018 over allegations of child sexual abuse linked to her time as head of the school in the 2000s.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/04/23/israeli-health-minister/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 1:43 a.m. No.13493451 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

A-G leaning toward indicting UTJ MK Ya’acov Litzman

If the accusations are true, Litzman’s meeting with a key witness in the Malka Leifer extradition case would constitute witness tampering.

YONAH JEREMY BOB - APRIL 22, 2021

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit is leaning toward indicting top United Torah Judaism MK and Construction and Housing Minister Ya’acov Litzman for fraud, witness tampering and breach of public trust for allegedly interfering in the extradition of alleged pedophile Malka Leifer, subject to a pre-indictment hearing.

Officials would not confirm the leak, though there was a clear sense that the decision was impending.

In August 2019, police recommended indicting then-deputy health minister Litzman.

In a second case, the police had recommended indicting Litzman for bribery, while police had closed a third case against Litzman due to a combination of insufficient evidence and charges which had expired due to the statute of limitations for when a case could be brought.

Despite police recommendations, Mandelblit makes the final decision about whether or not to accept the prosecution’s and the police recommendations.

In 2019, the police said that they found sufficient evidence to charge Litzman with trying to influence the opinion of psychiatrists appointed by the Ministry of Health in order to aid Leifer and prevent her extradition to Australia where she was wanted for dozens of cases of sexual abuse that she is accused of committing while serving as a head of school in Melbourne.

In a statement, the police said that Litzman, a Gur hassid, attempted to pressure the Jerusalem district psychiatrist into falsely stating that Leifer was mentally unfit to be extradited to Australia to stand trial.

The same psychiatrist who originally filed an opinion stating that Leifer was competent to stand trial, allegedly switched his opinion completely after pressure by Litzman.

If true, Litzman’s meeting with the key witness in the extradition case would constitute witness tampering.

He also is accused of threatening other medical professionals at the ministry if they did not write reports in a way favorable to Leifer.

Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 amid allegations that she had sexually abused students at the Adass Yisroel school in Melbourne.

She is wanted on 74 charges of child sexual abuse.

Leifer was arrested in Israel in 2014, but was released after being deemed mentally unfit for the legal proceedings. She was later rearrested after an undercover investigation found that she lived a normal life and was mentally fit to face extradition.

In January, Leifer was finally extradited.

A second case investigated by police was about Litzman’s alleged involvement in trying to influence officials in the ministry to work on behalf of a food establishment whose owner is close to the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) politician.

Litzman allegedly frequented the establishment during the period in dispute and allegedly tried to prevent the closure of the company, which had been found to pose a health hazard to the public after several people became sick by consuming its products.

After health ministry inspectors initially closed the establishment, Litzman ordered a new on-site tour including both him and the officials who had closed it.

As part of the tour he told the officials that it should be reopened and that he personally had been eating the food and was fine.

Allegedly Litzman even asked about the officials’ salaries in order to probe whether they could be bribed.

Though the officials did not go for this offer, Litzman could still be indicted for attempted bribery.

The police said that the investigation found sufficient evidence against Litzman to charge him with bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and breach of trust.

The third case, which was closed by police, included potential charges that Litzman tried to influence officials in the health and other ministries to help various prisoners, especially those with sex-crime convictions, to get early releases.

While many convicts get early releases, ministers are prohibited from involvement in the process which is based on a series of recommendations by professionals about different issues coming from different ministries.

Multiple officials on Litzman’s staff who were also suspects in some of the above cases will also reportedly get off.

After the 2019 police recommendation, Litzman’s office responded, “[Deputy] Minister Litzman has worked throughout his years for the benefit of Israeli citizens, with complete transparency and by law. The office of Litzman has a clear, open-door policy to assist the public. This is without discrimination against anyone, and without clarifying the status of those who call for assistance, except under the law and [with] integrity.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/ag-leaning-toward-indicting-utj-mk-yaacov-litzman-666080

We will never surrender to Beijing: Peter Dutton

GEOFF CHAMBERS, OLIVIA CAISLEY and WILL GLASGOW - APRIL 23, 2021

1/2

Defence Minister Peter Dutton says Australia will never surrender its sovereignty to appease China after the Morrison government tore up Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing.

Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today show on Friday that Australia has been clear with China from the start and would not “surrender” to threats of retaliation after Beijing threatened to take legal action over the scuppered deal.

“We’re not going to have our values compromised, we aren’t going to surrender our sovereignty,” he said.

It comes as Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne on Wednesday announced that two Belt and Road agreements would be axed under new laws because they were not in the national interest.

Mr Dutton also lashed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for “doing the wrong thing” by signing the agreement with China in the first place.

“He shouldn’t be entering into agreements that aren’t in our national interest…,” he said. “We are standing up for who we are. We’ve got very important diplomatic relations with many countries including China, but we aren’t going to be compromised by the principles of the Communist Party of China.”

Mr Dutton warned that China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the region was a “real problem”.

“It is a real problem when you look at our part of the world, you look at military bases, when you look at the cyber attacks, all of that is not the action of a friend,” he said.

“We need to make sure that, yes, we have an important trading relationship, but China and others need to understand that Australia is not going to be bullied and we’re standing up for our beliefs and that will continue. It will not change.”

Mr Dutton was joined on the show by deputy Labor leader Richard Marles who warned that the relationship between Canberra and Beijing needed to be “carefully managed.”

Scott Morrison will stare down Chinese threats to launch fresh action against Australia, saying he would always protect the nation’s interests and a world that “seeks a balance in favour of freedom”.

As government officials and business leaders braced for retaliation, Beijing on Thursday night said it would “reserve the right to take further actions” after lodging a formal protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The decision by Foreign Minister Marise Payne to scrap the BRI deals sparked a furious response, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accusing the Morrison government of “political manipulation and bullying”.

He called Senator Payne’s order under the Foreign Arrangements Scheme a “bad” global precedent.

“The federal government wantonly cancelled the two sides’ agreement and disrupted and undermined the two sides’ normal exchanges and co-operation and harmed China/Australia relations and mutual trust,” he said. “China rejects and deplores this. We have lodged solemn representations with Australia and reserve the right to take further actions.”

He said China urged Australia to “abandon their Cold War mentality and ideological bias”, and “avoid making the already strained China-Australia relations worse”.

Following criticism from the Chinese embassy, which claimed termination of the BRI agreements was “provocative” and “unreasonable”, the Prime Minister said “there is one foreign policy of this country”.

“The Foreign Relations Act … was designed to protect our national interests by ensuring that there were no other agreements entered into by any other level of government that would conflict with Australia’s national interest,” he said. “What we have done is we have followed through. There have been four agreements the Foreign Minister has terminated in line with that Foreign Relations Act. We will always act in Australia’s national interest to protect Australia, but to also ensure that we can advance our national interests of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a world that seeks a balance in favour of freedom.”

(continued)

>>13493500

2/2

The Australia-China relationship has been deteriorating since 2017, with Beijing imposing tariffs, and bans on Australian exporters and increasing aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, fanned by Chinese-backed foreign interference and cyber attacks. Mr Wang accused the Morrison government of targeting China and adopting tactics that ran “counter to our comprehensive strategic partnership”, suggesting that previous actions by Australia, such as banning Huawei from 5G and implementing world-leading foreign interference laws, were made using “dubious and groundless reasons” that had poisoned “mutual trust”.

“The Australia side reviewed more than 1000 deals and only decided to cancel four; two of them are agreements with China, so Australia’s claim that the decision doesn’t target any particular country does not hold water,” he said.

“China has signed BRI co-operation documents with 140 countries and 31 international organisations. Australia is the first and only country to tear apart an agreement.

“It has set a bad precedent.”

Leading Australian industrialist Malcolm Broomhead on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Morrison government for cancelling the Victoria’s BRI deal with China. The chairman of mining, oil and gas giant Orica, BHP board member and former head of a pro-BRI organisation said the dramatic axing would damage the nation’s trade relations with China.

“Like many people in business, it is just a complete mystery as to what the Australian government is trying to achieve here,” Mr Broomhead told The Australian.

“I just don’t understand the deliberate provocation of China which sits at odds with ‘we want to be friends’.

“You get mixed messages.

“The reality is that every time we do something, we do it in the most antagonistic way and it has got major trade implications for us. I would hope the government understands that.”

Mr Broomhead was the chairman of the Australia China Belt and Road Initiative, founded by self-proclaimed Chinese-born influencer Jean Dong, which lobbied Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to sign the BRI.

In recent years, China has slapped a range of sanctions on Australian exports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and seafood, valued at more than $2bn.

Under the Foreign Arrangements Scheme, any deal between foreign national governments and universities, local and state governments deemed to be against the national interest can be cancelled by the federal government.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Australia would not be “bullied by anyone” in exerting its sovereign rights.

Mr Dutton said the government would be “very disappointed” if China did retaliate against the decision to abolish the BRI deals signed by Mr Andrews in 2018 and 2019.

“We, like China, exert our sovereign rights, and as a proud country, we’re not going to allow our policies, our principles, our values, to be undermined and if you are involved in that activity, then there is going to be pushback by the Australian government,” he told 2GB radio.

The Chinese embassy had earlier released a statement expressing its “strong displeasure and resolute opposition” to Senator Payne’s decision to cancel the BRI agreements.

“This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China. It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations,” an embassy spokeswoman said.

Mr Broomhead, a veteran business leader, predicted the decision to scrap the Victorian deals would further damage Australian-Chinese business relationship across education, tourism, agriculture and mining. “Where (China) has the ability to source elsewhere, it will be damaging to us. I would hope the government understands that,” he said.

“I really want the government to tell us what the strategy is.

“They probably have good ideas, I am sure they’re not doing this because they think there is a couple of votes in it, I am sure they have got sound strategic reasons, but they just need to help us understand that.”

While the move was being viewed in business circles as yet another blow to political relations, the Australia-China Business Council played down the importance of Senator Payne’s move, saying it was “not unexpected.” Australia-China Business Council national president David Olsson said Australian business leaders had “for some time been preparing for more challenging times ahead.”

The Morrison government is expected to announce funding in the budget to aid diversification away from Chinese markets to shield key industries from future measures imposed by Beijing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/scott-morrison-defies-beijings-cold-war/news-story/880de3c496cb10ccf9f6f4d4332bbcc4

https://9now.nine.com.au/today/belt-and-road-peter-dutton-defends-decision-to-scrap-deals-with-bullying-china/cbbeb811-e29e-4896-89de-ab80689133bc

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 2:28 a.m. No.13493532 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1268

Alexander Downer Twitter Thread

Sorry to read the New Zealand FM has downgraded NZ role in 5 eyes arrangement. And they upgraded FTA with China in February while China was imposing sanctions on Australia. Used to be our best mates. Not now.

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1384627862133739521

—

Aussiebrother-Q.L.D @steven_aus

Weren't you apart of the 5eyes agenda when Obama got you to try and frame @GeorgePapa19?

https://twitter.com/steven_aus/status/1384804501077389316

—

Alexander Downer @AlexanderDowner

No

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1384807864900931584

—

Aussiebrother-Q.L.D @steven_aus

“The meeting I had with Alexander Downer … was probably the most bizarre meeting I’ve had in my entire life and I remember it in very vivid detail,” he said.

https://twitter.com/steven_aus/status/1384809549119377409

EXCLUSIVE: Trump aide speaks of fateful meeting linked to Russia investigation

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6232808667001

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 2:42 a.m. No.13493561 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell sues publishers of a new book on her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, saying it portrays her as 'already guilty'

PETER ALLEN - 23 April 2021

Alleged sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is suing the publishers of a new book that portrays her as 'already guilty'.

The legal action against Vice Island - which appeared on French bookshelves last month - comes as the 59-year-old socialite awaits trial in New York while on remand.

She has been indicted for the sex trafficking of underage girls, and the enticement of minors, but the case has not been proved.

This is why she is suing Albin Michel, the Paris publishers, for gross violation of the presumption of innocence, and is demanding significant damages.

There was no immediate comment from Albin Michel after news of the writ broke on Thursday.

Their book, L'île de tous les vices (Vice Island) is by the French writer Jean-Gabriel Fredet and focuses on Maxwell's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late multi-millionaire businessman who was found dead in his New York prison cell in August 2019.

The convicted paedophile was said to have been involved with Maxwell in running a global sex trafficking ring.

Maxwell denies all charges, after being arrested by the FBI in July 2020.

Her lawyer Olivier Laude said: 'The publication of this book by Albin Michel constitutes an unacceptable attack on the presumption of innocence of Ms. Maxwell.

'Given the imminence of her criminal trial, to present her as already guilty - which this book does - is as repugnant as it is irresponsible.'

Mr Laude said Vice Island ignored the fundamental right of the presumption of innocence, and this was why a writ was served on April 15.

Maxwell's legal team is calling for Paris judges to pulp all existing copies of Vice Island, and to order that any future copies state clearly that she is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

In addition, Maxwell is seeking financial damages for the prejudice suffered, Mr Laude added.

Maxwell, the daughter of the later publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, is half-French and was a frequent visitor to Epstein's £7million Paris property in Avenue Foch, close to the Arc de Triomphe.

There have been allegations that young girls were regularly abused inside the apartment, and it is currently considered a crime scene by French prosecutors, who have opened an enquiry.

It is claimed that the sex trafficking ring also included 12-year-old twin girls that had been 'recruited' in Paris.

Prince Andrew, who was a close personal friend of both Maxwell and Epstein, is believed to have visited the Avenue Foch apartment.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman, has told lawyers she was forced to sleep with the Duke after being trafficked to him at least three times when she was 17.

The claims have always been vehemently denied by Prince Andrew, but Ms Roberts Giuffre has said she is prepared to testify against him in court.

The Duke has not been to France since a judicial enquiry was launched into the sex ring in 2019.

In the United States, prosecutors have said they want to interview Prince Andrew, but he is yet to speak to them.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9501427/Ghislaine-Maxwell-sues-publishers-new-book-saying-portrays-guilty.html

https://www.realghislaine.com/media

https://433da961-4072-4f62-a692-d989a9f700d0.filesusr.com/ugd/ba2454_2011ec531dbc4892850f4b69246dba75.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 2:59 a.m. No.13493595 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in person for first time since her arrest as she pleads to new charges

On Friday it will become clear what toll the last nine months in prison have taken on the British socialite

Josie Ensor - 23 April 2021

Ghislaine Maxwell is set to appear in person for the first time since her arrest last year in a New York court on Friday, where she is expected to plead not guilty to new sex trafficking charges.

Ms Maxwell was granted rare permission to attend the usually procedural court hearing by Judge Alison Nathan.

The 59-year-old British socialite has already pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. The latest allegation are more serious, involving the sex trafficking of a minor.

Ms Maxwell’s lawyers have been claiming for months that she has lost weight and that her hair has been falling out as a result of the “Kafkaesque” prison conditions in a Brooklyn federal prison. On Friday it will become clear what toll the last nine months in prison has taken.

Should they attend, it will also be the first time she sees her husband and members of her family since she was arrested in a dawn raid on her home in New Hampshire last July.

It is not known who will attend, but her twin sisters, Isabel and Christine, are both residents of the US. Her brother, Ian, who after months of silence last month launched a PR campaign to get his sister freed from custody, was unable to travel from the UK due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Little has been seen of Ms Maxwell's husband Scott Borgerson since the 44-year-old stepped down from his tech company CargoMetrics to avoid being a “distraction”.

Due to the coronavirus most hearings in the Southern District of New York are taking place via Zoom or through a dial-in phone line.

However, Ms Maxwell requested to appear in person after a January hearing held by videolink was hijacked by 14,000 QAnon conspiracy theorists who illegally streamed the proceedings on YouTube.

Those present in the courtroom are required to undergo strict temperature checks and made to wear two masks.

Sources close to the Maxwell family also told The Telegraph that Friday’s appearance was about her wanting to “face her accusers head on”, as well as it being a welcome break from her prison cell at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Ms Maxwell’s legal team has applied for bail and been rejected three times.

Judge Nathan ruled that with three passports and considerable assets she continued to be a significant flight risk.

In the latest appeal, Ms Maxwell even offered to rescind her British and French citizenship in order to leave prison to prepare for her trial at home.

Appealing to a higher court, her lawyers told the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals that Ms Maxwell has not been given an adequate opportunity to prove that she would not flee if she was allowed to await trial at home under 24-hour armed guard and with collateral posted to support a $28.5 million (£20m) bail.

The bond - one of the largest in US history - comes from joint funds from Mr Borgerson, as well as money put up by family members and friends.

Ms Maxwell has claimed she is being scapegoated for Epstein’s crimes and that her continued detention is a form of “sexism”, pointing to the release on bail of a number of notable men who faced comparable charges, including Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Ms Maxwell’s team has also complained about the conditions of her detention, which brother Ian calls “tantamount to torture”.

They say she is housed in a 6ft by 9ft cell with a concrete bed, that guards shine a torch into her room at intervals of 15 minutes through the night and that the prison food is “inedible”.

They believe the constant surveillance is a result of prison authorities’ fears that she may take her own life like the former financier, who was arrested in July 2019 on sex charges and was later found dead of suicide in his jail cell.

Her attorneys refer to the "Epstein Effect," suggesting the public outrage over Epstein's alleged crimes and subsequent death have "clouded the judgment of the prosecutors into charging Ms Maxwell because it needed a scapegoat."

David Markus, Ms Maxwell’s lawyer, is also due to make a statement to the court, over the “legality” of her detainment.

Her trial is set for July 12, however, her lawyers have requested that it be delayed until next January, saying the new charges require months of investigation.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/23/ghislaine-maxwell-appear-person-first-time-since-arrest-pleads/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 3:05 a.m. No.13493606 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Resignations in the news

Outspoken Nationals MP George Christensen to quit politics

Rob Harris - April 22, 2021

Nationals MP George Christensen will end his controversial decade-long career in federal Parliament at the next election, warning of the “broken” state of politics and signalling he won’t go quietly.

The conservative Queensland MP – who has been outspoken on social issues and spent up to 10 weeks a year in the Philippines and Thailand over a period of four years while a member of parliament – told the Courier-Mail in a statement he would not recontest his Mackay-based seat at the next poll.

He said he had only ever intended to “serve three terms” after first being elected at the 2010 election and only contested the last election to ensure the Coalition held the seat and kept out a “Green-tinged Labor government”.

He listed several road projects and the Adani Carmichael mine as his best contributions as an MP. In a video uploaded to his Facebook page, he warned he was concerned about the trend on restrictions on freedoms of speech, abortion, the rights of doctors to promote alternate treatments and the rising of the Chinese Communist government.

The member for Dawson said he wanted to spend more time with his family, including his wife April Asuncion, who were “caught up overseas” due to pandemic border closures.

The pair met in a karaoke bar during one of the MP’s 28 trips abroad, spending almost 300 days in the Philippines between 2014 and 2018.

The Australian Federal Police warned Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the time he could be questioned in the Philippines by local police given rising concerns about his payments to women and lengthy stays in “seedy” hotels.

After almost a year of inquiries police found no evidence of illegality but raised concerns he remained an ongoing risk of being compromised.

Mr Christensen, 42, said in a statement that politics had become dominated by an “activist mainstream media along with other leftists cultural institutions” that were disconnected from the public.

“I will have more to say about [the broken politics] down the track,” Mr Christensen said.

“While I’m in Parliament until the next election and while there’s still breath in me, I’m going to continue speaking out on the issues that matter, without fear or favour, or the need to get re-elected.”

Despite the scandal involving his travel to the Philippines, which earned him the nickname the “Member for Manila” among colleagues, Mr Christensen was re-elected during the 2019 election with an 11.2 per cent two-party preferred swing — aided mainly by One Nation voters.

Mr Christensen has threatened on numerous occasions to cross the floor against government legislation since the Coalition came to power and was one of the leading proponents within the ranks to demand a royal commission into the banking sector.

He was a vocal support of former US president Donald Trump and a fierce critic of COVID-19 lockdowns, including directions from the Queensland government to mandate facemasks earlier this year.

Labor won the seat of Dawson under the leadership of Kevin Rudd in 2007 but it was regained by Mr Christensen in 2010, one of several seats won under Tony Abbott to reduce the Gillard government to a minority.

Mr Turnbull revealed in his memoir, A Bigger Picture, last year that he was briefed by then-AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin about Mr Christensen’s “unusually complex online presence” and was told he had been spending “substantial sums in Manila bars and nightclubs as well as making many small payments to women there”.

“Against the advice of our embassy in the Philippines, he had been staying in seedy hotels in Angeles City, which was not only recklessly unsafe but made him vulnerable to being compromised.”

In a sign of the personal and political fury over the matter, Mr Turnbull told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he received a warning from Mr Christensen about what he might write in his memoir.

“He sent me a message on one of those immediately dissolving messages on Signal, which said: ‘remember two words: parliamentary privilege; and two more years of it’,” Mr Turnbull said in an interview to promote his book.

Mr Christensen at the time attacked media coverage of his visits to the Philippines as a “vile smear” and insisted he did nothing wrong.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said Mr Christensen has been a tireless fighter for the people of central Queensland and his decision not to contest the next was “personally momentous”.

“George’s decision to step back, spend time with family and pursue a career after politics is one that he has not taken casually,” he said in a statement.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/outspoken-nationals-mp-george-christensen-to-quit-politics-20210422-p57ln7.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 3:18 a.m. No.13493636 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

>>13485327

>>13485332

Andrew Greene Tweet

Worth noting the head of ASIS (Paul Symon pictured right) joined @MarisePayne's delegation to New Zealand. Wellington's role in 5-Eyes is all the talk inside intelligence circles at the moment

https://twitter.com/AndrewBGreene/status/1385426980993069059

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 4:28 a.m. No.13493840 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3848 >>1294

Perth plunged into three-day lockdown over Mercure Hotel cluster

Heather McNeill and Peter de Kruijff - April 23, 2021

1/2

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has announced Perth and Peel will go into a three-day lockdown, effective from midnight Friday.

The news comes after a COVID-19 cluster was identified at the Mercure Hotel Perth on Wednesday with the virus spreading among quarantining guests in separate rooms.

A mother, her four-year-old daughter and a Victorian man contracted the virus while in the hotel.

The mother and child’s infections were detected on April 16 and five days later were genomically linked to a ‘UK strain’ COVID-positive husband and wife who arrived from India on April 10.

Genomic sequencing is underway to confirm the source of the Victorian man’s infection, which was detected on Friday morning.

Mr McGowan said the 54-year-old — who arrived from China and was in a room across from the couple from India and beside the UK mother and child’s room — completed his two weeks’ quarantine on April 17 and spent five days in the Perth community as a ‘tourist’.

“We now need to assume he was infectious during this five day period,” he said.

A female friend the man was staying with in the Perth suburb of Kardinya tested positive to the virus on Friday through a rapid test but her two children have come back negative. Health Minister Roger Cook said the woman was asymptomatic and appeared to be “early on” in her experience of the virus.

Health authorities are awaiting results of further close contacts.

“We now have two positive cases that have been in our community from April 17,” Mr McGowan said.

“We can’t take any chances with the virus, we just can’t.

“From midnight tonight, people will need to stay in the Perth and Peel regions and won’t be able to leave unless you have an exemption.

“There will be four reasons to leave your house, these are work because you can’t work from home or remotely; shopping for essentials like groceries, medical or healthcare needs … and exercise with a maximum of four people, limited to one hour per day and masks must be worn unless it’s vigorous exercise.

“Masks are mandatory from 6pm tonight.”

Restaurants, cafes and pubs will provide takeaway services only. Weddings and funerals are permitted with a 100 patron limit.

The Fremantle Dockers game against North Melbourne on Saturday will go ahead, but without crowds.

About 40 ANZAC Day services in Perth-Peel have been cancelled for a second year in a row and Mr McGowan said it looked like there would be a repeat of last year where West Australians stood in their driveways at dawn instead.

The Western Force and Perth Wildcats games on Friday will still go ahead with crowds allowed but the Premier has urged people not to go.

Facilities on Rottnest Island are shutting and holiday makers have been told they would be under the same restrictions as other Perth-Peel residents if they stayed.

(continued)

>>13493840

2/2

Where are the possible transmission sites?

The infected man attended several venues across Perth before flying to Melbourne on Wednesday on a plane with 257 people on board.

Mr McGowan said anyone who was on flight QF778 from Perth to Melbourne on April 21 at 1.05pm, and had since returned to WA would need to be tested immediately and self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Melbourne man did not have the SafeWA App, which people in the state use to check into different locations as a contact tracing aid, but his friend who has tested positive to the virus did.

Upon landing in Victoria, the Mercure Hotel case, who was asymptomatic, was contacted immediately by WA health authorities who instructed him to isolate and get tested, as he was deemed a close contact of the other positive cases, all on the sixth floor of the hotel.

Following the breach, 17 other guests who had completed their quarantine were identified as having been on the same floor.

Chief Health Officer recommended Mercure Hotel close a week ago

Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson recommended the Mercure Hotel no longer operate as a quarantine facility on April 14, around the same time the cross-corridor infections would have been occurring.

Documents released by the state government late on Thursday revealed ventilation in the 1970s hotel had been identified on April 8 as the riskiest among WA’s 10 quarantine hotels.

An engineer who inspected the facility found the corridors had no independent airflow, with oxygen supply leaking from the adjoining rooms.

“Given the degree of positive pressure, leakage likely between rooms and corridor,” a table summary read.

The Mercure will now become a facility to quarantine seasonal workers from low-risk countries.

South West dash

The South West region has not been included in the lockdown unlike the previous period of restrictions that were handed down in January when a hotel security guard tested positive to the virus.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Paul Armstrong said the government had learned from its previous experience when the South West was let out of lockdown early.

“We think the Perth region and the Peel region are contiguous … so that’s where we’ve landed,” he said.

“Any of these decisions are a balance between what we perceive to be the risk and the pragmatism and the sort of difficulty in doing things and the practicalities of it.”

People who live in the Perth and Peel regions who made plans to travel for the long weekend to the South West will still be able to do so before midnight on Friday.

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson asked people not to rush, however, and to drive carefully.

“We want you to keep safe on the roads. We accept and know many people with plans for this long weekend,” he said.

“If you’re driving and you’ve made plans, don’t leave this to the last minute just drive safely and normally.

“Logistically the lockdown, we have staged this from midnight tonight for a number of practical reasons.

“I can’t deploy police to these vehicle checkpoints for instance on the Perth-Peel boundaries until midnight.”

https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-plunged-into-lockdown-over-mercure-hotel-cluster-20210423-p57lwb.html

Repost from Q Research General #17088

>>13491311 (pb)

Godspeed, Patriots (WW).

You are the bravest men and women on Earth.

We fight beside you.

We fight for you.

We fight with you.

Your names will never be forgotten.

Your stories will never go untold.

Your love for humanity will never fade.

We are with you (always).

WWG1WGA!

“For the Lord I know, has plans for you..”

Frail-looking Ghislaine Maxwell makes first appearance to plead not guilty to sex trafficking charges

British socialite appeared in person for the first time since her arrest in July after being granted rare permission by the judge

Josie Ensor - 23 April 2021

1/2

It was the day Ghislaine Maxwell had spent nine months and 13 days waiting for - the chance to plead her innocence in front of a packed New York courtroom.

An arraignment is usually a procedural affair, particularly in the time of Covid where defendants mostly opt to appear via videolink, but Ms Maxwell was determined to have her moment before the judge.

The British socialite on Friday appeared in person for the first time since her arrest in July after being granted rare permission by Judge Alison Nathan.

She pleaded not guilty to the two new sex trafficking charges against her, speaking in her clipped British accent only to confirm she understood the charges and was waiving her right to have them read publicly.

The 59-year-old had already pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls from 1994-1997 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.

Ms Maxwell’s lawyers have been claiming in various appeals for bail that she has lost weight and that her hair has been falling out as a result of the “Kafkaesque” prison conditions in a Brooklyn federal prison.

She did appear frailer than her last virtual appearance in July.

Dressed only in a thin baby blue t-shirt and black tracksuit bottoms with her feet in shackles, she crossed her arms tightly as if to warm her much smaller frame.

As she listened to the judge she ran her hands through a lank, greying mop of hair that has now grown to shoulder length - no longer the trademark pixie cut she has become known for.

Ms Maxwell's sister Isabel, who resides in the US, was in court for the hearing. Dressed in a black beret, glasses and a face mask, she tried to shield herself from photographers.

At one point Ms Maxwell turned to wave at her in the public gallery.

Her court appearance was the first time she has been seen by a member of her family since she was arrested in a dawn raid on the home she shared with her husband Scott Borgerson in New Hampshire in July.

Mr Borgerson, 44, an American entrepreneur, was nowhere to be seen on Friday, however. Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, declined to say why he had not shown up in support.

Little has been seen of Mr Borgerson since he stepped down from his tech company CargoMetrics to avoid being a “distraction”.

The defendant's brother, Ian Maxwell, who after months of silence last month launched a PR campaign to have his sister freed from custody, was unable to travel from the UK due to Covid-19 restrictions.

(continued)

2/2

Due to the coronavirus most hearings in the Southern District of New York are taking place via Zoom or through a dial-in phone line.

However, Ms Maxwell requested to appear in person after a January hearing held by videolink was hijacked by 14,000 QAnon conspiracy theorists who illegally streamed the proceedings on YouTube.

Those present in the courtroom were required to undergo strict temperature checks and made to wear two masks.

Danielle Bensky, 34, a victim of Epstein's who was sat in the public gallery, said she had come to face Ms Maxwell.

"To be honest I was too afraid to come to the Epstein trial so this is a new feeling for me to sit there and accept a lot of things. I do think it's hard to sit through it and it's painful, but it's good too, it's healing," she said after the brief 10-minute hearing.

Outside the Manhattan courthouse, protesters held up a banner reading: "Epstein is the worst kind of virus".

Sources close to the Maxwell family told The Telegraph that Friday’s appearance was about her wanting to “face her accusers head on”, as well as it being a welcome break from her prison cell at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Ms Maxwell’s legal team has applied for bail and been rejected three times. Judge Nathan ruled that with three passports and considerable assets she continued to be a significant flight risk.

In the latest appeal, Ms Maxwell even offered to rescind her British and French citizenship in order to leave prison to prepare for her trial at home.

Appealing to a higher court, her lawyers told the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals that Ms Maxwell has not been given an adequate opportunity to prove that she would not flee if she was allowed to await trial at home under 24-hour armed guard and with collateral posted to support a $28.5 million (£20m) bail.

The bond - one of the largest in US history - comes from joint funds with Mr Borgerson, as well as money put up by family members and friends.

In a press conference after the hearing, Mr Markus said he had visited "courageous and tough" Ms Maxwell the previous night in prison and said she was “holding up” but that in his 23 years in the job he has never seen a defendant "treated so poorly".

“She’s looking forward to fighting, and she will fight,” he told the gathered media.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/23/ghislaine-maxwell-makes-court-appearance-plead-not-guilty-sex/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 6:17 p.m. No.13498728 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

In court, Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new charges

LARRY NEUMEISTER and TOM HAYS - Apr 23, 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell faced her trial judge in person for the first time Friday as lawyers squabbled over exactly when she should be tried on sex trafficking charges that allege that she procured teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse at his posh residences.

Maxwell, a British socialite and one-time girlfriend of the financier, pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and an additional sex trafficking charge that were added in a rewritten indictment released last month by a Manhattan federal court grand jury. The new indictment stretched the timespan of the charges from three years to a decade.

Wearing a prison blue short-sleeved smock, Maxwell sat with her lawyers before U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan took the bench in a courtroom where everyone wore masks and sat apart from one another to protect against the coronavirus. Members of the media were in the jury box.

Maxwell answered “Yes, your honor” when she was asked if she had seen the indictment and “I have, your honor” when asked if she had ample opportunity to review it.

Her lawyers maintain they need months of additional preparation because of the new charges, making it impossible to keep a July 12 trial date. Prosecutors have said the new charges should not require substantial additional work because they add a single victim to the three already described in the indictment.

The judge didn't make an immediate decision on a possible new date for the trial, but told lawyers she wants to avoid a long delay.

As Maxwell was led out of court by deputy marshals, she kissed two of her lawyers on the cheek through her mask and waved to two spectators, including her sister.

Epstein and Maxwell accuser Danielle Bensky, a client of high-profile attorney David Boies, sat among several spectators directly behind the black-haired Maxwell. Her view of the defendant was partially obscured by a man whose black jacket was emblazoned with “US Marshal."

“I think it's incredibly vindicating to see her sit there," Benksy said outside court. "I do think that it's hard to do and it's painful, but it's good too.”

The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Bensky has. Her accusations are not part of the indictment.

Outside court, Boies said he hoped to have at least one of over a dozen Epstein accusers he represents at every court hearing involving Maxwell prior to her trial. One of his clients is among the four women whose claims are outlined in the indictment.

“I think it's important they have access to what's going on and that the court knows this case is important to them,” he said.

Epstein took his own life at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial.

Maxwell, 59, has been in custody at a federal lockup in Brooklyn since her arrest last July at a $1 million New Hampshire estate where her lawyers say she went to live to avoid the spotlight of media attention and to remain safe from threats. Prosecutors, though, say she took steps to hide her whereabouts and movements.

Outside court, Maxwell attorney David Markus called his client “courageous and tough.”

He said it was difficult for Maxwell's sister, Isabel, to be in court as well.

The lawyer said two of Maxwell's brothers wanted to be there, too, but were unable to come from England because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“But they are behind their sister 1,000%,” he said.

Maxwell has failed three times in her bid to be granted bail, despite offering a $28.5 million package and agreeing to live with electronic monitoring and armed guards who would ensure she does not leave a New York City residence. The U.S. citizen also has offered to give up citizenship in the United Kingdom and France. A bail appeal hearing is scheduled next week before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In court documents, prosecutors say Maxwell recruited at least three teenage girls, including a 14-year-old, between 1994 and 1997 for Epstein to sexually abuse. The superseding indictment says another teenage girl was recruited in the early 2000s, when she was 14. The indictment alleges Maxwell sometimes joined in the abuse.

A lawyer for Maxwell requested the in-person arraignment Friday, citing “media coverage” and a “debacle” that occurred during a remote hearing in a related civil case before another judge, when members of the public clogged up a line provided by the court for people outside the courthouse to listen in.

https://apnews.com/article/ny-state-wire-trials-ghislaine-maxwell-05c7d66a0885da88021a908615c211ba

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 6:30 p.m. No.13498829 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to new sex trafficking charges

Kara Scannell - April 23, 2021

(CNN) - Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late Jeffrey Epstein, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges Friday in her first court appearance since her arrest last summer.

Maxwell entered the New York courtroom in a dark blue prison outfit with her ankles shackled and her hair, now slightly grayed at the roots, hanging just below her shoulders. She wore a mask, except when she drank water from a plastic bottle.

She spoke only to tell the judge she waived her reading of the indictment while her attorney informed the judge she would plead not guilty to the charges.

Federal prosecutors filed conspiracy and sex trafficking charges against Maxwell in a superseding indictment last month, alleging she recruited and groomed a 14-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with Epstein as recently as 2004 and paid her hundreds of dollars in cash.

The new charges alleged more recent conduct than what prosecutors initially charged. Last summer, Maxwell was charged by New York federal prosecutors with conspiracy and enticing minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and the transportation of minors to engage in criminal sexual activity for allegedly grooming, recruiting and abusing underage girls from 1994 to 1997.

She has vigorously denied the previous allegations and pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges.

Maxwell, who is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, asked for the in-person arraignment Friday. One of her sisters was in the courtroom. Also attending the brief court hearing was one of Epstein's accusers.

She has been in federal custody since last July, when she was arrested by FBI agents at a secluded mansion in New Hampshire.

Lawyers for Maxwell have argued for her to be released on bail, saying jail conditions have caused her to lose hair, weight and the ability to concentrate. But US District Judge Alison Nathan has denied those requests, finding her wealth, international ties and "extraordinary capacity to avoid detection" made her a flight risk.

The judge ruled last week that two perjury counts Maxwell faces for allegedly lying in a deposition taken in a civil lawsuit brought by alleged victims will be tried separately. The judge has not yet ruled on Maxwell's request to delay the trial on sex trafficking charges, which is currently set for July.

Maxwell was arrested almost exactly one year after federal prosecutors charged Epstein with running a sex trafficking operation between 2002 and 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. Epstein allegedly worked with employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse, according to the indictment.

Epstein, who pleaded not guilty, died on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial in federal prison. His death was ruled a suicide by the New York City chief medical examiner's office, but a doctor hired by Epstein's family to conduct an independent autopsy has disputed that conclusion.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/23/us/ghislaine-maxwell-not-guilty-plea/index.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 6:40 p.m. No.13498908 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ian tears into Govt's flailing investigation - flags dubious tactics & lack of due process

Real Ghislaine

24 Apr 2021

Maxwell family slams US Government's investigation of Ghislaine following Epstein death - Calls out dubious tactics, lack of due process and stresses their sister's right to presumption of innocence.

Visit http://www.realghislaine.com

Twitter: @realghislaine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1PtcyHnqbU

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 6:51 p.m. No.13498959 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

Jacinda Ardern savaged as British Parliament declares treatment of Uighurs ‘genocide’

Latika Bourke - April 23, 2021

London: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been savaged for allegedly sucking up to China and turning her back on the Five Eyes alliance during a historic debate in which British MPs unanimously declared that China was carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity.

The vote on the motion addressing Beijing’s repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province was carried unanimously, making it the first time in the House of Commons’ history that MPs have passed a genocide motion without dissent.

During the debate, Australia was praised for its actions in standing up to China, despite the massive estimated $20 billion cost to the trading relationship. Beijing has blocked lobster, wine, barley and some coal imports since Canberra asked for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus.

But MPs voiced concern about the New Zealand government’s recent comments cautioning against the Five Eyes expanding its remit beyond intelligence sharing — remarks that blindsided Australia but were immediately endorsed by the Chinese.

The Five Eyes is a spying network combining Australia’s allies the United States, UK, Canada and New Zealand. Ardern has opted out of several recent public statements criticising China’s increasing aggression, including its crackdown in Hong Kong.

Tory MP Bob Seely savaged the stance taken by Ardern, saying she was “in a hell of an ethical mess”.

“A prime minister who virtue signals whilst crudely sucking up to China whilst backing out of the Five Eyes agreement, which I think is an appallingly, appallingly short-sighted thing to be doing,” he said.

Seely said Britain needed to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Australia.

“The Australians are calling out China and they’re doing it at trade risk. We need to make sure that they do not pay an ethical price,” he said.

The landmark genocide motion was put forward by Nus Ghani, a Muslim MP and member of Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party. She was one of a string of British MPs sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party after the British government used Magnitsky legislation — named after a Russian dissident — to sanction Chinese officials responsible for the crackdown in Xinjiang.

Ghani said she hoped the historic event would spur Australia — which is refusing to label the human rights abuses in Xinjiang as genocide — into action.

“We hope this will send a strong geopolitical signal to our Australian allies,” Ghani told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

“Like-minded nations must stand together against these atrocities, and be united in their response. By slapping sanctions on elected representatives from around the world, China has brought us even closer together.

“We must redouble our efforts in defence of our common values, and Australia is a key and indispensable part of that.

“We look to our Australian friends to carry the torch of human rights still further, and make their views about the Uighur genocide known,” Ghani said.

Ardern’s office declined to comment.

Australian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching, a co-chair of the Australian wing of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of cross-party MPs from democratic legislatures around the world urging their governments to take a firmer stance on China policy, welcomed the Commons move but said governments needed to act.

“Today’s vote in the British Parliament is a clear sign that the world is waking up to the suffering of the Uighur people,” she said.

“The international community can no longer be idle in the face of this brutal repression.

“Condemning the abuses is not enough. So long as governments fail to take meaningful action to hold those responsible to account then these atrocities will continue.

“We only need to look to history to see where this ends,” Kitching said.

Rahima Mahmut from the World Uighur Congress told MPs and human rights campaigners: “I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/hell-of-an-ethical-mess-jacinda-ardern-savaged-as-british-parliament-declares-treatment-of-uighurs-genocide-20210421-p57kxc.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 7:42 p.m. No.13499300 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9304 >>1281

The call never came: Victoria’s China deal was done through Premier Daniel Andrews’ office

Anthony Galloway - April 23, 2021

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When Premier Daniel Andrews suggested he wanted to pursue a Belt and Road agreement with the Chinese government, senior officials in Victoria’s jobs department waited to be called upon. That was five years ago. The call never came.

The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources would ordinarily be the area to go to negotiate such an agreement with a foreign government. It had the trade expertise, the Global Victoria offices in China and the links into the Commonwealth’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to make it happen and ensure it was done correctly.

Instead, Andrews ran the show out of his own office and department. The deal was kept a closely guarded affair, with Andrews and then-secretary of Department of Premier and Cabinet, Chris Eccles, intimately involved in the process. The jobs department, along with the then-trade minister Philip Dalidakis, were sidelined.

A government spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed the process was led by the Premier’s department but insisted the jobs department was kept in the loop.

With fanfare, the Victorian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese government on October 8, 2018, and a later “framework” agreement on October 23, 2019. While DFAT was consulted on the first agreement, it never saw the second deal until it was announced in the media. The deals signed Victoria onto China’s $1.5 trillion global infrastructure initiative, allowing for Chinese investment in Victoria and for Victorian companies to participate in Chinese government projects overseas under the Belt and Road Initiative banner. Neither deal was ever approved by Andrews’ cabinet.

This week, all that work came crashing down. The federal government announced on Wednesday night it had cancelled the two Victorian deals made under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy, on the grounds that they contradicted Australia’s national interest.

With Andrews still on leave recovering from a spinal injury, not a single member of the state government would defend the deal on Thursday. Employment and Small Business Minister Jaala Pulford said cancelling the BRI agreement would not have an adverse effect on the state’s pipeline of infrastructure projects, adding it was “a matter for the Commonwealth government”.

National security experts were left wondering: How did we get here? Why did the state government press ahead with two agreements that signed up to another country’s foreign policy effectively against the wishes of Canberra? Why wasn’t it stopped sooner?

Had Andrews consulted his own trade and foreign policy experts in the jobs department, they might have told him that Canberra was just waking up to the growing threat of the BRI in the region. The federal government was growing increasingly concerned about China’s “debt-trap diplomacy” under the scheme, whereby developing countries are loaded with unsustainable debts with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions. Canberra had already begun countering China’s growing assertiveness in the Pacific with its own infrastructure packages for the region.

Had Andrews consulted his own federal Labor colleagues, they might have told him that while the opposition didn’t rule out supporting individual BRI projects, it was its policy not to sign up to the program as a whole. Had he consulted either then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull or his successor, Scott Morrison, they might have told him that the politics on China was rapidly changing.

Along the way, many theories emerged about why Andrews was so close to China, with seemingly no economic benefit when compared to other states. The links of some of his staffers were put under intense scrutiny.

Andrews’s adviser Marty Mei was named a “special consultant” to the Shenzhen Association of Australia, part of a network of groups run by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. His electorate officer, Nancy Yang, once undertook a CCP propaganda training course and last year posted a series of articles and videos on social media suggesting the coronavirus was created by the United States and transported to China by the US Army. Andrews repeatedly defended both of his staffers.

Andrews visited China six times as Premier and at least once as opposition leader. He also made all of his ministers visit the country at least once.

It also must be said that Andrews’s penchant for centralising decision-making wasn’t confined to the BRI deals; from the Suburban Rail Loop to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Victorian Premier has always been criticised for avoiding internal stakeholders that may object or have a different point of view.

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The Premier always defended the BRI deals on the basis that they would create more jobs and economic opportunities for his state. But he has never been able to name a single job or project that was created because of his decision to sign up to the BRI.

Given Andrews’ lack of consultation, it was easy to see how Victoria failed to read the tea leaves. After all, a year before Victoria signed the MOU, the federal government reached its own BRI agreement with the Chinese government. While this deal only applied to the participation of Australian firms in third party countries, it remains an embarrassment within senior ranks of the federal government and DFAT. It is the deal that dare not be mentioned.

And back in 2017, the federal government was sending out mixed messages on BRI. In May of that year, then-trade minister Steven Ciobo, prior to attending the first Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, said: “Australia supports the aims of initiatives such as the Belt and Road that improve infrastructure development and increased opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.” It also allowed a 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese-owned company in 2015 – a move that would be unthinkable today.

The federal government was, itself, slow to wake up to the existential threat posed by China’s growing assertiveness. In 2017, it was forced to back down on a controversial extradition treaty with Beijing amid opposition from Labor and its own backbench.

Later that year, the eyes of the senior ranks of the then-Turnbull government finally opened to what former ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis described as the Chinese Communist Party’s intention to “take over” Australia’s political system. In 2018, the Turnbull government passed world-leading legislation targeting foreign interference in politics and other domestic affairs.

While 2017 doesn’t seem that long ago, the centre of gravity on the question of China’s rise has completely shifted. This has been sparked by Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea, the democratic crackdown in Hong Kong, the detention of more than 1 million Uighurs in Xinjiang’s forced labour camps, and China’s economic coercion against countries that stand up to it, including Australia.

Andrews wasn’t ignorant of these issues. Last year, fending off criticism about a Chinese company building a fleet of trains for Victoria being linked to China’s mass internment of Uighurs, Andrews said he did not “agree with everything that is done in every country”.

Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson, one of the first federal MPs to call for a more assertive foreign policy towards the CCP, says Australia’s journey on rebalancing its relationship with Beijing and reasserting its sovereignty and interests has “been rapid and welcome”.

“In 2016 the prevailing view in Canberra was to see the relationship solely through economic opportunity and blinkered to some risks, whereas now a realism has now been normalised,” he says.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, chair of Federal Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, says it was part of the CCP’s strategy to bypass federal governments and create a “wedge” within a country.

“The CCP used the Victorian deals as a propaganda tool to spruik the BRI to our neighbours,” she says. “We need to speak with one voice here, because if we don’t, we’re allowing a foreign regime to subvert our national interest.”

In 2020, as criticism of the Victorian government’s approach to China escalated, the Morrison government announced new foreign agreement veto laws. The legislation, passed in December, required Foreign Minister Marise Payne to cancel agreements that states, territories, local governments and universities enter into with an overseas government if they contradict Australia’s national interest.

Along with the two BRI deals, Payne also announced this week she was cancelling two Victorian government education agreements – one struck with Iran in 2004 and another with Syria in 1999. She warned other agreements could be announced in the coming months.

Michael Shoebridge, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defence program, says it is now impossible to separate security and diplomatic policy from trade and economics.

“Any decision that misses that point leads to really bad decisions like Victoria’s two BRI agreements,” he says.

In Canberra, the merging of security and economic policy was occurring as far back as 2017. Andrews just had to look beyond his own department to see it was happening.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-call-never-came-victoria-s-china-deal-was-done-through-premier-daniel-andrews-office-20210422-p57lik.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 7:43 p.m. No.13499309 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9324 >>1281

'Insidious': Former ASIO boss warns on Chinese interference in Australia

Peter Hartcher - November 22, 2019

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Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis has said the Chinese government is seeking to "take over" Australia's political system through its "insidious" foreign interference operations.

Any person in political office was a potential target, he said, with the full impact perhaps not apparent for decades.

In the only interview Mr Lewis has given since retiring in September, he also urged Australia's Chinese community to help security agencies in the same way local Muslim communities identified threats of terrorist activity.

Asked what the Chinese government wanted from Australia, Mr Lewis said: "They are trying to place themselves in a position of advantage."

As well as targeting politicians, Chinese authorities were working to win influence in social, business and media circles, he said.

"Espionage and foreign interference is insidious. Its effects might not present for decades and by that time it's too late. You wake up one day and find decisions made in our country that are not in the interests of our country," Mr Lewis said.

"Not only in politics but also in the community or in business. It takes over, basically, pulling the strings from offshore."

Mr Lewis was the director-general of security for five years as head of ASIO, the intelligence agency whose primary job is to guard against foreign interference.

He did not single out China during his term in office. When he spoke of malign state actors posing an "existential" threat to Australia, it was a generic reference to foreign governments.

But in the post-retirement interview, he said while it was not only China that preoccupied the Australian authorities, it was "overwhelmingly" China.

Covert foreign intrusion into the heart of Australian politics was "something we need to be very, very careful about", he said in the interview for the forthcoming Quarterly Essay, Red Flag: Waking up to China's challenge, to be published on Monday.

"One spectacular case in NSW was Sam Dastyari. It's quite clear to me that any person in political office is potentially a target. I'm not trying to create paranoia, but there does need to be a level of sensible awareness.

"When people talked about [how to define foreign interference in] our political system, I used to get the comment, 'We will know it if we see it'. But not necessarily. Not if it's being done properly. There would be some I don't know about."

Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari quit Parliament in 2017 after a series of revelations about his links to Chinese Communist Party-aligned interests in Australia.

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Mr Lewis, formerly Australia's inaugural national security adviser and one-time head of Australia's Special Forces as well as a previous ambassador to Belgium and NATO and secretary of the Defence Department, said the political funding system was especially vulnerable and called for its reform.

"I do worry about the issue of financing political parties," he said. "We need a mechanism that maintains parties free of foreign influence."

The Turnbull government, with Labor's support, passed laws against foreign interference in 2018. Then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull named Russia and North Korea when he introduced the bills to parliament, but hinted clearly at the primary threat: "Media reports have suggested that the Chinese Communist Party has been working to covertly interfere with our media, our universities and even the decisions of elected representatives right here in this building. We take these reports very seriously."

Beijing maintains that it does not spy or intrude on Australia. Even after a Chinese diplomat, Chen Yonglin, defected to Australia in 2005 and warned of the Chinese government's infiltration strategy, the Chinese authorities insisted such claims were baseless and malicious.

After he defected from his post as first secretary for political affairs in China's consulate-general in Sydney, Mr Chen wrote that "the Communist Party of China had begun a structured effort to infiltrate Australia in a systematic way".

Mr Lewis said Australia's first line of defence was the community: "We need a more prepared community but we have a way to go yet. ASIO can't do it by itself. ASIO is very dependent on the community to be alert, but not paranoid."

He said the help of the community was essential in defeating terrorism in Australia. The Muslim community, in particular, supplied invaluable warnings to the police and ASIO and was indispensable to public safety.

"The Chinese-Australian community could and should be as vital in the work against foreign covert influence", he said, including against Beijing's United Front and political corruption.

The United Front Work Department is an agency of the Chinese government that seeks covertly to extend Beijing's control through organising the Chinese diaspora abroad. Chinese President Xi Jinping has described it as one of the three "magic weapons" of the Chinese Communist Party, together with the People's Liberation Army and party-building activities.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/insidious-former-asio-boss-warns-on-chinese-interference-in-australia-20191121-p53cv2.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 7:57 p.m. No.13499394 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

Australia tearing up formal Belt and Road deal has little exemplary effect

Shen Yujia - Apr 22, 2021

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced on Wednesday that the federal government would override the Victorian state government's decision to sign up to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). National security reasons were cited.

The move will further plummet the already sour China-Australia relations to a new low. Some Australian experts believe Canberra could have just let the deal lapse and not approve new agreements. But it chose to scrap the deal at this time. This truly shows that Australia does not care about its relations with China anymore.

Australia obviously wants to send a signal to the international community and set an example to the other countries which have been cooperating with China under the BRI framework. Among these countries, its close neighbor New Zealand is the first target for this provocation.

Payne's announcement to cancel the deal came as she was visiting New Zealand. There has been much media coverage about the divergences between Australia and New Zealand in their handling of China-related affairs. Australia was apparently annoyed by New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta's recent remarks that the country was "uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes." There was anger over Wellington making its independent foreign policy. This is a stark contrast to the Australian way of attaching itself tight on the US' anti-China crusade.

Indeed, just four months ago in January, Australia also fumed after New Zealand's trade minister suggesting that the country could mend ties with China by showing its government more "respect."

Taking her stay in New Zealand as a chance to make the announcement, Payne hopes to sound an alarm bell to Wellington. Australia has long held a sense of superiority over New Zealand as it assumes a more ambitious posture toward a greater regional leadership role. It hopes New Zealand will follow it closely.

Some Western scholars believe Wellington is the West's "woke weak link" regarding its role to contain China. In essence, New Zealand's core values are of no difference in comparison to other countries of the Five Eyes alliance. But the geographical situation of New Zealand sharply differs from that of Australia. The "neighborhood" of New Zealand is Australia and Pacific islands. But Australia is situated close to Southeast Asia. So their interests in the region also differ.

Wellington is pragmatic. It has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding on the BRI. It is always willing to participate in the BRI in a third country. This includes offering consulting services to Chinese companies in Pacific countries. But New Zealand is also wary of China's increasing influence in countries such as Fiji.

Australia's moves will pile more pressure on New Zealand. But Wellington's foreign policy tends to be stable. Given its position in the international order, Australia will not affect New Zealand's diplomacy unless Wellington thinks that the BRI would pose a national security threat to it. But this possibility is small. Wellington has a clear awareness of its geopolitical situation. It knows it is a country that depends on China in terms of trade.

As a loyal follower of the US, Australia is not being wise with its China dealings. Almost every country, which unwarrantedly fears China's influence but highly depends on China, is well aware of this fact. Australia can hardly serve as an example to these countries. Nor can it strong-arm others who have BRI deals with China to back out just because of the Morrison administration.

Whereas Pacific island countries are still in the strategic sphere of Australia, some of them may take a wait-and-see attitude toward joining the BRI. China's trade measures against Australia have already made it feel the pain. In the wake of Australia's cancellation of the BRI deals, China can engage more with BRI participant countries to work out more successful projects as showcase. It will be more effective than countermeasures as Australia watches from the sidelines while BRI projects bring economic opportunities to other countries, boosting their relations with China in ways the Morrison government totally misjudged.

The author is an associate researcher at the School of International Relations, Sichuan University, and also a researcher at the Pacific Research Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221826.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 7:58 p.m. No.13499403 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

GT Voice: Australia in over its head with provocative action

Global Times - Apr 22, 2021

The Australian federal government on Wednesday used a new anti-China law to tear up agreements signed between the state of Victoria and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in an unreasonable and deliberate provocation against China.

Not surprisingly, the move has drawn the ire of officials in Beijing. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged Australia to immediately reverse its wrong decision and stop irresponsible words and deeds regarding the China-Australia relationship, or China will definitely respond "firmly and forcefully."

Canberra must have known or even anticipated that its action would draw such a furious response and potentially crippling countermeasures from Beijing. However, it still decided to move ahead with the action. Clearly, Canberra is increasingly unhinged and in way over its head by taking such a suicidal attack on not just China but also its own economic interests.

Since the cancellation of the BRI deals, speculation has been rife that Canberra may soon suffer from the wrath of its largest trading partner. Given the viciousness and seriousness of the move, we won't be surprised if China takes forceful countermeasures to inflict serious pain on Australia. With China's comprehensive strength, there are numerous ways for China to achieve that. If anyone in Canberra has doubts about that, just take a look at how China beat back US' trade aggressions over the past several years. And keep in mind, Australia is nothing more than a tiny sidekick of the US.

Even though China has not retaliated against the flurry of hostile moves taken by Australia at the behest of the US, many Australia businesses, including winemakers, farmers and seafood exporters, have already suffered due to the downward spiral in bilateral relations.

Just last week, media reports said that Australian businesses are eager to address their trade woes by planning to send a high-level trade mission to China as soon as international travel restrictions are lifted. Perhaps rather than preparing for a trip to China, they should pay more attention to how their government is undercutting them and how it plans to help them, because the door to resolving disputes with China may have been shut by their government for the foreseeable future.

For a long time, China has called on Australia to take concrete actions to rectify its mistakes in order to ease tension between the two countries, but only to see politicians in Canberra pay lip service, while further poisoning bilateral relations with no regard for the consequences for people and businesses of both countries.

By calling all trade disputes with China "economic coercion," Canberra has only fanned the anti-China flame in Australia in dereliction of its responsibility. The recent trade measures China took against Australian products like barley and wine are based on Chinese laws and evidence to protect the Chinese public. Moreover, Australia officials deliberately ignored the fact that it has launched more than 100 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations against Chinese products, while China only initiated four investigations against Australian goods.

With the cancellation of the BRI agreements, Canberra once again laid bare that it has no intention of easing tensions with China; instead, it is further seeking to poison bilateral cooperation with its largest trading partner. That just adds to a long list of hostile actions taken by Australia, which was the first country in the world to ban Huawei's 5G equipment and has shamelessly followed the US in every attempt to smear China over issues related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang, among others.

There is also another critical aspect of Australia's latest action. By unilaterally canceling the agreements, Canberra also sets a bad precedent for BRI cooperation. Other radical anti-China forces may copy such a damaging move to serve their own interests. That is more reason that countermeasures against Australia may be necessary to send an unmistakable signal that ill attempts to undermine win-win cooperation under the BRI won't let go unpunished.

The BRI is a massive economic cooperation plan aimed at improving infrastructure in various countries and regions and benefiting ordinary people. It was in recognition of the huge benefits in terms of infrastructure improvement and local jobs that the Victoria state government signed the BRI agreements in the first place. Now all the cooperative efforts may have been wasted.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221840.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 7:58 p.m. No.13499411 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9414 >>1281

Australia's continued escalation of tensions prompts Chinese companies’ diversification drive

Analysts say nation could hit back hard against provocations

GT staff reporters - Apr 22, 2021

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Another downward spiral in China-Australia relationship serves as a fresh warning to the Chinese corporate sector that their businesses will not be hijacked by the deterioration of the tensions, industry insiders told the Global Times on Thursday.

Souring bilateral ties are already prompting Chinese businesses to think twice in their dealings with Australia, even in some of the most profitable areas, given the prospect of foreseeable trade decoupling between the two.

Australia unilaterally escalated bilateral tensions on Wednesday when its federal government tore up an agreement between the state of Victoria and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), becoming the first country to withdraw from the China-proposed, open initiative that has received increasing international participation.

In China, the move was seen as an "unreasonable provocation."

An anonymous insider of a Guangdong-based natural gas group company, with the annual gas transport capacity up to billions of cubic meters, told the Global Times on Thursday that the company was in preliminary talks with potential suppliers from Australia, Qatar and Russia. However, with the continuous escalation of trade tensions between China and Australia, the company is considering a diversion of its business from Australia to other countries.

"Australia was a major focus of our future cooperation project, but we are now concerned that the escalation of trade tensions will bring about more risks and uncertainties to our business," said the insider, and the company will diversify its import sources to reduce these risks if bilateral relations deteriorate.

A manager working at a gas-fired power plant told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that the government has an influential sway over energy supply, which is a matter of great significance.

"Shifting away from Australia will add some costs, but national interests overweigh costs, and there are plentiful suppliers from countries that have no bilateral trouble with China," the person said.

Although there has no a big withdrawal for the energy sector, Chinese experts said that the Australian action, and the continuous fueling of anti-China sentiment by politicians in Canberra, could send bilateral trade and investment ties into a further downward spiral, further exposing the country's weakness as the economy is most dependent on China's.

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As more Chinese businesses and the general public feel Australia's increasing antagonism toward China, a trade decoupling is expected to gain pace in the immediate future.

"For Chinese companies, diversifying their import sources will definitely be a trend. It is crucial to emphasize the diversity of sources in this growing trade complex, not only for companies, but also at the national level," Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics told the Global Times on Thursday.

Dong said in recent years, Australia has been headstrong in acting as a deputy sheriff for the US, and it has deliberately created troubles. Such action has put energy cooperation between China and Australia in serious peril.

Even for iron ore, the most valuable export so far unaffected by tensions, the tremor before an earthquake can be felt. Chinese companies are diversifying their exploitation of iron ore in Africa, such as in Algeria, at a record pace amid soaring prices.

A long list of Australia's exports to China, from wine and lobster to timber and hay, ran into problems as bilateral ties took a dive starting in 2018 when Australia became the first country to ban Chinese telecoms firm Huawei's 5G.

However, in a matter of months, most Chinese wine importers shifted away from Australia and placed orders in other countries.

China's Foreign Ministry asked Australia to reverse its decision over the BRI deal, or, the ministry warned, China will hit back hard.

China's deputy head of mission to Australia Wang Xining said on Wednesday that "China is not a cow. I don't think anybody should fancy the idea to milk China when she's in her prime and plot to slaughter her in the end."

Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at the East China Normal University, noted that tearing up the BRI deal will deny Chinese help in infrastructure, which is overdue for an update and further development, and jobs for Victoria.

Australian media outlets also are fueling the flames.

On Wednesday, the Sydney Morning Herald carried a commentary describing Australia's approach to China as "meek and muddled."

Song Wei, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times that the US intends to keep Australia as its pawn in the Asia-Pacific region in its strategy to contain China.

The rising uncertainty from continuing frayed relations will force an increasing number of Chinese companies to look for alternatives to Australia, and that will slow the country's post-virus economic recovery, Song said.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221852.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 8:38 p.m. No.13499677 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9686 >>1295

Three children rescued in the Philippines following Australian child sexual abuse investigations

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Child sexual abuse investigations by the Australian Federal Police and New South Wales Police Force have led to arrest of two Australian men, as well as the rescue of three children and arrest of two women by Philippine authorities.

The children, aged between six and 17 years, were removed from harm after the AFP referred intelligence into the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre (PICACC).

The joint investigation undertaken by the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation led to operational activity on 4 March 2021 in Manila. Two women, both aged 27, were arrested in the Philippines for their alleged role as facilitators of online child sexual abuse.

The Philippine arrests follow the AFP’s Brisbane Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team charging a 66-year-old Jamboree Heights, QLD, man in August 2020 with multiple child sexual abuse offences. Ongoing investigations by the AFP facilitated the referral to PICACC.

On 3rd November 2020, the New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) arrested a 40-year-old New South Wales man who was allegedly communicating with the same women to pay for online abuse.

AFP Child Protection Operations Detective Superintendent Paula Hudson said the AFP worked with partners across the globe to remove children from harm.

“AFP child protection investigators work every day to help rescue some of the most vulnerable and bring the people who harm them to justice,’’ Detective Superintendent Hudson said.

“For the AFP, this work is about the children we save. Our officers never give up, no matter whether a child victim is based in Australia or overseas.”

The AFP’s Senior Officer in the Philippines, Detective Superintendent Andrew Perkins said this was another significant result for all the agencies involved.

“This latest rescue in the Philippines demonstrates the effectiveness of the PICACC, of which the AFP via our International Command in the Philippines is a partner agency. It also highlights the success of our relationship with Philippine Authorities as well as our domestic partners in Australia who work to protect children around the world.”

New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) Manager, Detective Chief Inspector Chris Goddard said these arrests send a clear message to those who prey on the community’s most vulnerable.

“The NSWPF continues to work hard to protect children and bring offenders to justice and this latest incident shows the collaborative approach we have with our partner agencies, both nationally and internationally, to investigate internet crimes against children,” Detective Chief Inspector Goddard said.

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Philippine National Police Chief of the Women and Children Protection Centre, Police Brigadier General Alessandro Abella: “These latest results shows that the Covid 19 pandemic will not stop the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Centre and our partners from bringing perpetrators of crimes against children to justice. We stand committed to protecting and rescuing vulnerable children from the atrocities of these type of crimes.”

National Bureau of Investigation Chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Division, Attorney Janet Francisco: “The National Bureau of Investigation remains steadfast in our commitment to combatting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Together with our national and international partners, we work collaboratively to investigate, arrest and prosecute those who would commit harm against our children, while working tirelessly to rescue those children from harmful situations.”

As of 21 April 2021, and since inception of the PICACC in February 2019, the PICACC has undertaken 118 operations that have resulted in the rescue of 372 victims. Eighty-four suspects/facilitators have been charged and thirteen offenders have been convicted. Australian Federal Police facilitated referrals from Australian based investigations has led to the arrest/charge of 35 of these suspects and the removal of 135 of these children from harm in the Philippines.

Further details on the PICACC are available:

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/inauguration-philippine-internet-crimes-against-children-center

Members of the public who have any information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://crimestoppers.com.au

You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button.

https://www.accce.gov.au/report

EDITORS NOTE: Media are reminded of their obligations under s15A of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) and s105 of the Children and Young Person (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW).

Note to media:

Use of term ‘CHILD ABUSE’ MATERIAL NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase "child pornography" is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.

**Editor’s note: Vision and images from this operation can be downloaded via Hightail - https://spaces.hightail.com/space/nVXeQgBqKN

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/three-children-rescued-philippines-following-australian-child-sexual-abuse

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 8:51 p.m. No.13499729 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9733 >>1295

>>13452535

Identity of Melbourne couple guilty of keeping slave, who weighed just 40kg, revealed

The identity of a suburban couple who kept a slave in their Melbourne home for eight years can be revealed for the first time.

Caroline Schelle - APRIL 23, 2021

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A Melbourne couple who paid an Indian grandmother $3.39 per day to be at their “beck and call” over eight years has been found guilty of enslaving the woman.

Kumuthini Kannan and her husband Kandasamy were found guilty of intentionally possessing the woman as a slave and exercising the right of ownership of a slave between July 2007 and July 2015.

After deliberating for a day and a half, jurors found the pair guilty on all charges on Friday afternoon.

The enslaved woman, now in her 60s, was paid just $3.39 per day for cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children during the eight years she was trapped in the Kannans’ home.

The names of the couple can finally be revealed after a suppression order on their identity was lifted following the verdict on Friday, despite their lawyers arguing it should be kept secret.

Justice John Champion said “the time had come” for the duo to be publicly identified following the 10-week trial.

Both now face a maximum penalty of 25 years behind bars.

The Indian-born grandmother was at Mr and Ms Kannan’s “beck and call” 24/7 when she was living with them, prosecutor Richard Maidment said.

Their motivation to risk their reputation, jobs and potential prosecution to keep her and harbour her was “crystal clear”, Mr Maidment said.

“They wanted essentially to import a true, tried and tested child carer and domestic servant, knowing that they could pay her next to nothing so that they could continue to live and maintain a five-bedroom home, that they could maintain their lifestyle,” he said.

The victim’s condition was uncovered when she was found shivering in a puddle of urine at the property on July 30, 2015.

Paramedics rushed the emaciated woman to hospital where it was found she weighed 40kg, had a temperature of 28.5C had sepsis and untreated diabetes.

She had moved to Australia in 2007 and was promised she would get paid for doing the household duties and taking care of the couple’s children.

The victim gave more than 30 hours of video evidence which was aired to the jury. Some of it was recorded while she was still in her hospital bed.

The woman said she endured horrific abuse including getting beaten with a frozen chicken, having hot water thrown on her and had lost her teeth.

“She will take a chicken, frozen chicken, and hit on my head and all that,” she told investigators through an interpreter.

(continued)

>>13499729

2/2

The woman said in her evidence she had so many chores to complete she was only able to sleep for an hour every night.

“If I go and sleep then she will come and pour the water on me and then put the light, and she won’t let me sleep,” the victim said.

The enslaved woman was also trapped in the home when the family went on overseas trips and the food cupboard was taped shut, the stove was covered and she was only allowed to use the microwave to cook.

Her family had been in regular contact with the woman until 2012 but that dwindled until her daughter sent an email asking for the couple to send her mother back to India.

In one response Ms Kannan told the woman “get fcked” and in another: “Tell her to go fck herself”

The slave’s family contacted authorities in Australia who launched an investigation.

But the lawyer who represented Ms Kannan said jurors shouldn’t trust the victim’s version of events.

“Put simply … she was not honest, she was not trustworthy, she was not reliable,” barrister Gideon Boas told the court.

He said “harsh and exploitative conditions” do not amount to slavery.

Mr Kannan’s lawyer John Kelly SC described the relationship with the slave as one that was comparable to “mother and son”. He said the woman made “no complaint” about the son’s treatment of her.

“The one criticism of him that might be levelled against him is that he needed to be more assertive in the household, that’s about it,” Mr Kelly said of his client.

When the verdict was handed down Ms Kannan gasped, put her head in her hands and clutched onto her husband.

However the pair were granted bail when their lawyers argued there was no one else to care for their three teenage children.

The judge asked why they hadn’t made any preparations ahead of the verdict.

The pair “effectively placed a gun at the court’s head” because of their failure to consider the possibilities, Justice Champion said.

Their bail conditions would be akin to a “lockdown”situation”, Justice Champion said.

Mr and Mrs Kannan will return to face a pre-sentence hearing in June.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/couple-guilty-of-keeping-slave-who-weighed-just-40kg-in-melbourne-home/news-story/0d0d7469ca58590bc2c9dfa3fa35657d

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 8:54 p.m. No.13499743 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9745 >>1295

>>13452535

‘I have to obey’: Couple found guilty of keeping slave in Melbourne home

Adam Cooper - April 23, 2021

1/2

A wife and husband have been found guilty of keeping a woman as a slave in their Melbourne home for eight years.

Kumuthini Kannan and husband Kandasamy Kannan kept a Tamil Indian woman in their home in Mount Waverley as their domestic servant between July 2007 and July 2015, and paid her the equivalent of $3.39 a day, their Supreme Court trial heard.

The victim, who cannot be identified, gave evidence she was on call around the clock every day of the year and had to wash, clean, prepare food and care for the couple’s three children. The woman, who was in her 50s at the time, claimed that on some days she only had time for one hour of sleep.

She also claimed Mrs Kannan regularly physically and verbally abused her, including pouring boiling liquids on her and throwing hot tea in her face. The victim said she was also hit with a frozen chicken, cut with a knife and suffered a broken hand when she fell down stairs.

Prosecutors successfully argued the Kannans denied the woman her freedom, movement and other rights by not letting her outside the home by herself, denying her proper payment, health care and regular communications with her family in India.

The victim was found by ambulance paramedics lying in a pool of her own urine inside the home on July 30, 2015, in poor health and weighing about 40 kilograms, the trial heard. She was later treated in hospital for a urinary infection and undiagnosed diabetes.

Mrs Kannan, 53, on Friday gasped and put her hands over her face when a jury found her guilty of intentionally possessing a slave and intentionally exercising power over a slave. She then clutched her husband’s arm when the 57-year-old was found guilty of the same two charges.

The wife slumped forward sobbing afterwards as Justice John Champion thanked and discharged the jurors after their efforts. The verdicts came after the jury deliberated for two days following a 10-week trial.

Justice Champion later revoked a suppression order which had prevented media naming the pair during their trial. The judge also “reluctantly” granted them bail after the verdict until their pre-sentence hearing given there was no one else to care for their three teenage children.

Justice Champion said it was “pretty reprehensible” the couple had done nothing to prepare an emergency care plan for their children. The judge said he only granted bail out of concern for the children’s welfare.

(continued)

>>13499743

2/2

Prosecutors had wanted the couple remanded because a jail term was inevitable. The offences carry maximum jail terms of 25 years.

The Kannans’ trial heard they met the woman in 2004 and that she stayed with them twice before visiting Melbourne in 2007 on a tourist visa.

Despite the woman’s family in India believing the arrangement was for her to be paid, the woman became a “prisoner in the house”, said prosecutor Richard Maidment, QC.

The woman was illiterate, did not speak English and had no connection to Melbourne’s Tamil-speaking community, Mr Maidment said. Mr and Mrs Kannan wielded “total control” over her, he said.

While the woman left the house at times, it was only to parks and on short holidays when accompanied by the family.

The couple ordered the woman not to speak to guests in the house, shower once a week so not to waste water and to eat after the family, the trial heard.

Mr Maidment said the couple exploited the woman while maintaining their own comfortable lifestyle, which included orders she stay inside the house when the family went overseas.

“It was crystal clear that they wanted essentially to import a true, tried and tested child carer and domestic servant, knowing that they could pay her next to nothing so that they could continue to live and maintain a five-bedroom home, that they could maintain their lifestyle … and also to afford family trips overseas pretty much every year and interstate also on a regular basis,” he told the jury in last week’s closing address.

During recorded interviews with a federal agent, the victim said of her plight: “What can I do? Helpless. I came here for money so I have to obey and do whatever I was told to do.”

Mr Maidment said Mrs Kannan was the aggressor towards the woman but her husband failed to intervene to help her and was complicit in arranging her arrival in Melbourne and staying years after her visa expired.

The couple’s lawyers said the woman’s allegations were full of inconsistencies, improbabilities and lies, and told the jury her evidence couldn’t be trusted beyond a reasonable doubt.

Gideon Boas, for Mrs Kannan, argued the woman’s evidence was “utterly dreadful” and there was insufficient evidence for the jury to convict his client, as she wasn’t on trial for being bossy, rude, immoral or screaming.

John Kelly, SC, said the victim never complained about the “gentle and respectful” way Mr Kannan treated her.

Mr Kelly said his client was meek and mild and cut a “fairly marginal and pathetic figure” in the house, and any evidence he was “a slaver” didn’t stack up.

The Kannans are to front a pre-sentence hearing on June 29.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/couple-found-guilty-of-keeping-woman-as-a-slave-in-melbourne-home-20210423-p57lva.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 9:01 p.m. No.13499771 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9775 >>1263

Ben Roberts-Smith case: Media can’t amend defence but can call on witnesses

Adam Cooper - April 23, 2021

1/2

The news outlets being sued by Ben Roberts-Smith have lost their bid to include in a defamation trial evidence of new allegations of serious criminal conduct against the former SAS soldier over his conduct in Afghanistan.

But a Federal Court judge on Friday granted The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald permission to use new evidence of eight Australian soldiers who are expected to detail Mr Roberts-Smith’s involvement in several incidents including the alleged murders of two Afghan men in 2009, to bolster the news outlets’ truth defence.

Mr Roberts-Smith, a highly decorated former soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, is suing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald over reports he allegedly committed murder during deployments to Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, and that he also allegedly punched his mistress in the face in Canberra in 2018.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies the allegations and says the reports are defamatory because they portray him as a criminal.

The media will defend the claim using a truth defence at a trial to start on June 7.

The news outlets this month applied to Justice Anthony Besanko to amend their defence to include evidence of two more incidents of what they called “very serious criminal conduct” on top of Mr Roberts-Smith’s alleged involvement in six unlawful killings as an Australian soldier in Afghanistan.

Justice Besanko on Friday refused the media’s application, but granted the news outlets’ lawyers the right to call on a group of Australian soldiers to give evidence about what they saw and knew about several incidents including the deaths of two Afghan men allegedly unlawfully killed on Easter Sunday 2009.

The judge said he was not yet ready to provide reasons for his decisions because of potential national security concerns.

Justice Besanko will next week hear arguments on whether the news outlets can include evidence from Mr Roberts-Smith’s former wife, Emma, one of her friends and a man who claims the former soldier attempted to intimidate a witness in an investigation into alleged war crimes.

The judge will also next week hear argument on which side presents its case first at trial.

Nicholas Owens, SC, for the publishers, said on Friday that it was agreed the news outlets would present their case first given they made the serious allegations, although Mr Roberts-Smith wanted to be the first witness.

Mr Owens said the “hybrid model” of Mr Roberts-Smith giving evidence during the media’s case was unworkable.

But Bruce McClintock, SC, for Mr Roberts-Smith, said it was his client’s “right” to be the first witness and rejected the suggestion the parties had agreed on a running order.

“The plaintiff [Mr Roberts-Smith] brings these proceedings. He wants to get into the witness box first and give his side of the story,” Mr McClintock said.

“My client wants to get into the witness box and say what happened in Afghanistan and face cross-examination. It’s something he actually looks forward to.”

(continued)

>>13499771

2/2

Mr Roberts-Smith bore the onus of proving he was the soldier identified in the contentious media reports that did not name him and that they caused him damage to his reputation, his barrister said.

The Australian Federal Police is investigating the 2012 death of Afghan farmer Ali Jan, who was allegedly kicked off a cliff before he was shot dead, and considers Mr Roberts-Smith a suspect, the court has heard. No charges have been laid.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald this month reported that the AFP was also in possession of material that was stored on USB devices and allegedly buried in Mr Roberts-Smith’s backyard.

That material allegedly included Department of Defence drone videos of military operations in Afghanistan and photographs of Australian and American soldiers drinking out of the prosthetic leg of a dead Afghan man at a party in 2012.

Mr Roberts-Smith has denied he hid the material or failed to disclose it to the military probe into the conduct of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, and said he co-operated with the inquiry.

Mr McClintock on Friday said his client knew “nothing” about a possible investigation into the latest allegations. On Thursday, another of the former soldier’s lawyers claimed the news outlets should have raised the material with the Commonwealth before publishing the allegations, and alleged their actions were “potentially unlawful”.

But Mr Owens on Friday said the AFP had assured the news outlets and their lawyers they were not in breach of any national security laws.

Justice Besanko also formally gave the media lawyers permission for some of their witnesses, including four Afghan villagers who allege they saw Mr Roberts-Smith kick Mr Jan off the cliff, to give evidence from their homeland.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers also want three of their witnesses to give evidence remotely because they are based overseas. Among the witnesses expected to give evidence in person for the former soldier is former governor-general Quentin Bryce, the court has heard.

A spokesman for Nine, the owner of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, said: “Nine is grateful for the court’s permission to lead new evidence from eight Australian soldiers, who will bravely give evidence against Mr Roberts-Smith.

“This is in addition to the 12 other soldiers and four Afghan villagers who will testify against Mr Roberts-Smith’s involvement in six unlawful killings in Afghanistan.

“But we are disappointed that we cannot present evidence of two more incidents of serious criminal conduct, that would have further strengthened our truth defence. We had hoped that all relevant evidence could be aired in this trial.”

If you are a current or former ADF member, or a relative, and need counselling or support, contact the Defence All-Hours Support Line on 1800 628 036 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046.

https://www1.defence.gov.au/adf-members-families/health-well-being/services-support-fighting-fit/need-help-now/all-hours-support-line

https://www.openarms.gov.au

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-case-media-can-t-amend-defence-but-can-call-on-witnesses-20210423-p57lrr.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 9:09 p.m. No.13499801 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9806 >>1245

All-gender bathrooms proposed for Victorian workplaces and footy ovals

Chloe Booker - April 23, 2021

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Employers could soon be required to include all-gender bathrooms in Victorian workplaces where possible, as sporting organisations prepare to put them in Melbourne’s major stadiums.

A WorkSafe review is assessing the duty for employers to provide toilets that accommodate users’ gender diversity under Victoria’s occupational health and safety laws.

It comes as the AFL confirmed all-gender bathrooms, including for transgender and gender diverse people, had been factored in as part of the redevelopment of Marvel Stadium due to start this year.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is also looking at providing all-gender bathrooms within the stadium considered the home of Australian rules football.

A WorkSafe spokesman said the review would examine its amenities and work environment compliance code, which provides guidance about employers’ obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

“All employers have an obligation to protect their workers from the risks of work-related gendered violence, regardless of their gender identity,” he said.

An AFL spokesman said the organisation wanted football matches to be an inclusive and safe environment for everyone.

“Part of that journey is working with our stadium partners to continue to upgrade the facilities where possible and ensure the relevant modifications are included in any future works – including in our upcoming redevelopment at Marvel Stadium and the Docklands precinct,” he said.

A Melbourne Cricket Club spokeswoman said it was looking at providing all-gender bathrooms at the MCG.

“We are currently investigating a number of diversity and inclusion actions within the existing infrastructure of the MCG,” she said.

Transgender Victoria co-founder Sally Goldner welcomed the news and said changing WorkSafe’s guidelines would bring them into line with state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

“This would make more common sense and less red tape for all organisations [and] make it safe for everyone who doesn’t fit stereotypical ideas about what gender should look like,” she said.

The Victorian Pride Lobby co-convenor Nevena Spirovska said all-gender bathrooms needed to be separate from shared disabled toilets.

“We welcome WorkSafe reviewing its guidance for workplaces to explore the possibility of providing all gender bathrooms in addition to bathrooms for men, women and people with a disability,” she said.

WorkSafe’s compliance code currently stipulates that employers need to provide clean and hygienic toilets, with separate male and female stalls in workplaces with more than 10 workers or where there isn’t a majority of one gender.

The Australian Open broke ground last year by providing all-gender toilets at Rod Laver Arena.

(continued)

>>13499801

2/2

A person’s gender identity refers to whether they see themselves as male, female or anything else and may be different from the sex assigned to them at birth. Their gender expression is how they outwardly show their gender identity.

People who are transgender do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. People who are gender diverse identify with a gender or genders outside of male or female.

In 2018, Etihad Stadium, now Marvel Stadium, put signs on bathrooms welcoming people to use the one they felt best fit their gender identity or expression at a pride game between St Kilda and Sydney.

At the time, the MCG said it was open to doing the same.

However, now both organisations have confirmed to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald that they welcome people to use the bathroom that best fits their gender identity at all sporting matches and events throughout the year.

“The MCC is deeply committed to ensuring we continue to deliver the MCG as an inclusive and safe venue for the entire community,” a spokeswoman said.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission legal manager Aimee Cooper said not allowing people to use a bathroom based on their gender identity was discriminatory under the Equal Opportunity Act.

“Trans and gender diverse people deserve to live a life of dignity and respect, and being able to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity is vital for people to feel safe, accepted and respected,” she said.

Ms Cooper said all-gender bathrooms eliminated distress and reduced the risk of hate crimes, but whether not providing one could be considered discrimination under the act depended on the workplace or venue’s size.

She said it would be harder for larger venues, such as the MCG or Marvel Stadium, to argue providing an all-gender bathroom was unreasonable.

Ms Goldner, a transwoman, said workplaces wouldn’t necessarily need to build new bathrooms, but could re-configure existing ones as all-gender toilets at a low cost.

She said men’s bathrooms could be changed to all-gender, while women’s bathrooms could be reserved for women, both cisgender (a person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth) and transwomen.

“We understand gendered violence, because we’re on the receiving end of it, so we therefore empathise strongly with having still, particularly, some female-only bathrooms. We respect that,” she said.

However she said while women’s sense of safety was important, the threat didn’t come from transwomen, and transgender and gender diverse Australians were more likely to be victims of violence than the rest of the population.

Ms Cooper said the commission wasn’t aware of any reliable evidence that suggests allowing transwomen to use women’s bathrooms increased risk to public safety.

Minister for Equality Martin Foley declined to answer specific questions about whether workplaces and venues should provide all-gender bathrooms, but said: “Everyone, including trans and gender diverse people, should be provided with safe and inclusive spaces.”_

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry declined to provide a position on whether workplaces should provide all gender bathrooms.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 1300 292 153

https://humanrights.gov.au

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/all-gender-bathrooms-proposed-for-victorian-workplaces-and-footy-ovals-20210420-p57ksw.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 9:43 p.m. No.13499932 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

Arthur Sinodinos AO Tweet

#QUAD Ambassadors and US House Foreign Affairs Committee continue conversation on shared vision for an open, inclusive and resilient Indo Pacifc. Great to see @RepGregoryMeeks @RepMcCaul, @RepBera, @SteveChabot

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1385346656762310662

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 9:58 p.m. No.13500013 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

Loading Up!

What’s a time you helped with disaster relief?

Following the Timor-Lest Government’s declaration of a state of calamity, due to landslides and floods after being hit by Tropical Cyclone Serojain, Marines with MRF-D and ADF members teamed up with the Portuguese and Timorese Social Club in order to prepare a shipment of flood relief supplies donated by the local Darwin community for Timor-Leste.

(U.S. Marine Corps photos by Cpl. Lydia Gordon)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/4043328989089704

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 23, 2021, 9:59 p.m. No.13500022 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

Heads up Darwin, Marines will be flying at night throughout the rotation! This training keeps our aviation units safe and proficient, and we’ll do our best to keep it to times that are respectful to the community.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Wetzel)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/4048012278621375

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 1:22 a.m. No.13500664 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

>>13493500

Australian defense minister’s comments against China confuse right and wrong: Chinese FM

Global Times - Apr 23, 2021

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton's comments against China including the alleged cyberattacks are ridiculous. China urges Australia to tell right from wrong and make efforts in improving bilateral ties, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, two days after Canberra scraped a Belt and Road Initiative deal between China and Australia's Victoria State.

"The minister's comments confused right and wrong…The predicament that China-Australia ties are facing is caused by Australia, which blatantly interfered in China's internal affairs, harmed China's interests and adopted discriminatory trade practices against China," Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a daily press briefing on Friday.

"However, Australia is pretending to be a victim. It is very ridiculous," Zhao noted.

According to Australian media reports, Dutton said on Thursday that Australia will not "surrender" to threats of retaliation from China after Victoria's Belt and Road deal was ripped up, and "we are not going to surrender our sovereignty."

He also said that Australia's relationship with its largest trade partner was important, but it was standing up for its beliefs. Dutton claimed China's behavior in the region, including militarization of bases and cyber attacks, is a "real problem," news.com.au reported.

Zhao said that Dutton's accusations including the cyber attacks are more suitable for Australia.

We urge Australia to tell right from wrong, and make efforts to improve the China-Australia ties, Zhao noted

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221909.shtml

—

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 23, 2021

FSN: Responding to some of the comments from China yesterday, Australia's Defense Minister Peter Dutton said that Australia will not surrender to threats of retaliation and also said that some of China's actions including militarization and cyber activities were not that of a friend. What's China's response?

Zhao Lijian: The comments of Australia's Defense Minister totally confuse black with white. The difficult situation in China-Australia relationship is the result of Australia's moves to grossly interfere in China's domestic affairs and undermine China's interests, and its discriminatory trade practice toward China. It is preposterous that Australia is playing the victim here.

As for the so-called cyber attack he mentioned, this label can never be pinned on China. Rather, it suits Australia the best. We urge Australia to see the issue plainly for what it is and make efforts to improve bilateral relations.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1871098.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 1:47 a.m. No.13500714 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0719 >>1281

Push to cut more Chinese accords

GEOFF CHAMBERS and JOE KELLY - APRIL 23, 2021

Foreign Minister Marise Payne is being urged to tear up China’s Confucius Institute agreements with universities and the Northern Territory government’s 99-year Port of Darwin lease with Chinese firm Landbridge under Australia’s new foreign arrangements scheme.

Senator Payne’s decision to terminate Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative agreements with Beijing under the scheme, which came into effect late last year, has sparked calls for the Morrison government to move against other Chinese deals.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings, a former Defence Department deputy secretary, said the government should take “decisive steps” to end the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin.

Writing for Inquirer, Mr Jennings said “high on the government’s list for consideration must surely be the dozen or so secret agreements bringing Confucius Institutes on to Australian university campuses”.

“The way these institutes function is surely an anathema to what should be a central university value for fiercely independent research,” Mr Jennings wrote.

“To sustain the funding flow from Confucius Institutes, universities run the risk that courses on Chinese history or international relations cannot discuss Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the illegal annexation of the South China Sea, human rights and other topics discomforting to Beijing. It’s way past time the institutes were closed.”

Under the foreign arrangements scheme, Senator Payne has reviewed more than 1000 arrangements between foreign national governments and universities, local and state governments.

In addition to cancelling the BRI agreements on the grounds of working against the national interest, Senator Payne scrapped two other deals involving Iran and Syria.

Mr Jennings argued that ending the Port of Darwin lease would be “well received domestically, by our key allies and in the region, which looks to Australia to play a strengthening role in security during troubled times”.

Beijing reacted with fury during the week to the cancelling of its BRI agreements with Victoria. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China reserved the “right to take further actions” against Australia.

He said it was the first time a BRI deal had been torn-up and that the Morrison government had stooped to “political manipulation and bullying”, urging Australia to abandon its “Cold War mentality and ideological bias”.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Friday said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had done the “wrong thing” in signing the BRI deals and pushed back against criticism from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy.

“He shouldn’t be entering into agreements that aren’t in our national interest and I want to make sure that people hear that message very clearly. We are standing up for who we are and we’ve got very important diplomatic relations with many countries, including China,” Mr Dutton said.

“But we aren’t going to be compromised by the principles of the Communist Party of China and the government’s made that very clear.”

Mr Dutton said China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the region was a “real problem”.

“When you look at our part of the world, you look at militarisation of bases, when you look at the cyber attacks, all of that is not the action of a friend,” he said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the Opposition supported the government’s Foreign Relations bill but suggested a proper explanation was needed about why Victoria’s BRI deals were cancelled when nothing had happened on the Port of Darwin 99 year lease to Landbridge.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/push-to-cut-more-chinese-accords/news-story/7ec74335fe107fa244549f3679a6cbf3

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 1:49 a.m. No.13500719 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0721 >>1281

>>13500714

Time to face down the wolf warriors

Beijing’s threats require a united, measured and calm response.

PETER JENNINGS - April 24, 2021

1/3

After another tumultuous week in the Australia-China relationship, four conclusions are becoming increasingly clear. First, we are going to be on this rollercoaster ride for years. National positions are hardening. Neither Beijing nor Canberra will back down and the prospects for negotiation are zero given China’s “wolf warrior” mania.

Second, Scott Morrison and his senior ministers look increasingly confident in their stance to seek “a balance in favour of freedom”. The language used about relations with China is careful but is becoming clearer and more definitive. There is something to be said for knowing when your back is hard up against a strategic wall.

Third, the Chinese Communist Party’s rhetoric suggests a hint of panic is seeping in. Statements from the Chinese embassy in Canberra and from the foreign ministry in Beijing are as shrill as they are counter-productive, implicitly threatening those who engage in “the despicable tactic of smearing China on the Australian side”.

Beijing’s usual Australian support base has largely gone to ground and public opinion has swung significantly against the People’s Republic.

A fourth lesson is that, for Australia, our ability to draw on strong alliances and deep friendships with like-minded democracies is the reason we will prevail against Beijing. The challenge is to keep these relationships strong. New Zealand aside, there is a positive international agenda to pursue and a growing interest in Canberra to shape up to this opportunity.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s decision to cancel Victoria’s Memorandum of Understanding, and Framework Agreement “jointly promoting the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” ended Daniel Andrews’s embarrassing venture into foreign policy.

Beijing’s desire to get state and territory governments to “sign up” to Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative was designed to undermine Canberra. The federal government and opposition took the view that Australia should not provide a blank cheque endorsement for China’s strategic plan to dominate global transport infrastructure from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.

Between 2015 and 2018, 139 countries signed Belt and Road MOUs with China — this was a major political effort, promoted in the developing world with soft loans, to buy international political endorsement for a key Xi policy initiative.

The Council on Foreign Relations, a respected US think tank, judges that “the push to get countries to join BRI is likely motivated less by a desire to build infrastructure and more by a goal of increasing China’s narrative power … that Beijing is an economic power on par with the United States”.

In effect, Andrews fell hook, line and sinker into a PRC political trap. Imagine an Australian government trying to get a Chinese province to sign a MOU endorsing Scott Morrison’s Pacific step-up. Beijing of course would veto such a deal on the grounds that China’s provinces had no foreign policy business endorsing an Australian strategic objective.

While the Chinese embassy decried the MOU’s cancellation as “another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China”, the real provocation here was the naked attempt to turn a state government against the commonwealth, abetted with the usual coterie of Australian influencers and businesspeople intent on making money.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 1:50 a.m. No.13500721 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0727

>>13500719

2/3

Comments from the Chinese embassy have become increasingly incomprehensible. Wang Xining, the mission’s deputy, told the National Press Club: “China is not a cow. I don’t think anybody should fancy the idea to milk China when she’s in her prime and plot to slaughter it in the end.”

Perhaps this is why Beijing refused last week to renew licences for Australian farmers to export hay to China’s growing domestic dairy industry?

This latest effort in economic coercion, to punish Australia for exercising its political sovereignty, is yet another example of the lack of strategic thinking in China’s actions. Australia exports oaten hay to China’s rapidly growing dairy industry. This is widely regarded as a high-quality, palatable feedstock, preferable to alfalfa, straw or other cereal hays exported by other countries.

While the Chinese ban will inconvenience Australian farmers, it is likely they will be able to find other markets for their oaten hay, just as barley farmers did a few months ago. In the meantime Chinese dairy farmers lose access to the best available product for their cows.

Contrary to criticism from the opposition, government ministers are picking their words carefully and not reacting to the sillier comments from Beijing. Against the signs of an increasingly panicky Chinese Communist Party, Morrison’s senior ministers look and sound more assured.

Payne’s use of Australia’s Foreign Relations Act to cancel Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements was calm and sensible, as was Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s measured statement on Friday that “we’re not going to have our values compromised, we aren’t going to surrender our sovereignty”.

Payne foreshadowed that while the “overwhelming majority” of foreign agreements would not be affected, it was possible that some would be cancelled.

High on the government’s list for consideration must surely be the dozen or so secret agreements bringing Confucius Institutes on to Australian university campuses. The way these institutes function is surely an anathema to what should be a central university value for fiercely independent research.

To sustain the funding flow from Confucius Institutes, universities run the risk that courses on Chinese history or international relations cannot discuss Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the illegal annexation of the South China Sea, human rights and other topics discomforting to Beijing. It’s way past time the institutes were closed.

It’s also past time that the government took decisive steps to end the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company, Landbridge.

Readers will recall the farcical circumstances in which the port was leased in 2015, at the same time Australian foreign and defence ministers were meeting their US counterparts in Boston and agreeing to “pursue enhanced naval co-operation across all domains, including additional combined training and exercises”.

Whatever initial promises for economic development made to the Northern Territory government by Landbridge, the reality is that not much is happening. Landbridge has suspended plans to build a luxury hotel near the port and advises that “if we don’t resume work by end of June 2021 Landbridge will not continue with the project”.

So much for a long-term perspective. Meantime, some creative thought applied to the future of the US Marine Corps presence in the Top End, and to Japan’s liquefied natural gas export interests located there, could transform the port into a thriving military and export hub, involving ever-closer co-operation between three of the Indo-Pacific’s most consequential democracies.

(continued)

>>13500721

3/3

Working with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute last week, opinion polling company TrueNorth Strategy tested public opinion on the Port of Darwin. The nationwide survey found 85 per cent of Australians agreed that the port should be returned to Australian management due to increased tensions with China.

The same survey found that 89 per cent of people polled believed Australia and its allies should commit to defending an independent democratic state in our region if it were threatened or attacked by the People’s Republic of China, and 80 per cent supported recent government announcements to expand defence manufacturing to build missiles for our defence force.

When it comes to defence and security, governments need to do what is right for Australia’s interests, not necessarily what is popular, but it’s clear that public opinion has been ahead of government on the big strategic issues for some time.

A decision to end the Port of Darwin lease will be well received domestically, by our key allies and in the region, which looks to Australia to play a strengthening role in security during troubled times.

And so to New Zealand, described by Rudyard Kipling on his visit in 1891 as “last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart”.

Sadly, the word that best describes New Zealand foreign policy under Jacinda Ardern is “apart”.

Wellington wants the defence and intelligence benefit of being part of the Five Eyes grouping without ever having to rock what Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta described in a speech last week as, “New Zealand’s diplomatic relationship with the (sic) China has been steadfast for nearly 50 years”.

Mahuta’s speech was piled high with platitudes about how important it was for New Zealand “to stay true to ourselves”, but nowhere does that translate into clear expressions of disapproval for Beijing’s bad behaviour, or words of support for New Zealand’s democratic allies.

Here’s one example of this evasive moralism: “Matters such as human rights should be approached in a consistent, country agnostic manner. We will not ignore the severity and impact of any particular country’s actions if they conflict with our longstanding and formal commitment to universal human rights.”

Does “country agnostic” mean Wellington disapproves of the mass detention centres imprisoning hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in Xinjiang but can’t mention China by name?

New Zealand remains an important ally of Australia, one in which we have under-invested over the decades, failing to sustain a measure of common thinking on key strategic issues.

We should hope that Payne was able to convey the thought to Mahuta and Ardern that Wellington should keep an eye on how it is travelling with Canberra’s policymakers as much as it worries about Beijing.

If New Zealand truly no longer wants to pay its Five Eyes dues, Australia has a vastly more significant and capable partner in Japan. Big strategic thinking would say that it’s time to bring Japan into the Five Eyes fold.

Peter Jennings is executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a former deputy secretary for strategy with the Defence Department.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/time-to-face-down-beijings-wolf-warriors/news-story/3595ecfb2178865f89efb26cf94e7326

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 2:35 a.m. No.13500805 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet

Ghislaine Maxwell makes first in-person court appearance since arrest |Wish I could’ve been there in person to face my abuser in court.Her attempt at plying for sympathy is plied with the reality of her crimes against minors. #Justice #Enough #SaveTheKids

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1385774453548752900

Ghislaine Maxwell makes first in-person court appearance since arrest

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/23/ghislaine-maxwell-court-appearance-latest-jeffrey-epstein-charges

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 3:45 a.m. No.13500945 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

Prime Minister Scott Morrison Facebook Post

24 April 2021

Lest We Forget.

Tomorrow, Anzac Day, is one of the most sacred days in our national calendar.

It’s a day to remember, a day for respect and a day to give thanks to those who have served and continue to serve our great country.

This year, unlike last, many of our local communities will once again be able to come together to commemorate.

However, in WA, that won’t be possible due to the short lockdown. But you can still pay your respects by lighting a candle and standing in your driveway, on your balcony or in your living room as the dawn breaks, as we did last year.

We will remember them.

https://www.facebook.com/101546263223119/videos/4389933294378043/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 3:48 a.m. No.13500949 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

Anzac Day Dawn Service 2021

ShrineMelbourne

This Anzac Day, whether you are in your pyjamas or in uniform; in your driveway, living room or at the Shrine, remember those who gave their all, and join us to light up the dawn.

Join us online at 5.40am, 25 April for the Dawn Service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRpy5apViPQ

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 3:49 a.m. No.13500950 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

UPCOMING LIVE: Anzac Day 2021 - Commemorative dawn services | official broadcast

ABC Australia

Join us as we go LIVE for the Anzac Day 2021 Sydney Dawn Service, National Commemorative Service and Shrine of Remembrance Service from 4.30am AEST on Sunday, April 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v96z4vHXoH4

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 3:50 a.m. No.13500952 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

ANZAC Day dawn service live from Currumbin RSL

7NEWS Australia

Watch the ANZAC Day dawn service live from Currumbin RSL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UO4lhobRH8

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 3:51 a.m. No.13500954 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5223

Anzac Day 2021 - Live from Washington DC

Australia in the US

Join us virtually as we commemorate Anzac Day 2021 with a small ceremony in Washington, DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZ53ZHtn10

Anonymous ID: fe32b1 April 24, 2021, 7:15 a.m. No.13501645 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1671

>>13501645

I'm guessing 0.1% survivalist Aussie's wouldn't mind this one… depending on where they are.

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 1:38 p.m. No.13503677 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3904 >>1245

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

Lest We Forget.

Originally Canada #17 >>13502708

Climate is the new Covid

FULL ARTICLE HERE:

https://tapnewswire.com/2021/04/climate-is-the-new-covid/

The “public health policies” allegedly in place to fight Covid19 are being rebranded as “saving the planet”.

Yesterday was Earth Day. The traditional day environmental hashtags temporarily trend across all social media sites. This year was no different, with the exception of the stronger than usual whiff of agenda.

The narrative of the “deadly viral pandemic” is slowly losing momentum. Whether this is through the public having “post viral fatigue”(as it were), or a deliberate shift in media talking points is unclear. But there’s certainly less energy in the story than at this time last year.

That said, it’s also perfectly clear that governments around the world are in no mood to give up their newly acquired “emergency powers”, and that alleged “anti-covid measures” are not going away anytime soon.

Especially lockdowns, which are being freshly marketed as “good for the planet”.

The narrative that locking down the public was “helping the Earth heal” actually dates back to last March, when it was reported all across the world news that only a few weeks of lockdown had cleared up the water in Venician canals so much there were dolphins swimming through the city.

This story later proved to be completely untrue, but that didn’t stop dozens of outlets from picking up the story and running with it.

At various times in the intervening year, Covid has been sold as a having an environmental silver-lining. Including potentially “saving the planet”.

Just last month, the Guardian published a story with the headline…

>>13503677

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 24, 2021, 11:19 p.m. No.13507409 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7418 >>1245

Anzac Day: Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Afghanistan withdrawal marks end of ‘another chapter’

HEATH PARKES-HUPTON - APRIL 25, 2021

1/2

Australia’s impending withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan marks the closure of “another chapter” in the Anzac legacy, Scott Morrison has said.

Delivering a solemn Anzac Day address at a Dawn Service held at Canberra’s Australian War Memorial on Sunday morning, the Prime Minister gave thanks to all whose selflessness had helped make their country “what it is today”.

As the nation woke to watch and attend services across Australia, Mr Morrison made special mention of those men and women who served throughout the nation’s “longest war” in the Middle East, the last of whom will soon be coming home.

He said they were “the bravest of this generation”.

“This Anzac Day another chapter in our history is coming to a close, with the announcement last week of our departure and that of our great friend and ally, the United States, from Afghanistan,” he said.

“Australia has been a steadfast contributor to the fight against terrorism. It’s been our longest war.

“The world is safer from the threat of terrorism than when the twin towers were felled almost 20 years ago. But we remain vigilant.

“However, this has come at great cost. Forty-one Australian lives lost in Afghanistan, whom we especially remember and honour this morning.

“More than 39,000 Australians have served on operations in support of Australia’s mission in Afghanistan, many carrying the wounds and scars of war, seen and unseen.

“They are the bravest of this generation.”

The Prime Minister remembered Sergeant Andrew Russell – the first Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2002 – who died when his patrol vehicle struck an anti-vehicle mine.

Sergeant Russell was just 33 and left behind his wife Kylie and his 11-day-old daughter Leisa, who is now studying at university.

“Kylie says she is, in so many ways, just like her Dad – she lives with a strong sense of duty,” Mr Morrison said.

He also honoured the memory of Sergeant Brett Till, tragically killed while trying to disarm an improvised explosive device in 2009.

Sergeant Till, already a father of two, was at the time expecting his first child with wife Bree.

“Their child Ziggy will be in high school next year, and I know Brett would be so proud of all his three children and the amazing job Bree has done to raise them,” Mr Morrison said.

He said the support of families had sustained our soldiers, sailors, aviators, nurses, padres and peacekeepers, and had also had to “shoulder the burdens that follow service too”.

Also receiving special praise this Anzac Day was veteran Sergeant Ricky Morris, a member of an Aboriginal family with more than 20 members who’ve seen active service over the decades.

“Ricky says “every medal tells a story” – whether it’s worn over the heart of a veteran or carried by one of their loved ones,” Mr Morrison said. “And that matters so much, especially today.”

In his speech, the Prime Minister said although the Anzac story began on the beach at Gallipoli 106 years ago, it was born in the houses, farms, towns and suburbs across the country.

“It’s in those places that selflessness, duty, respect and responsibility were learned,” he said.

“Where love of family, the community and country is warmed and is kindled in the youngest hearts and the oldest minds.

“It is also where the pain of loss is felt most acutely.”

(continued)

>>13507409

2/2

DAWN SERVICES HELD ACROSS NATION

Dawn Services have taken place across the nation as hundreds of thousands of Australians prepare to march on Sunday morning to commemorate Anzac Day in 2021.

After coronavirus restrictions effectively resulted in most Australians paying their respects at home or in their driveways last year, the nation has responded strongly with crowds allowed back in 2021.

Many services and marches across the country exhausted their ticketed allocation within days of going online, while Queensland events are set to proceed without crowd limits.

Temporary fences erected to manage crowds at Melbourne’s Dawn Service did not deter those who missed out on tickets from gathering outside the service area.

Members of the public have encircled commemorations at the Shrine despite pleas from authorities to “light up the dawn” at home.

Although there was ample space inside the forecourt of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, many stood watching from outside the fenced off area.

The Dawn Service in Victoria was limited to 1400 attendees amid COVID-19 restrictions. In 2019 it’s estimated about 25,000 attended.

In Perth, services were cancelled but many turned out to mark the occasion with driveway vigils at dawn.

A ticketed Dawn Service was at capacity at Sydney’s cenotaph, while in Brisbane, large crowds turned out without restriction.

The decision to limit Dawn Service crowds has caused some upset, however, with 85,000 permitted to attend the AFL’s traditional Anzac Day match later today.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/anzac-day-prime-minister-scott-morrison-says-afghanistan-withdrawal-marks-end-of-another-chapter/news-story/c5fb0cf66b4613970de5b1ffb0883f7e

Peter Dutton reveals how Australian troops will fight greater threats and uncertainty at home

CHARLES MIRANDA - APRIL 25, 2021

Exclusive: Australian Defence Forces will return to “core business” in defending Australia’s interests with uncertain times creating new home front threats, Defence Minister Peter Dutton has declared.

Speaking on the eve of Australia’s most revered day, Anzac Day, Mr Dutton thanked the more than 39,000 troops who served in the Middle East but said now the focus was on home.

He said the skill sets learned in the conflict zone over the past 20 years would serve the nation well as Australia faced multiple threats including the militarisation of bases and islands on our doorstep, notably by China, the level of foreign interference and cyber threats, and the “heavy influence” into our neighbours.

Mr Dutton was in Brisbane yesterday and had planned to speak with soldiers of the 3rd Battalion at Lavarack Barracks to commemorate the Battle of Kapyong during the Korean War, when Australian troops slowed Chinese forces advancing on Seoul.

However due to WA’s lockdown and restrictions on anyone who had been there recently was forced to cancel., was forced

But a constant on his six trips to other barracks so far as he talked to rank and file, “core business” was the message he repeated.

He told News Corp Australia yesterday, symbolically like Kapyong, friends and foe needed to know where Australia stood.

“Australia has always stood up for our values and sovereignty and for our closest friends and allies and nothing has changed from 70 years ago to this point in history, so we need to make sure we continue to play to our strengths and our friends, and adversaries will know that is always the case,” he said.

“The threats are understood and we’ve come to the end of our 20-year engagement in the Middle East, so there is a refocus and pivoting back to our own region that is necessary and it also gives the 39,000 (troops) and those who have succeeded them in the ADF time to rejuvenate.”

He said the ADF had been on an almost permanent conflict footing but troops now could catch up and ramp up on training, allow new war fighting acquisitions to arrive and be rolled out and operators to skill up on their use to build greater capacity.

As other agencies including ASIO have pointed out, Mr Dutton said there existed “a significant threat at unprecedented levels and that means a huge effort required in country and region as well”.

Earlier he said Australia had been clear with China it would not “surrender” to threats of retaliation after Beijing threatened escalating a trade war because Australia cut Victoria’s ties to its Belt and Road Initiative.

“I think the focus for the Australian Defence Force is about core business, providing domestic support, keep Australia safe and secure, focus further emphasis and be clear-eyed about capacity in the defence force to keep us safe and secure in uncertain times and our training now reflects that priority,” he said.

“The level of foreign interference in our country, the level of cyber attacks, the militarisation of bases across our region, the heavy influence into near neighbours, I think that all creates question marks and uncertainty which we need to monitor and respond to as we need.

“The priority at the moment is we have the organisation focused on their core business, making sure they are keeping Australia safe and secure. Equally I have an absolute priority to honour the service of the 39,000 men and women, 41 of whom gave their lives in conflict over the course of the last two decades in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I want them to hear a very clear message of support from me and the government and the public to gain a deeper understanding of the work they were doing there and the fact they saved countries including Australia from terrorist attacks and another 9-11 type event.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/peter-dutton-reveals-how-australian-troops-will-fight-greater-threats-and-uncertainty-at-home/news-story/4de76c8fbef305181add8f36a60f47b0

>>13507484

You two guys are complicate in what is going on in the world today. Best be ready for the consequences!! Does Orange suit you??

>>13485324

Dominion was the only way SM got in. His words were."what a surprise win" All of NZ and Aussie politics is a swamp. Trump is on the way. WWG1WGA

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 12:40 a.m. No.13507800 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

ANZAC Day

PRESS STATEMENT

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE

APRIL 22, 2021

On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I extend my warmest thoughts to all Australians and New Zealanders as you commemorate ANZAC Day on April 25, 2021.

As we reflect on the incredible acts of bravery and sacrifice of the Gallipoli Campaign 106 years ago, I am humbled by the debt of gratitude we all owe to our service men and women. We honor not just the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, who served during the First World War, but all those who have responded to our nations’ calls to service to defend our shared values and freedom.

Since 1915, U.S., Australian, and New Zealand service members have served alongside one another in many global conflicts. Through our strong and deep interpersonal ties, the partnership between our nations continues to grow each year along with the realization that the kinship our armed forces share is more important than ever in helping ensuring a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

As we remember and honor those who have fallen, I am confident that with our enduring spirit of camaraderie and shared sacrifice we will continue to overcome common challenges. Once again, I express my sincere gratitude to all Australians and New Zealanders on this somber day.

https://www.state.gov/anzac-day/

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 1:21 a.m. No.13507965 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7973 >>1245

Crowds return for Anzac Day service, but some diggers locked out by fence

Simone Fox Koob and Ashleigh McMillan - April 25, 2021

1/2

Veterans Jay and Alex both served in East Timor and Iraq, but only one was able to get tickets to the Anzac Day dawn service.

On Sunday, as day broke over the Shrine of Remembrance, they stood together, separated by a wire fence.

After 2020, when coronavirus restrictions meant Victorians were unable to commemorate Anzac Day together, veterans, serving members, their families and the public – many for whom the dawn service is an annual tradition – were grateful to return to the Shrine.

This year’s event was capped at 1400 people but dozens of others gathered at a high wire fence erected in line with the state’s COVID-19 public event requirements.

John Murphy, from Bundoora, stood at the fence line with his walker on the top of a steep, grassy hill. He said he was disappointed that the site was fenced off and said he didn’t believe the event should be ticketed.

“I’d sooner be on the outside without a ticket looking in … I’ve been coming for nearly 30 years,” he said.

Another man standing near Mr Murphy said a “dumb … fence” wasn’t going to stop him from coming to the Shrine.

Jay, who served with the Australian Defence Force for 10 years full-time and 10 years part-time and completed tours in East Timor and Iraq, said he unsuccessfully tried to get tickets about 10 days ago.

“Given it’s an outdoor event, I don’t know how they can fit 85,000 in the MCG and it be OK and only 1400 here,” he said. “It’s quite ridiculous.”

His friend Alex, who also served in Iraq and East Timor, said he felt lucky to have been able to get a ticket.

He intended to use his time at the Shrine to “pause and remember and reflect”.

Inside the fence, among those huddled in silence around the Eternal Flame was Roslyn Devlin, who came from Carlton proudly wearing her father’s WWII medals.

“We try [to come every year],” she said. “Last year I was in my driveway with my torch.”

At 6.04am, with the Shrine illuminated in red, a bugler played The Last Post.

“The years pass, but not the lessons,” said the Governor of Victoria, Linda Dessau AC, before she laid a wreath within the Shrine.

(continued)

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 1:23 a.m. No.13507973 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

>>13507965

2/2

Kyal and Andrea Rode, who both served for 10 years and were deployed to the Middle East, brought their children Lily, 7, and Michael, 10.

Ms Rode said they wanted their children to come to the service each year with them to learn what Anzac Day meant.

“It’s to teach them the respect and carry out traditions,” she said.

“And it’s also about learning, so they know what it’s all about. We’ve done many dawn services but getting them up nice and early, it’s a lot for them and to stand here and be nice and quiet and wonder why we are quiet.”

A total of 1400 people pre-registered to attend the dawn service this year, while around 4000 people took part in the Anzac Day march. In 2019, pre-COVID, 25,000 people attended the dawn service and 12,000 marched.

Many others chose to commemorate Anzac Day at smaller, local ceremonies this year, due in part to confusion around arrangements for events in the CBD and the risks associated with the pandemic.

Shine of Remembrance CEO Dean Lee said he welcomed the return of veterans and Victorians to the Shrine for Anzac Day. He confirmed it was the Shrine’s decision to erect fencing, in line with the state’s public event framework.

“We were asked in return to accept some limitations to protect lives,” he said.

RSL Victoria CEO Jamie Twidale said he heard a number of veterans say they would have preferred the fence was lowered or moved.

“There’s been fair bit of commentary about COVID rules, but we’re not in Perth and didn’t have to lock down, so it was great day,” Mr Twidale said.

“People have really gotten back to things that matter to them - commemorating and spending time with their loved ones.

“I understand why the average punter is not across why there can be a larger crowd at the MCG [than the dawn service]. They see the numbers and it doesn’t make sense.

“[But at the MCG], each zone is only quite small, so it’s not the same thing.“

The Anzac Day march was also affected by crowd caps, but those were extended after initial backlash and confusion about changing arrangements for the event, which was initially cancelled in February.

Melbourne veteran Bobby Harrison, 76, said it was extremely important to continue Anzac Day traditions and have veterans pass their stories on to younger generations.

Mr Harrison, who was in his early 20s when he fought in Vietnam in 1967, reflected on the lifelong friendships he had made during his service.

“You become family,” he said. “You made some terrific friendships that lasted right till today. I spoke to quite a few on the phone yesterday. Sadly they’re starting to feel their years and ill health is catching up with them.“

He said it was “nice to see” crowds back at Anzac Day.

“I think it’s very important,” he said.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/crowds-return-for-anzac-day-service-but-some-diggers-locked-out-by-fence-20210424-p57m3s.html

—

Q Post #2480

Nov 11 2018 13:51:14 (EST)

With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude.

Your sacrifice(s) will never be forgotten.

Thank you and God Bless, Veterans!

Q

https://qanon.pub/#2480

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 1:34 a.m. No.13508029 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1245

What can the US learn from Australia's gun reforms?

CNN

25 Apr 2021

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joins CNN's Pamela Brown to discuss what the United States can learn from Australia about gun reform efforts after the country implemented firearms restrictions following a deadly mass shooting. #CNN #News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fRwLynn5w

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 1:59 a.m. No.13508109 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8115 >>1245

'It's an arms race': The Kiwi cyber firm that shielded Biden's home state during 2020 election

Geraden Cann - Apr 25 2021

1/2

The 2020 US Presidential Election had the highest voter turnout in 120 years.

Widespread fear of foreign interference coupled with Donald Trump’s war against the news media had created a storm of suspicion and conspiracy theories that would eventually result in an attempted insurrection at the US Capitol.

RedShield – a Kiwi cybersecurity firm based in Wellington – stepped straight into this maelstrom.

Redshield was charged with protecting the security of the online infrastructure of Delaware, the home state of Democratic challenger and now-President Joe Biden.

Co-founder and chief executive Andy Prow was only willing to talk about this operation because Delaware's chief security officer, Solomon Adote, had already spoken about it.

He wouldn’t go into exactly what systems RedShield was protecting, only that they “were integral” to guarding against voter fraud and the voting process.

“If you look at a target like a state, during an event like a presidential election, then of course the attacks are everything you would expect to see – and a lot of new things thrown in as well,” Prow said.

“If you think as a bad guy: I either want to disrupt and stop the system doing its normal operations, perhaps I want to abuse and be able to use it for my own means. If you look at voting – is there a way to fraudulently place votes, or ways that I can see if things have already occurred?”

RedShield’s intellectual property – the actual code and system that makes it work – sits within the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and IBM data centres, allowing the company to scale up in capability and processing power to match attackers.

The company has 60 staff members and maintains command centres in the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia, but Prow said incoming attacks in the run-up to the November election didn’t play out as they were portrayed in films.

Screens constantly monitored for spikes in malicious activity and attempted hacks, but his team was on the lookout for molehills rather than mountains. The real threat was small attacks hidden among the noise.

“The shielding layer is processing millions of requests a minute, so to look at a screen and say ‘well, that’s an interesting spike’ – if I’m a good bad guy you’re not even going to see the spike.”

“What I’ll do is throw a million bad things at you, and then 15 minutes later I’ll throw 10 really bad things at you.”

When those “really bad things” appear, Prow said a command centre became akin to an emergency room environment.

“It’s all hands on deck.”

(continued)

>>13508109

2/2

He described the election period as air traffic control combined with a hospital emergency room.

Things moved too quickly for humans, so artificial intelligence and machine learning programs combatted the attacks, with people jumping in occasionally to look at something closely.

“It starts to get into the territory you don’t discuss, and the reason you don’t discuss, you don’t want to get into the details of different attack styles and the defences against them because it is a battle and an arms race.”

The combinations of attacks were of types Prow had never seen before.

“It's almost like I’ve never seen that hook, cross, kick, jab in the eye technique before – that’s quite fascinating. And look at that – they did it while putting a bag over my head.”

Attacks witnessed against Delaware’s web-facing apps included distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks as hackers attempted to overload websites with tidal waves of traffic, and brute force attacks as they attempted to crack passwords with programs that attempted thousands of combinations very quickly.

Playing with the big boys

“The reason a little New Zealand company is even shielding the state of Delaware is through the classic Kiwi networks,” Prow said.

“We have a brand, as a population and as a country, of we’re a bit different, we get s… done, there is innovation and there is trust.”

“They were really happy to take a meeting with a Kiwi crowd.”

This was a very different approach to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a booth on the middle floor of the RSA Cybersecurity Conference in the US to hawk your cyber wares.

Redshield has other government clients, but Prow would not name them.

While Kiwi elections don’t get the same level of interference as those in the US, that could change, and Prow said there was a lesson for the Government.

“We are all connected to the same big, bad internet.”

RedShield was the company that shielded the NZX when a DDoS attack took the stock exchange off-line for six days.

However, Prow said the failing that took the exchange offline was not part of the RedShield defences.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/300273462/its-an-arms-race-the-kiwi-cyber-firm-that-shielded-bidens-home-state-during-2020-election

Global figure returns to Australia to face child sex charges but police case far from over

A world-renowned tech expert has been returned to Australia under guard to face child sex claims, as police reveal they are hunting society elites linked to the case.

Charles Miranda - April 24, 2021

1/2

Exclusive: An internationally renowned privacy expert turned one-time fugitive returned to Australia under police escort tlast night to face 18 warrants related to multiple child sex assaults.

Simon Davies had for the past 30 years been a global leader on privacy laws and human rights, advising the UN and governments from London, Washington and Australia before News Corp Australia exposed a secret eight-year police sex squad investigation into him.

The British citizen was arrested and extradited on a criminal justice visa, in the escort of four NSW Police detectives, on 18 warrants related to child sex abuse of four boys and will appear in court tomorrow before being remanded in custody and quarantined. He denies the charges.

But his return to Sydney from the Netherlands last night comes as News Corp Australia can reveal Strike Force Boyd is hunting society elites who visited the homeless shelter Davies ran, over allegations that boys and girls were bought in what has been described as a virtual child brothel.

Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney last night declined to go into detail but said no-one should feel immune to prosecution just because of who they are in society.

“I think the conversations that everyone is having around sexual violence in the community at the moment is important and just demonstrates the importance of reporting to police but certainly assuring we will take action and no-one is immune from the result of justice being served, no-one is immune,” she told News Corp Australia.

It is understood suspects include leading business and community men and women including at executive officer level now dispersed across Australia but at the time based in Sydney where they visited the shelter in Darlinghurst to allegedly shop for boys and girls to sexually abuse for money.

The officer declined to go into detail but confirmed they were looking at other suspects and key witnesses.

(continued)

>>13508124

2/2

One possible witness is a former social worker Richard West who worked at the refuge between 1981 and 1983.

Mr West’s location was not known, and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part, but police confirmed he could aid their case.

Police have spoken to one person who worked as a social worker at the refuge who recalled a stream of late night visits from businessmen whom he were told were financial backers and to allow them access. He later resigned in disgust, suspecting the worst.

Det Supt Maloney praised her team who worked tirelessly for close to a decade to bring Mr Davies back to Australia.

“This has been a complex and exhaustive investigation for police who have spent nearly 10 years investigating these matters and a further 16 months navigating the extradition process and the subsequent challenges imposed on worldwide travel due to COVID-19,” she said.

The now 65-year-old Mr Davies was deemed a fugitive with Interpol issuing a Red Notice for his immediate arrest after he was tipped off from his London home that Australian police were investigating historical child sex allegations.

Mr Davies, a one-time journalist writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, has for the past three decades led the debate and policy on privacy issues including State biometrics and surveillance and founded the influential London-based watchdog group Privacy International.

He has strenuously denied all charges against him and using the Homeless Children’s Association shelters as a source of abuse for much of the 1980s before he left Australia in 1993.

Police in London were contacted about Mr Davies, who used a range of aliases, as far back as 1999 but no action was taken and he went on to be named in the world’s top 50 most influential data tech experts.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/global-figure-returns-to-australia-to-face-child-sex-charges-but-police-case-far-from-over/news-story/12aed31d54aff8af8636ef826c4dc9fb

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 2:14 a.m. No.13508153 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1298

>>13508124

Privacy expert charged with child sexual assault offences after global manhunt

Jorge Branco - Apr 24, 2021

An accused child molester will virtually front a Sydney court today after a global manhunt over allegations dating back to the early 1980s.

Privacy expert Simon Gordon Davies was extradited to Australia from The Netherlands on Friday night after a decade-long investigation that culminated in the issuing of an Interpol Red Notice, a global appeal for help and a police flight to Europe in the middle of a pandemic.

Police said the child abuse and sex crimes squad received a referral in December 2010 detailing allegations of historic child sex offences between 1981 and 1983.

A warrant was issued for the Mr Davies' arrest in September 2016, followed by an Interpol Red Notice — an alert to law enforcement agencies worldwide — in December 2017.

That was followed by a global appeal for information in December 2019, at which point Strike Force Boyd detectives thought Dr Davies was living in the United Kingdom or Europe.

According to police, Mr Davies handed himself in to a police station in the major Dutch port city of Rotterdam, where he was arrested.

What followed was an extensive effort to arrange his extradition to Australia before he was eventually surrendered to NSW police on Thursday at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam and charged with "numerous child sexual and indecent assault offences that allegedly occurred across Sydney between 1981 and 1987."

Vision released by the NSW Police Force on Saturday morning shows police escorting Mr Davies, arm apparently in a sling and clad in extensive PPE, jeans and white Adidas sneakers through Sydney airport on Friday night.

"This has been a complex and exhaustive investigation for police, who have spent nearly 10 years investigating these matters and a further 16 months navigating the extradition process and the subsequent challenges imposed on worldwide travel due to COVID-19," child abuse and sex crimes squad commander Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney said, in a statement.

"It is a testament to the strength, bravery, and patience of the victims, together with the determination and dedication of police, that charges have now been laid in relation to these alleged crimes."

The four detectives who travelled to the Netherlands must now go through two weeks of hotel quarantine, while Mr Davies will appear via video link into Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/man-charged-with-child-sexual-assault-offences-after-global-manhunt/4ac89671-07e0-43e8-a030-bf7fea19d660

>Hunters become the HUNTED.

>https://qanon.pub/?q=hunted

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 25, 2021, 2:37 a.m. No.13508222 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

Mike Pompeo has 'kept his cards close' when quizzed on political ambitions

Sky News Australia

25 Apr 2021

Sky News host Sharri Markson says former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been invited by the Prime Minister’s Office to visit Australia for the Liberal Party National convention in August later this year.

Ms Markson also spoke of some “big news” about former US President Donald Trump’s future plans.

She said Donald Trump has kept his options open about making another push in the 2024 presidential election.

However, Ms Markson said despite Donald Trump doing “very well” last November, it appears he “is now not planning on running for President in the 2024 election”.

“Sources close to the President have told me he wants to be seen as a father-figure of the Republican Party.

“They say the Trump movement is here to stay but that Trump is not planning to run for President.

“Instead, he's in talks about supporting former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,” Ms Markson said.

"Pompeo hasn't confirmed he'll run and has kept his cards close when asked about his political ambitions in the media".

She said Mr Pompeo has a “very strong record as Secretary of State in foreign policy, in Iran and China in particular".

“His relationship with Scott Morrison is rock solid, the pair are very close.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN1q3W-5_mI

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 25, 2021, 1:53 p.m. No.13511737 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1831

Benjamin Fulford Part 2

Then we have all those Elon Musk Space X rockets (or CGs of rockets) blowing up. So why is there talk of Tesla becoming a trillion-dollar market cap company?

The answer must be that the Rockefeller-owned Federal Reserve is laundering money to the military-industrial complex via such oligarchs as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, etc. That is how they were able to shut off U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, etc. They are also behind the U-Tube censorship of pandemic truth etc.

Americans are waking up to debt slavery and refusing to borrow Fed funny money laundered through banks. That is why big U.S. banks now have 100% or more worth of deposits than they have loans. This is a sign of systemic failure. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stunning-divergence-latest-bank-data-reveals-something-terminally-broken-financial-system

“The U.S. trade deficit grew to a record $71.1 billion in February as a decline in exports more than offset a slight dip in imports.”

“China GDP grows record 18.3% in Q1 as exports drive industry”

https://abcnews.go.com/U.S./wireStory/us-trade-deficit-jumps-48-711-billion-february-76920869

The Chinese are buying up U.S. government bonds to finance the U.S. trade deficit because they have been offered U.S. overseas holdings in exchange, dragon family members explain.

The latest example of this is Resident Biden promising to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan while China proposes sending “peacekeeping troops,” to the same country.In other words, the Rockefellers, etc. told the Chinese “we will give you our Afghan heroin business if you help keep us in charge of the U.S.”

The other thing of course is that U.S./Western foreign policy is like a broken record repeating the same things over and over again:

What puzzles many is why the U.S. dollar is not collapsing despite the money supply almost quintupling in a year? The answer of course is that the Rockefeller and their ilk can print dollars for use inside the U.S., but cannot spend them outside of the country. That is why they are pumping up the stock market and handing out checks to ordinary citizens in an attempt to pacify them.

Of course, all that free money means lots of people have no incentive to work and that is why small and medium enterprises cannot find staff. Remember, Communism failed in the USSR because hard work didn’t pay, so nobody worked hard.

As in the case when the USSR failed, the failed USSA is experiencing increasing social turmoil and crime. The latest disturbing sign of this was that there were an astonishing 54 mass shooting incidents in the last month. alone. https://www.the-sun.com/news/2716751/mass-shootings-us-map-biden-statement/

The other interesting thing that is happening is that Americans are waking up to debt slavery and refusing to borrow Fed funny money laundered through banks. That is why big U.S. banks now have 100% or more worth of deposits than they have loans. This is a sign of systemic failure. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stunning-divergence-latest-bank-data-reveals-something-terminally-broken-financial-system

The Chinese are buying up U.S. government bonds to finance the U.S. trade deficit because they have been offered U.S. overseas holdings in exchange, dragon family members explain.

The latest example of this is Resident Biden promising to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan while China proposes sending “peacekeeping troops,” to the same country. In other words, the Rockefellers, etc. told the Chinese “we will give you our Afghan heroin business if you help keep us in charge of the U.S.”

The other thing of course is that U.S./Western foreign policy is like a broken record repeating the same things over and over again:

“Iran is about to get nukes, we have to attack!”; “North Korea just fired more missiles into the ocean, the Japanese have to buy more missile defense!”; “Russia is about to invade Ukraine, time to sell more tanks to NATO!”; “Al-Qaeda, IS, BLM, ANTIFA etc. are causing terror, time for more fascism!” “SARS, EBOLA, BIRD FLU, COVID-19 are going to kill everybody, time to give up human rights and get vaccinated!” etc.

Our MI6 sources say that a “face-to-face summit with the Rothschild Dynasty,” is being arranged to discuss the “amalgamation of BIS Basle, the World Bank, the IMF, and the UN.”

The Swiss Branch of the Knights Templars, the military branch of the Zionist Khazarian faction that wants to rule the world from Jerusalem is also now ready to negotiate with the White Dragon Society and their allies according to WDS and Templar sources. http://www.templiers.ch/

>>13511737

Knights Templars and Khazarian Mafia this time?

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 12:38 a.m. No.13515179 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5184 >>1248

Top US general pays his respects to Anzac Day in Washington

ADAM CREIGHTON - APRIL 26, 2021

The most senior figure in the US military attended the Australian ambassador’s residence in Washington DC on Sunday to commemorate Anzac Day, underscoring the strength of the Australia-US Alliance in the Biden administration.

Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador, hosted the small CovidSafe Dawn Service, which included the ambassadors of the UK and New Zealand, and senior Biden administration official Kurt Campbell, who is co-ordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the US National Security Council.

Attendees at the ceremony, which took place on a cold, wet morning on the front lawn of the ambassador’s residence, remarked how special it was for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to have been among the small group paying tribute to the thousands of young soldiers who died at Gallipoli in 1915.

Mr Sinodinos spoke of the “stoicism, Grit and stubborn optimism” of the troops who left Australia and New Zealand to fight in Turkey, which had left and “indelible mark” on Australia.

The day had “reverberated through the years to become our most important national commemoration … Over 60,000 Australians were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed or taken prisoner out of total population less than 5 million,” he said.

Mr Sinodinos in his remarks also dwelt on the 1918 battle of Hamel, in northern France, where Americans and Australian fought under the command of General Sir John Monash.

“It was the first time Americans were commanded by non-American officers,” Mr Sinodinos said.

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, had earlier extended his “warmest thoughts to all Australians and New Zealanders as you commemorate Anzac Day”.

“Since 1915, US, Australian, and New Zealand service members have served alongside one another in many global conflicts,” he said.

“Through our strong and deep interpersonal ties, the partnership between our nations continues to grow each year along with the realisation that the kinship our armed forces share is more important than ever in helping ensuring a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” he added.

Rosemary Banks, New Zealand’s ambassador to the US, also spoke, paying tribute also to the “British, French, Indian, and Turkish servicemen” who died that day, and remembering the “enormous sacrifice” the US had also made in the First World War.

Five wreaths were laid, including one by General Milley and Dr Campbell, before the group retreated to the drawing room for Tim Tams and coffees with a shot of rum.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/top-us-general-pays-his-respects-to-anzac-day-in-washington/news-story/260afba9b18c951f1a45bf129320185e

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 12:39 a.m. No.13515184 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5203 >>1248

>>13515179

Arthur Sinodinos AO Tweet

Honour to host #ANZACDay dawn service with @NZAmbassadorUS Banks and to welcome Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff #GenMilley to the Residence #Lestweforget @thejointstaff"

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1386399153639419905

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 12:48 a.m. No.13515203 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13515184

The Joint Staff Tweet

#GenMilley: "On this #ANZACDay, we honor the sacrifices of our Australian and New Zealand brothers and sisters in arms. We are proud to have the honor of serving shoulder to shoulder with you." #HonorThem #LestWeForget

https://twitter.com/thejointstaff/status/1386334268415225857

Department of Defence @DeptDefence

This morning, thousands paused to #LightUpTheDawn during #AnzacDay Dawn Service commemorations held across the country. bit. ly/Anzac-Day21 #WeWillRememberThem #YourADF

https://twitter.com/DeptDefence/status/1386148053736853506

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 12:54 a.m. No.13515223 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5232 >>1248

>>13500954

Australia in the US Tweet

We thank those who joined us virtually in honouring our #Anzacs. We are privileged to remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice and thank those that continue to bravely protect our freedom.

Missed the livestream? Watch the replay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZ53ZHtn10

#AnzacDay

https://twitter.com/AusintheUS/status/1386359844676976645

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 12:59 a.m. No.13515232 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13515223

Australia in the US Tweet

Today our Air & Space Attache conducted a small #AnzacDay ceremony at @ArlingtonNatl. They laid a wreath at the gravesite of PLTOFF Francis Milne - the only Australian military member buried at the Cemetery. #LestWeForget #AnzacDay2021

https://twitter.com/AusintheUS/status/1386465531646074888

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:06 a.m. No.13515254 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5260 >>1248

Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet

Lest We Forget

Originally done to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps forces from World War I, #AnzacDay2021 recognizes the men and women who served in the Australian and New Zealand armed services in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations

https://twitter.com/MrfDarwin/status/1386237760382509056

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:09 a.m. No.13515260 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13515254

Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Facebook Post

April 25 2021

Lest We Forget

Where have you celebrated Anzac Day?

Anzac Day originally commemorated the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps forces from World War I, but now also recognizes the men and women who served in the Australian and New Zealand armed services in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. With the Northern Territory remaining free of COVID transmission within the community, Marines were able to participate in today’s events to show respects to their fallen, former, and active members.

(U.S. Marine Corps photos by Sgt. Micha Pierce)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/4054612117961391

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:31 a.m. No.13515316 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5323 >>1263

Ben Roberts-Smith takes leave from Seven Network role during defamation case against newspaper journalists

Matthew Doran - 26 April 2021

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is taking leave as boss of the Seven Network's Queensland operations, as he pursues a defamation case in the Federal Court.

The announcement was made by Seven West's CEO James Warburton in an all-staff email on Monday.

Mr Roberts-Smith launched the defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times newspapers over a series of stories from 2018 alleging he committed war crimes in Afghanistan — which he strongly denies.

The newspapers reject his claim, and the trial is due to start in the Federal Court in early June.

Mr Warburton said Mr Roberts-Smith's leave from his position as general manager Seven Brisbane and 7Queensland would begin immediately.

"Ben and I believe this mutual decision is best for both him and our company," Mr Warburton said.

"We expect Ben to return to his role upon the completion of his defamation proceedings.

"As the trial is currently set down for eight weeks, it's likely this won't be until after August."

Earlier this month Mr Roberts-Smith labelled further allegations about his conduct, broadcast on the Nine Network, as "baseless".

60 Minutes alleged he had buried USB drives containing purportedly compromising material in his backyard, rather than providing them to police and military investigators.

The program also broadcast secret recordings of Mr Roberts-Smith, in which he appeared to say he was indebted to Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes for financially supporting his legal battle and promised to destroy journalists who were publishing stories about him.

At the time Mr Roberts-Smith took aim at Nine's journalist Nick McKenzie, arguing he had not put any of the allegations to him before broadcast.

The Australian Federal Police have confirmed to federal Parliament fresh investigations into Mr Roberts-Smith had been launched following 60 Minutes' reporting.

Last year the Federal Court heard eyewitnesses had detailed to investigators how Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly committed a violent war crime, by kicking a handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff in 2012.

Mr Roberts-Smith denied the "false allegations", and said the newspapers reporting and defence of the defamation suit were "completely without any foundation in truth".

The newspapers scored a win in pre-trial wrangling in April, with Justice Anthony Besanko allowing four Afghan villagers and a member of the ADF to give evidence in the court case.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/ben-roberts-smith-leave-seven-network-role-defamation-case/100095586

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:33 a.m. No.13515323 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5325 >>1263

>>13515316

Ben Roberts-Smith welcomes Royal Commission, slams treatment of veterans

Australia’s most decorated war hero has delivered a scathing attack on the Australian Defence Force and says a royal commission is “desperately needed.”

Matthew Benns and Josh Hanrahan - April 25, 2021

1/2

Australia’s most decorated war hero has delivered a scathing attack on the Australian Defence Force’s top brass for their “disgusting” treatment of veterans and “staggering” lack of direction.

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith said military commanders had run Australia’s longest-ever conflict in Afghanistan from the safety and comfort of Dubai without ever having a campaign strategy.

And he thanked the Australian public for pushing for a royal commission into veteran suicides in the face of resistance from defence force chiefs afraid “because we’re going to uncover systemic failures and systemic flaws’’.

“That is the point of this royal commission … it’s what we need to do to protect the future of the military and more importantly, the people that are willing to sacrifice everything,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers for defamation over articles alleging he was being investigated by the Australian Federal Police for killing six Afghans outside of combat and was a war criminal.

The expensive legal battle is set to start in June and on Friday former governor-general Quentin Bryce was named as a reputation witness for Mr Roberts-Smith, who now runs Channel 7 in Queensland.

The 42-year-old former SAS corporal would not talk about his own experiences but said the treatment of his colleagues when they returned showed that a Royal Commission was desperately needed.

“It is a giant step forward for the prime minister to make this announcement and commit to a royal commission,” he said.

“It is something that is very much needed given the disproportionate rates of suicide that we see in Australia. We really need to address it.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said the person running the commission needed to be independent of the Australian Defence Force and “should not have ever been a service member or indeed anyone who potentially has ever worked in the same forms of government.”

He said the problem of veteran suicide lay squarely at the door of the top brass.

The “first flaw” in taking care of veterans was that “the psychological screening was a farce”.

“It was mostly an exercise designed to cover the senior leadership. It did not create any effect that would be conducive with protecting soldiers, sailors, airmen and mental health,” he said.

“We have been let down by our own military. We didn‘t have as many casualties as perhaps we could have because the men and women that serve were bloody good at their job.

“And yet now a lot of these issues are stemming from the fact that veterans feel that their own military family is taking that away from them.

“It’s disgusting.”

(continued)

>>13515323

2/2

Mr Roberts-Smith said the public had learnt from the treatment of Diggers returning from Vietnam but military chiefs had not.

“We’re very lucky to have a public that’s so supportive,” he said. “In Vietnam people came home and society didn’t understand the conflict.

“That was a black stain on our history … but we learnt a lesson from that.”

However, he said many soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan were not given an explanation of the reasoning behind the 20-year conflict.

“I mean, can you imagine being a 20-year-old man and sent to war, sent to Afghanistan?” Mr Roberts-Smith said. “You don’t really know why you’re there.

“And then your mate gets vaporised by an IED because you moved your left foot too much. You come home having not even been in a proper gunfight because you weren‘t allowed to get out and do your infantry job as you’re trying to do. And then you sit there wondering, what was that about?

“It’s staggering to me that so many people didn’t understand why we were there.

“But it’s not because they were ignorant or that they weren’t great. We actually didn’t have a campaign strategy. It’s pretty staggering.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said the SAS were given a better understanding of their mission because they were targeting senior enemy figures.

But a political aversion to seeing regular soldiers coming home in body bags meant the special forces were sent back on high rotation.

“I have observed that the senior leadership of the military does not accurately report to government the physical position of the force elements of their units,” he said.

“I think that’s because people obviously are more worried about their jobs than actually letting people know that you don’t have the right amount of people to do the job, that you’re working your special forces into the ground, that they are deploying too much, that your infantry soldiers are not being utilised in correct roles and tasks.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said he was “very proud” of every service man and woman who is “prepared to do something bigger than themselves.”

But an inquiry was vital because “we don’t demonstrate enough that we truly care about the individual” and a royal commission would look at caring for the “the health and wellbeing of (those) prepared to … put their lives on the line and put their bodies at risk”. “Every soldier is coming out of Afghanistan with some kind of physical or mental issue,’’ he said.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/ben-robertssmith-welcomes-royal-commission-slams-treatment-of-veterans/news-story/5554941a267739108642f02ddbe1fe8d

Potential China war sees audit of deals, including Port of Darwin

OLIVIA CAISLEY - APRIL 25, 2021

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has said a war with China over Taiwan “should not be discounted” as the federal government considers the appropriateness of thousands of arrangements that might not be in the national interest, including the Chinese ownership of the Port of Darwin.

Mr Dutton told ABC Insiders on Sunday that Australians needed to be realistic about China’s increasing militarisation across the region. However, he warned that “nobody wants to see conflict between China and Taiwan or anywhere else”.

“I don’t think it should be discounted,” he said.

“I think China has been very clear about the reunification and that’s been a long-held objective of theirs and if you look at any of the rhetoric that is coming out of China … particularly in recent weeks and months … they have been very clear about that goal.”

Mr Dutton said it was important Australia continue to work with its allies in the region to try to maintain peace.

“For us we want to make sure we continue to be a good neighbour in the region, that we work with our partners and with our allies and nobody wants to see conflict between China and Taiwan or anywhere else,” he said.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott last week told a seminar in Auckland that the world needed to face up to the threat China poses to democracy.

“What’s very real, though, and daily more insistent, is the Beijing government’s determination to retake Taiwan, by force if necessary, at least by the 2049 centenary of the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover,” he said.

It comes as the Morrison government moved to overrule Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ Belt and Road agreements with Beijing. But questions have now been raised about the appropriateness of other China-related deals that might not be in the national interest, such as Chinese control of the Port of Darwin.

Mr Dutton said there were thousands of cases being examined, including the Darwin Port, which entered a 99-year lease under a Chinese owner in 2015.

“There are literally thousands of these cases to look at and the Foreign Affairs Minister is working through all of that,” Mr Dutton said. “The advice from Defence in relation to any of these matters will be taken into consideration by (Marise Payne).

“If it’s not in our national interest, then obviously she’ll act and I think she is doing exactly the right thing here.

“Our sovereignty is incredibly important and our values are important and I don’t think anybody would argue with that.”

Last week the Chinese foreign ministry threatened to retaliate for the scuppering of the Belt and Road deals, declaring: “We urge Australia to set aside cold war mentality and ideological bias, view the bilateral co-operation in an objective and rational light.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he wanted Australia to continue having a productive relationship with its largest trading partner, “but at the same time we will be clear and consistent with respect to our national interest”.

On Saturday, Mr Dutton told The Australian that Canberra had been clear with Beijing that it would not “surrender” to threats of retaliation.

“I think the focus for the Australian Defence Force is about core business, providing domestic support, keep Australia safe and secure, focus further emphasis and be clear-eyed about capacity in the defence force to keep us safe and secure in uncertain times and our training now reflects that priority,” he said.

“The level of foreign interference in our country, the level of cyber attacks, the militarisation of bases across our region, the heavy influence into near neighbours — I think that all creates question marks and uncertainty which we need to monitor and respond to as we need.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/potential-china-war-sees-audit-of-deals-including-port-of-darwin/news-story/ab60084d8fd6cb6f7e933d925a60eae4

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:47 a.m. No.13515342 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2425 >>1281

>>13477600

Academic Jane Golley backtracks on Uighur abuse article

OLIVIA CAISLEY and SHARRI MARKSON - APRIL 26, 2021

An “anonymous article” casting doubt over grave human rights abuses in Xinjiang, cited by the head of Australia’s top China-focused academic institution, labels female sterilisation as “family planning” and says claims regarding genocide and the incarceration of one million Uighurs are “unsupported.”

Jane Golley, the director of ANU’s taxpayer-funded Centre on China in the World, told the National Press Club last week she had read a “convincing” but anonymous paper contradicting media reports of China’s widespread mistreatment of Uighurs.

“Just last week I received a scholarly article that debunks much of what you have read in the Western media on this topic, including the figure of one million Uighurs in detention camps, the pervasive use of forced labour, and of calling it genocide,” she said.

“The authors sent it anonymously because they fear the reaction here in Australia by those who are committed to the dominant narrative.”

The academic paper, obtained by The Australian, downplays female sterilisation in Xinjiang and questions whether the practice could be considered family planning. It also says forced sterilisation in Xinjiang is occurring but isn’t specifically designed for Uighurs or “intended to stop them having any children.”

“ … authorities are finally implementing family planning policies in Xinjiang, thereby limiting family size, an interpretation which is supported by the public statement in 2017 that Xinjiang would implement a ‘uniform family planning policy for all ethnic groups,” the article says.

Professor Golley told The Australian on Monday she didn’t mean to say what she had said and should have used a word such as “challenged” rather than “debunked”.

“I wish I hadn’t raised it (the anonymous article) at all now obviously, now I see how big the backlash is,” she said.

China strongly denies human rights abuses against Uighurs, arguing that facilities branded detention camps in the West are in fact vocational training centres.

The anonymous report claims that ‘political re-education’ and ‘deradicalisation’ programs in Xinjiang are plausible, but says “vocational training has probably been offered to a greater number of people than political re-education.” It calls on the West to apply a more “normal critical discussion” to the issue.

“With China now such an emotive topic for many in the West, the chances of a more rational and objective discussion of Xinjiang look slim,” it said. “But the authors hope that this paper may at least encourage the resumption of normal critical discussion about this most important of topics.”

Professor Golley, an economist, conceded she was not an expert on Xinjiang, so could not make a judgment on the report’s veracity. She said that while she did not doubt that human rights abuses were occurring.

China’s deputy ambassador to Australia Wang Xining told the same National Press Club address China was “a positive force in the world”, declaring China wanted “every ethnic group to live a good life.”

Cyber security analyst and co-founder of Internet 2.0 Robert Potter said the treatment of Uighur Muslims “absolutely qualifies as genocide.”

“I think it’s absolutely bizarre for the head of the centre for China in the world and Australia’s premier institution to endorse an article that has yet to be published and is intended to be published anonymously,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

Liberal senator James Paterson, the Joint intelligence and security committee chairman, last week told The Australian he was astonished Professor Golley would endorse an unverified report over extensive evidence.

“It is concerning to see any academic publicly elevate an anonymous, unpublished article, which has not been peer-reviewed, above the years of scholarly evidence, investigative journalism and reports from reputable human rights organisations, which has exposed what is happening in Xinjiang,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/academic-jane-golley-backtracks-on-uighur-abuse-article/news-story/3ebd0e29f6aaf5a404c2a3d132900e77

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 1:57 a.m. No.13515355 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5360 >>1281

Australian fruits face delays at Chinese ports due to strict anti-virus inspections: sources

Chinese firms seek other sources for fruits amid tense ties

Yin Yeping - Apr 25, 2021

Chinese fruit industry insiders and sources confirmed on Sunday that Australian grapes and other fruits are facing inspections and delays at some ports, as China takes strict measures to inspect imported fruits to stem the spread of the COVID-19 as the global pandemic intensifies again.

It remains unclear when a backlog of Australian grapes waiting to be inspected will be cleared, but Chinese importers are already moving to reduce the proportion of Australian fruit due to low profits and worsened bilateral ties, while increasing imports from other sources such as New Zealand and Thailand.

Reports of such delays came as bilateral relations further plunged after Canberra used an anti-China law to tear up agreements signed between the state of Victoria and China regarding the Belt and Road Initiative. China has vowed to take forceful countermeasures, but has not announced any so far.

Several industry insiders familiar with the matter told the Global Times on Sunday that clearance delays for Australian grapes are mainly due to the ongoing epidemic in Australia and the need to conduct nucleic acid tests on imported fruit to protect public health. This is a normal practice for epidemic prevention, they said.

"There are indeed many containers of Australian grapes waiting for inspection at ports … authorities are working extra hours to clear the backlog," a source familiar with the matter told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that it remains unclear when the backlog can be cleared. Other fruit shipments from Australia are also under inspection, the source said.

A manager at Shenzhen Huitong, a logistics company based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, said that Australian grapes are being stockpiled for nucleic acid tests.

"The process can take as long as seven days," said the manager. But the inspection process also applies to many other goods from epidemic-hit countries, the manager added.

Some foreign media reports claimed the customs delays "may be the latest casualty" of bad bilateral relations. That also reflected Australian exporters' rising nervousness as their government is relentlessly pulling bilateral relations into an abyss.

Reuters reported on Friday that Australian table grapes have been experiencing lengthy delays at Chinese ports for the last three weeks. Citing Jeff Scott, CEO at the Australian Table Grape Association, Reuters said that about 400 or 500 containers that are taking between five and 10 days longer than normal to be cleared.

"In the aftermath China moved to limit imports of Canberra's barley, beef, cotton and seafood - and in what may be the latest casualty, Australian grape growers said they are experiencing customs delays," the report said.

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In the 2019/20 season, more than 220,000 tons of Australian table grapes were grown, with 70 percent exported. China was the largest market for Australian grapes, taking about 41.3 percent of the total, followed by Indonesia and Japan at 8.8 and 7.5 percent, respectively, data from the Australian Table Grape Association showed.

However, some fruit importers told the Global Times that they have already reduced imports of Australian fruits, including grapes, since the beginning of this year for multiple reasons "beyond their control."

A manager surnamed Li with Yeguo trade company in Guangzhou told the Global Times on Sunday that the market is "unfavorable" for Australian grapes, whose prices are too low to be profitable, and there is also an oversupply.

"Previously, the price was around 20-22 yuan ($3.08-$3.39) per kilogram for grapes from Australia and now it's nearly 11.1 yuan," she said.

Another trader surnamed Chen also based in Guangzhou, who has been in the fruit import business for years, told the Global Times on Sunday that he is reducing the share of Australian fruits these days because of port delays.

He is expanding fruit imports from other countries, in particular New Zealand and Thailand. "Fruits from those countries are gaining popularity these days as more quality seasonal fruits begin the harvest," said Chen.

In January and February, China imported 1,238 tons of fresh grapes from Australia, down 38.8 percent year-on-year, with a total value of $5.29 million, down 30.1 percent year-on-year, data the China Fruit Marketing Association shared with the Global Times on Sunday showed.

The COVID-19 outbreak has intensified again worldwide and it is reasonable that Chinese customs has strengthened the inspection and quarantine standards and procedures for fresh cold-chain imports, experts said.

However, this has caused concern and speculation among Australian businesses, mainly due to the recent deterioration of China-Australia relations, Song Wei, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Businesses on both sides have negative expectations for China-Australia economic and trade cooperation. Not only will Australian grape exporters overly interpret it, Chinese investors will also actively seek alternative markets, which will directly affect China's direct investment in Australia," said Song.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222053.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 2:10 a.m. No.13515377 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5380 >>1305

Photos show Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were VIP guests at White House under Bill Clinton’s reign

Newly-surfaced pictures shed further light on former president Bill Clinton’s association with Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

James MacSmith / AFP - April 26, 2021

Photos unearthed from 1993 show Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein greeting then US President Bill Clinton at the White House.

The Sun, which first published the photos, reports Maxwell and her paedophile ex-lover were invited to the White House after Epstein donated money to have the Oval Office refurbished.

They toured the East Room and the presidential residence during a reception, the media outlet reports.

Previous photos linking Clinton to Epstein and Maxwell include Clinton aboard Epstein’s private jet in 2002 with Maxwell and one of the late billionaires’ rape accusers.

Clinton also reportedly had a private dinner with Maxwell in 2014 — years after Epstein was convicted of child sex abuse.

Clinton has always denied he ever visited Epstein’s private island in the Bahamas and maintained he never knew of Epstein’s sexual misconduct.

But Epstein’s Aussie-based accuser Virginia Giuffre has previously said she was on the island at the same time as Clinton.

A book released last year claims that Clinton had an affair with Maxwell.

MAXWELL PLEADS NOT GUILTY

Maxwell pleaded not guilty to new sex trafficking charges as she appeared in court in person on Friday for the first time since her arrest last summer.

The 59-year-old is accused of recruiting underage girls for her former partner, the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Maxwell, wearing a blue jail shirt, appeared frail and noticeably older as she walked in to the Manhattan federal court where she was arraigned on a new superseding indictment that prosecutors filed last month.

The indictment added a new accuser and extended the time frame of her alleged offences by seven years.

Maxwell faces six counts, including sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor.

The alleged crimes occurred between 1994 and 2004, and relate to four women, including two who prosecutors say were just 14 years old when they were sexually abused.

The counts are stronger than the earlier charges, which refer to “enticement” and “transportation” of minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

Maxwell spoke just three times during the brief hearing, including to say “Yes, your honour” and “I have, your honour” when asked if she had been made aware of the charges.

She also waived her right to have the charges read out to her in court. At one point she appeared to wave at someone in court, where her sister Isabel was present.

The daughter of late newspaper baron Robert Maxwell denies all the allegations against her. Maxwell’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Her trial is due to begin on July 12, although her defence team is pushing for more time to prepare.

Maxwell faces an effective life sentence if convicted.

She allegedly befriended girls with shopping and movie theatre outings, and later coaxed them into giving Epstein nude massages during which he would engage in sex acts.

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ABUSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MAXWELL

Prosecutors say Maxwell sometimes participated in the alleged abuse, which occurred at her London home and at Epstein’s properties in Manhattan, Palm Beach and New Mexico.

She has also been charged with two counts of perjury, which are due to be tried after her sex crimes trial.

The perjury counts relate to testimony she gave in 2016 in a defamation case filed against her by long-time Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Maxwell has been denied bail three times since her arrest in July last year.

She has repeatedly complained of filthy conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where she is being held.

“She’s not suicidal. She shouldn’t be treated like this,” said one of her attorneys, David Markus, outside court.

“It’s only because of the horrible Epstein effect,” he added.

Epstein, 66, was a multimillion-dollar hedge fund manager who befriended countless celebrities over the years, including former president Bill Clinton and British Royal Prince Andrew.

His suicide deprived dozens of his accusers their day in court and launched countless conspiracy theories, with prosecutors vowing to pursue co-conspirators.

“It was painful but it is healing,” said Danielle Bensky, who had accused Epstein of abuse, after attending Friday’s hearing.

“After not having a trial for Epstein, yes I do think it will provide some closure for the victims,” she added of Maxwell’s upcoming trial.

Maxwell’s arrest intensified the spotlight on Andrew, who vehemently denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/ghislaine-maxwell-pleads-not-guilty-to-new-sex-trafficking-charges/news-story/9417dee56102d606d7822ac096922116

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 2:16 a.m. No.13515389 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1294

Facebook removes Craig Kelly's page, says former Liberal MP breached misinformation policies

Jade Macmillan and Brett Worthington - 26 April 2021

Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been stripped of a controversial Facebook page, with the social media giant accusing him of breaching its misinformation policies.

Mr Kelly quit the Liberal Party to sit on the crossbench earlier this year after facing backlash from the Prime Minister and health experts for the content he was posting on his Facebook page about COVID-19 vaccines.

While he has lost access to his most high-profile page, Mr Kelly has told the ABC he still retained access to a second Facebook page.

He took aim at the company, accusing it of having "burnt and torched and incinerated and obliterated" his page, a move he compared to "burning books" to censor him.

But a Facebook spokesperson said Mr Kelly had repeatedly violated the site's policies.

"We don't allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts," the spokesperson said.

"We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed Mr Kelly's Facebook Page for repeated violations of this policy."

Mr Kelly attacked the decision as "censorship", saying Facebook informed him by text message on Monday morning.

"This was the most popular, highly used political Facebook page in the country," he said.

"They have basically burnt and torched and incinerated and obliterated from the record, previous comments and previous things that I'd made."

Mr Kelly has backed COVID-19 treatments against the advice of Australia's medical authorities and previously shared claims that forcing children to wear masks was a form of child abuse.

He also appeared on a podcast where he was interviewed by anti-vaccination campaigner Pete Evans.

Mr Kelly denied he was spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

"It is not misinformation if you have a difference of opinion," he said.

"The idea that they are some purveyors of all truth is just absolutely outrageous."

The crossbench MP described his second page as a "parliamentary page", while the now-removed page was one he posted on regularly.

"It's a violation of the principles of free speech and quite frankly I'm absolutely outraged by it," Mr Kelly said.

"These people are the heirs to those who used to go around burning books because that is effectively what they have done."

Labor and the Greens have repeatedly criticised the government for failing to intervene with Mr Kelly's posts sooner.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek clashed with Mr Kelly in a Parliament House corridor, where she accused him of spreading conspiracy theories.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/craig-kelly-facebook-page-removed-covid-19-misinformation/100095622

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 2:25 a.m. No.13515399 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5403 >>1248

Neo-Nazis make submission to Parliamentary inquiry into extremism

Josh Butler - Apr 26, 2021

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Far-right groups claim they have attempted to make public submissions to a Parliamentary inquiry set up to explore the threat posed by extremist movements.

The groups claim their input has been rejected by federal politicians, prompting a rare explanation from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) that it is still closely considering how to deal with “the sensitive subject” of the inquiry.

It comes as tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter – which will appear before the committee’s landmark first hearings this week – push back on the idea of more regulation and on creating ‘back doors’ to unlock encrypted messaging apps used by extremist groups.

The PJCIS inquiry was set up in late 2020 with a remit to investigate “the nature and extent of, and threat posed by, extremist movements and persons holding extremist views” – specifically “lslamist and far right-wing extremist groups”.

Now, several of these groups claim to have made submissions to the inquiry.

Far-right groups ‘publicly challenge’ Parliament

One group, which describes itself as a national socialist and white nationalist organisation – and which The New Daily has decided not to name – used an encrypted social media platform to claim to its followers that the PJCIS “refused to accept” a seven-page submission it said it had sent.

In messages seen by TND, one of the group’s leaders said he was concerned the inquiry would lead to the group being proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

In the submission, the group’s founder said he wanted to “publicly challenge” the inquiry, and denied the group aimed to use violence.

The submission ended with the neo-Nazi group offering its members to appear before the PJCIS.

TND has been told by sources close to the inquiry that at least one other far-right group – an Australian chapter of an international organisation – has also sent a submission to the PJCIS.

However, just 18 submissions have been published on the committee’s website, all from academics, police agencies, or social media networks, and none from any extremist groups.

Sources close to the inquiry, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security issues related to the PJCIS, said numerous other submissions were still being assessed before being accepted or published.

It has led to the publication of a rare statement of explanation on the committee’s website.

“The committee has received a great deal of interest in this inquiry and, due to the sensitive subject, is considering various matters prior to publishing evidence received,” it read.

“If you have made a submission or provided information to the inquiry and it has not been published, you may be assured that your document is being considered by the committee and is part of the overall evidence received for the inquiry.”

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In previous submissions to the inquiry, Victoria Police warned that right-wing extremist groups were drawing new supporters from wellness and anti-vaxxer communities, using the COVID pandemic and outrage over border closures as a “recruiting tool”.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which recently warned right-wing terror made up 40 per cent of its workload, said the pandemic “exacerbated a range of anti-government, anti-5G, anti-vaccination and pro-conspiracy narratives”.

ASIO and the Australian Federal Police will appear before the inquiry on Thursday, with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and a number of anti-extremism academics appearing on Friday.

Tech companies push back on regulation

In its submission, Twitter said social media companies “have a critical role” but content moderation or banning users “will not solve these issues in isolation”.

“There is no one solution to prevent an individual turning to violence,” Twitter said.

“This is a long-term problem requiring a long-term response, not just the removal of content,” it said, noting that clamping down on hateful content often saw it move “into darker corners of the internet where they cannot be challenged”.

Facebook’s submission said the company banned 250 white supremacist organisations and 900 “militarised social movements” from its platform, including Australian groups.

Company executives noted about 0.1 per cent of “views of content” on Facebook contained hate speech, and estimated 0.05 per cent of content views contained “terrorist” speech.

In noting that hate groups have migrated to encrypted messaging or social media apps to spread their views, Facebook pushed back on calls for governments to force tech companies to create “back doors” and help law enforcement circumvent secret communications.

Facebook’s submission called end-to-end encryption “the best security tool available to protect Australians from cybercriminals”, and said creating back doors through “increasingly interventionist laws” was not the answer to rising extremism.

“Facebook is committed to working with law enforcement, policymakers, experts and civil society organisations to develop ways of detecting bad actors without needing access to the content of encrypted messages,” the company said.

Google’s submission said it was “unable to provide to law enforcement” the content of encrypted messages, but promised to hand over “a wealth of data” in metadata like call location or phone numbers.

“Strong encryption doesn’t create a law-free zone,” Google claimed.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/04/26/neo-nazis-submission-inquiry/

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/ExtremistMovements

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/ExtremistMovements/Submissions

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 2:33 a.m. No.13515411 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5413 >>1298

‘You can’t go’: Woman’s hellish life as slave for Sydney couple

A woman who was forced to work around the clock for a Sydney couple who controlled her life has revealed the chilling way she was trapped.

Ben Graham - APRIL 24, 2021

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A woman who was brought to Australia by a Sydney couple, who forced her to work 24 hours a day and restricted who she could see and where she could go, has revealed what her life was like as a slave.

Court documents reveal she was threatened against leaving, told she couldn’t socialise with others and, when she eventually fled the home, the couple hired a private detective to track her down and bring her back.

Joshua and Shiela McAleer, from Rockdale in Sydney’s south, have pleaded guilty to a series of charges relating to their treatment of the woman, including conducting a business involving the forced labour of another person between November 26, 2014, and October 30, 2016, and harbouring an unlawful non-citizen.

In a sentencing hearing this week in Sydney, the court heard that the woman — who cannot be named for legal reasons — felt as though she had no option but to go along with the couples’ plans for her to work around the clock for three years.

Documents tendered to court show that, in late 2012, Mrs McAleer began searching for a woman from the Philippines to work in her home as a babysitter around the time she was expecting a second child. The plan was for that person to travel on a three-month tourist visa, but that they would overstay it.

The victim was working in the Philippines making around 10,000 pesos ($267) a month, and was told by Mrs McAleer that she and her husband could arrange for her to come to Australia — where she could make double her current pay.

She was told that she would be doing nanny and ‘maid’ work for around five years.

The victim had never been overseas before and thought this would be an exciting way to travel and support her family in the Philippines — who would be receiving her wages directly.

The agreed facts state that she believed she would have been able to come home if she didn’t like it in Australia.

The McAleers gave her money for a passport and told her that she would have to apply for a three-month tourist visa, which they helped her with.

In the application for the visa, the McAleers wrote that the victim would be living with them and that they would take responsibility for her food and travel expenses.

Stating that they had a baby due in May 2013, they said the victim would help them with “day-to-day chores” as they had a busy schedule.

The victim’s visa — which stipulated that she wasn’t allowed to work in Australia — was granted in April that year and, at that point, she told Mrs McAleer she was concerned about overstaying it.

She was told words to the effect of: “You will be okay. It is a good country. Nothing will happen to you here and you won’t tell anyone that you are working, you are just living with us and helping me.”

A few weeks later, on May 6, the victim arrived in Sydney and she was told she would not be allowed to go home.

Mrs McAleer told her, in words to the effect of: “I have spent a lot of money for you to come out to Australia. You will not go home even if a member of your family is sick or dies.

“I will not pay for your ticket to go back home until after five years. You will be my nanny to help with the children and look after the housework like cleaning, washing and cooking.”

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She was told she would not have to pay for rent or food but that she would get $100 a month — in addition to the previously agreed amount being sent directly to her family in the Philippines.

The victim was told she needed to ask permission to leave the house and was discouraged from socialising with other Filipinos in the community — despite the fact her English was limited and she didn’t know anybody in Australia. She was told to use a fake name in public and told she couldn’t be in a relationship.

When the McAleers found out she spoke to another Filipino and given them her phone number, they made the victim change her phone number.

When the woman’s visa expired, she told the couple she wanted to go home.

However, she was told, with words to the effect of: “You cannot go home until you pay me for your travel expenses.

“If you go back before you pay me back I know people in the Philippines in the police and higher up and who I can hire to harm you or your family if you go home early.”

The documents state that she worked on a full-time basis looking after the couples’ children, even sharing a room with them, and she began to work at the couple’s Filipino grocery store 6-7 days a week without pay.

“I did not know when I came that I would have to work 24 hours a day. I did not get paid for my work,” the woman said in her victim impact statement.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer Single, SC, told the court the woman had so little money that she “couldn’t get a taxi to get to the airport, nevermind a flight back to the Philippines.”

As the McAleers’ business expanded, the victim was told to do an increasing amount of work and she complained.

Mrs McAleer said words in response to the effect of: ‘Why are you complaining? I am your boss, I am paying for you.’”

In October 2016, the victim fled from the Rockdale home.

Court documents show that on November 1 that year, Mr McAleer sought the assistance of a private investigator in finding the woman, who he said was his fiancee and that she had gone missing.

“I have friends who have told me they have seen her driving around with another mail [sic] in the Sutherland area over the weekend and I have had my suspicions as well for a while now,” Mr McAleer wrote. “I would like you to locate his home address and try to see if (the woman) is with him.”

The Australian Federal Police got a tip-off in July 2017 from Anti-Slavery Australia and the couple were issued court attendance notices in October 2019.

Last October they both pleaded guilty to several offences relating to the matter.

The victim said in her impact statement that, before coming to Australia, she had been happy, had job security and her family.

“I felt like a slave but I didn’t say anything,” the woman wrote. “I feel it would have been better not to come (to Australia). I had no power to change my situation”.

She has been free and living in Australia for nearly five years now, but she says she still fears the husband and wife.

She said she was anxious and still didn’t trust people. But the woman concluded her statement saying “happiness is starting to come back” and “I am stronger now”.

The McAleers meanwhile are facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

In a sentencing hearing on Thursday, the couples’ barrister James Glisson, QC, told the court his clients had offered to compensate the victim $70,000.

They will be sentenced on June 11.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/you-cant-go-womans-hellish-life-as-slave-for-sydney-couple/news-story/ae62655c35fc942b69eb8cec5ff793bf

‘Get ready to fight for our liberty,’ Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 27, 2021

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One of the nation’s most powerful national security leaders has declared the “drums of war” are beating and Australia must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight”.

Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo, who is tipped to take the top job at Defence, said in his Anzac Day message to staff that Australia must strive for peace, “but not at the cost of our precious liberty”.

Amid growing tensions between the West and China, with Taiwan a potential flashpoint, Mr Pezzullo said free nations continued to face the “sorrowful challenge” of being “armed, strong and ready for war”.

“In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat – sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer,” he said.

“Today, as free nations again hear the beating drums and watch worryingly the militarisation of issues that we had, until recent years, thought unlikely to be catalysts for war, let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war.” The message, sent to all Home Affairs staff, came as Defence Minister Peter Dutton warned on Sunday that a war with China over Taiwan could not be discounted. Mr Pezzullo also echoed Scott Morrison — who revealed last year he was haunted by a 1930s-style “existential threat” — saying pre-World Warr II Europe had failed to “heed the drums of war” until it was too late.

Noting this year’s Anzac Day fell in the 70th year of the ANZUS alliance, Mr Pezzullo cited two of the US’s most revered military figures — General Douglas MacArthur and president Dwight Eisenhower — for whom war was a last resort.

“On this Anzac Day … let us remember the warnings of two American generals who had known war waged totally, and brutally: we must search always for the chance for peace amidst the curse of war, until we are faced with the only prudent, if sorrowful, course — to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight the nation’s wars,” he said.

“The least that we can do for the host of the dead whom we remember today is to be prepared to face equivalent challenges with the same resolve and sense of duty that they displayed in years past.”

Mr Pezzullo has issued Anzac Day messages in previous years, but none have been so pessimistic on the risk of conflict.

It followed a blast from Beijing last week, after the federal government moved to scrap its Belt and Road Initiative agreement with Victoria, with the nation’s official spokesman declaring “China reserves the right to make further reactions over this matter”.

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Australian Strategic Policy Institute defence program director Michael Shoebridge said Mr Pezzullo’s warning was in line with the government’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update, which said the nation could no longer rely on a previously assumed 10-year warning time before a major conflict.

“While surveys like the Pew research organisation’s show populations see China under Xi in historically unfavourable ways, the hard work of deterrence requires greater public understanding of the risks in our strategic environment.,” he said. “Those risks are best communicated calmly, and as the context for all the steps Australia and others need to take to raise the costs for any potential adversary — including China under Xi — of military adventurism.

“The focus needs to be on credible deterrence, because success is not about winning some kind of inevitable war, it’s about deterring such tragedy.”

Another top defence strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Pezzullo’s comments appeared to be “a job application” to become Defence secretary.

“It’s excessive in language and strikes the wrong note — 2021 is not the 1930s. He needs to chill,” the strategist said.

Opposition defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor said national security officials should be more cautious in their language about potential conflicts.

“Words matter. It is always important when we talk about national security matters and our relationships with other countries to be mindful of how our comments will be received,” he told The Australian.

A Taiwan-China clash is looming as the top security threat for the Biden administration and US allies as Beijing ramps up preparations for a conflict with the nation of 24 million that it claims to be an “inviolable” part of China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week launched three new warships that the country’s analysts said could be used in a conflict with Taiwan. They included a hi-tech amphibious helicopter carrier, a guided-missile cruiser with stealth technology, and an upgraded nuclear submarine.

Chinese military aircraft have also been making regular incursions into Taiwan’s airspace.

Mr Dutton told the ABC on Sunday that Australians needed to be realistic about China’s increasing militarisation across the region. However, he warned that “nobody wants to see conflict between China and Taiwan or anywhere else”.

“I don’t think it should be discounted,” he said.

“I think China has been very clear about the reunification and that’s been a long-held objective of theirs and if you look at any of the rhetoric that is coming out of China … particularly in recent weeks and months … they have been very clear about that goal.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/get-ready-to-fight-for-our-liberty-home-affairs-secretary-michael-pezzullo/news-story/87239deac0153147989ac508d6447046

>>13517899

The drums of war are growing louder

MICHAEL PEZZULLO - APRIL 27, 2021

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Later this year Australia and the US will mark the 70th anniversary of our military alliance. We seek to be militarily self-reliant in all contingencies short of great-power war.

Nonetheless, our national defence strategy has at its heart the protection afforded to Australia in the most perilous circumstances by the military might of the US — including by way of the deterrence effect of its nuclear arsenal — and its willingness and preparedness to wage war against a major-power adversary.

Of course, before the striking of the alliance agreement in 1951, Australians and Americans had already fought side-by-side in two world wars. The ANZUS Treaty gave formal shape to implied strategic understandings. So, to mark the passing of Anzac Day this year, I should like to draw attention to remarkable — but too little remembered — addresses by two US generals of the army, who in terms of Australian military rank would have been field marshals.

General of the army Douglas MacArthur gave an address to the US Military Academy at West Point on May 12, 1962. This general, who had known war over 50 of its bloodiest years, reminded the cadets of West Point that their mission was to train to fight and, when called on, to win their nation’s wars. All else was entrusted to others. MacArthur reminded the cadets that only the dead had seen the end of war and that for so long as war afflicted the human condition, a nation’s warriors had but one dedicated purpose, with all else being secondary.

Nor, MacArthur said, should our warriors be thought of as warmongers. On the contrary, warriors, above all people, pray for peace — for it is they who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds, the trauma and too often the death that is the invoice of war.

It is left to the rest of us to make the wisest possible choices about sending our warriors to war. It is left to the rest of us to make clear their mission, and to explain why it is that we ask them to face danger and suffer the scar of war.

It is left to the rest of us to ensure that our statecraft and diplomacy are effectively pursued. It is left to the rest of us to ensure that the best military strategies and plans are in place, that the required machines and war stocks are to hand, that all scenarios have been explored and tested, and that strategic assumptions have been challenged and reset, as necessary. It is left to the rest of us to mobilise the necessary treasure and resources that are required to support the mission of our warriors.

It is left to the rest of us to secure the homeland in their absence, including by way of civil defence, ensuring the continuity of services and producing the machines and stocks of war. It is left to the rest of us to volunteer our services on the home front, something that typically fell to women in wars of old as the men went off to do the fighting, although today we are increasingly likely to send our female warriors into battle alongside their male comrades.

Most significantly this year, we recognise that it is finally left to the rest of us to care for the returned and to honour the dead.

(continued)

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MacArthur knew Australia well. From 1942 he served as the supreme commander of allied forces, Southwest Pacific area, with his general headquarters in Melbourne and then Brisbane. While addressed to cadets of the US Military Academy, his address could be given today to Australian cadet officers, almost 60 years later, and still could be relevant to the final punctuation mark.

Another US general who had known war for more than 50 years was president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also a five-star general of the army.

In a speech delivered on April 16, 1953, Eisenhower rallied his fellow Americans and the country’s allies to the danger posed by the amassing of Soviet military power and the new risk of militaristic aggression. Throughout his presidency Eisenhower instilled in the free nations the conviction that as long as there persisted tyranny’s threat to freedom they must remain armed, strong and ready for war, even as they lamented the curse of war.

Today, free nations continue to face this sorrowful challenge. In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat — sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer. Free nations pity the burden of arms that drain the wealth and labour of all — a wasting of strength that thwarts true abundance and happiness for all people. Eisenhower, the general who had known war fully unleashed, the president who was the first human in history with the power to destroy all life, bemoaned the fact every weapon that was made was a theft from those who hungered, who were poor and who dreamt of a better life.

Every dollar spent on war machines is a dollar not spent on a school, a hospital, a road or a bridge. Eisenhower, the military man, the president with his finger on the button of global destruction, said this was not a way of life at all. Under the threat of war, it was instead “humanity hanging from a cross of iron”.

Let there not be doubt — war shakes confidence in a civilisation’s soul. Who could begrudge the sorrow of Europeans after the horror of World War I? Yet, in their sorrow and their revulsion at the thought of another terrible bloodbath, they did not heed the drums of war that beat through the 1930s — until too late they once again took up arms against Nazism and Fascism.

Today, as free nations again hear the beating drums and watch worryingly the militarisation of issues that we had, until recent years, thought unlikely to be catalysts for war, let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war. By our resolve and our strength, by our preparedness of arms, and by our statecraft, let us set about reducing the likelihood of war — but not at the cost of our precious liberty. War may well be folly, but the greater folly is to wish away the curse by refusing to give it thought and attention, as if in so doing war may leave us be, forgetting us perhaps.

The least we can do for the host of the dead whom we remember this Anzac week is to be prepared to face equivalent challenges with the same resolve and sense of duty that they displayed in years past.

Michael Pezzullo is secretary of the Department of Home Affairs.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-drums-of-war-are-growing-louder/news-story/bf29fb3cf94b89f84eaeb22fd32d9724

Social media is work of ‘evil one’, says Scott Morrison

ELLIE DUDLEY - APRIL 27, 2021

Scott Morrison has proposed the misuse of social media could be the work of “the evil one”, instructing a national Christian conference to pray against its “corrosive” effects.

The Prime Minister appeared in front of the Australian Christian Church national conference on the Gold Coast last week, where he suggested social media had the capacity to be used as a weapon.

“Sure, social media has its virtues and its values and enables us to connect with people in ways we’ve never had before,” Mr Morrison said.

“But those weapons can also be used by the evil one and we need to call that out.”

Mr Morrison is Australia’s first Pentecostal prime minister, following numerous non-evangelical Christian leaders including John Howard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

In the lead-up to the 2019 election, he famously invited the media into a Pentecostal church service in the south of Sydney, where he was photographed raising his hands in worship.

He told last week’s conference he looked for signs from God while campaigning for the top job, and practised the evangelical tradition of “laying-on of hands” and praying.

He said he was “called to do God’s work” when he was elected prime minister.

Further, he said he received a sign from God while visiting Ken Duncan’s art gallery on NSW’s central coast.

“And there right in front of me was the biggest picture of a soaring eagle,” he said, a reference to Isaiah 40.

“The message I got that day was, Scott, you’ve got to run to not grow weary, you’ve got to walk to not grow faint, you’ve got to spread your wings like an eagle to soar like an eagle.”

He later told the crowd he had practiced the laying-on of hands while visiting the Pilbara region in WA after Cyclone Seroja.

“I’ve been in evacuation centres where people thought I was just giving someone a hug and I was praying, and putting my hands on people … laying hands on them and praying in various situations,” he said.

“God has, I believe, been using us in those moments to be able to provide some relief and comfort and just some reassurance.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/social-media-is-work-of-evil-one-says-scott-morrison/news-story/6c465aaf0991f1e48b1eae2540626a60

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 26, 2021, 12:25 p.m. No.13518229 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8497

End of Empire of Davos Crowd As Pandemic Totalitarian Power Grab Implodes

Benjamin Fulford 4/26/21

If I was a member of the group of would-be God-Kings of Planet Earth in Davos right now I would be scared, very scared. That is because their long and meticulously planned use of a manufactured pandemic to start a Totalitarian World Government is imploding. Instead, they are about to face a War Crimes Tribunal that will make Nuremberg look like a kindergarten slap on the wrist.

These people have been trying very hard to kill a majority of the world’s population for decades now and have already killed far more people than Adolf Hitler ever did.They have now lost control of most of the world’s military power.This can be seen by the fact the people running the Joe Biden avatar “government” were denied entry into the Pentagon and now plan to run to NATO headquarters to seek protection. Protection that NATO cannot provide because nobody is willing to use nuclear weapons on their behalf, Pentagon, Russian FSB, French and British military sources say. https://thecommonsenseshow.com/agenda-21-conspiracy-economics/several-world-leaders-including-putin-and-netanyahu-want-biden-gone-and-trump-appears-be-part-plot

They are also losing their grip on the global media and financial control grid. So, when the sleepwalking portion of the public wakes up to the cabal’s horrific crimes, they won’t be in a forgiving mood.

Here from a 1981 book by Bilderberger Jacques Attalli is an example of their mindset:

“The future will be about finding a way to reduce the population…Of course, we will not be able to execute people or build camps. We get rid of them by making them believe it is for their own good…We will find or cause something, a pandemic targeting certain people, a real economic crisis or not, a virus affecting the old or the elderly, it doesn’t matter, the weak and the fearful will succumb to it. The stupid will believe in it and ask to be treated. We will have taken care of having panned the treatment, a treatment that will be the solution. The selection of idiots will therefore be done by itself: they will go to the slaughterhouse alone.”

*Now we have a news anchor confirming this plan with a Freudian slip where he says “almost four months into the vaccination effort providers are beginning to run out of people who want to be euthanized.” http://82.221.129.208/euthanized.mp4

It appears the “dumb people,” have already self-selected. http://www.madnesshub.com/2021/04/us-vaccination-sites-are-closing-from.html

People who still follow orders and believe in the system are also suffering from cognitive dissonance as the contradictions in the official “pandemic” story begin to pile up. Here you can watch my sister, Martha Fulford, an expert on contagious diseases, telling mainstream Canadian TV that lockdowns make no sense because the areas with the toughest lockdowns also have the highest number of new cases. https://globalnews.ca/video/7748177/medical-expert-sound-alarm-over-collateral-damage-of-lockdowns

The holes in the official story mean the red pill is just beginning to take effect on her and countless of her colleagues around the world. Soon they will all realize there are more “pandemic” cases in regions that locked down because that is where the authorities more actively participated in creating the scamdemic in the first place. https://www.sgtreport.com/2021/04/covid-cases-are-growing-the-most-in-locked-down-states/

As examples of this government connivance here we have images showing the book “Covid-19 and the great reset,” on the bookshelves of the Prime Ministers of Greece and Australia. https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=170674

Sauce: https://benjaminfulford.net/2021/04/26/end-of-empire-for-davos-crowd-as-pandemic-totalitarian-power-grab-implodes/

Anonymous ID: 50e8d8 April 26, 2021, 1:11 p.m. No.13518497 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>8624

>>13518229

>>13518497

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 26, 2021, 5:14 p.m. No.13520005 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0556

The Jews Behind All These Anti-Covid Vaccines

*AstraZeneca CEO - Leif Johansson (JEWISH)

*Pfizer CEO - Albert Bourla (JEWISH)

*Moderna CEO - Stéphane Bancel (JEWISH)

*Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the CEO of Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center told Radio 103FM that the hospital is involved in Russia’s clinical safety trials.

*Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's Jewish Past inspired Vaccine Work - Family of top pharmaceutical leader Albert Bourla miraculously survived the Holocaust in Salonika, Greece.

Sauce: https://twitter.com/Planet_Occident/status/1362901306390818817

Sauce: http://www.renegadetribune.com/the-jews-behind-all-these-anti-covid-vaccines/

>>13520005

The site renegadetribune.com is for sad little muh joo haters to hang out with each other. I understand trying to go there Down Under brings visits from certain "law enforcement" agencies.

He is a little trooper though, trying to spew me into death by laughter across the many breads I note take/ bake for.

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 11:21 p.m. No.13522368 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

China says Australia must stick to 'One China' policy after Peter Dutton warns of conflict over Taiwan independence

AP/ABC - 27 April 2021

China has responded to comments by Defence Minister Peter Dutton, saying adherence to its "One China" policy is a "prerequisite" for the development of Australia-China relations.

The reaction from the Chinese foreign ministry came after Mr Dutton said on Sunday that conflict with China over Taiwan should not be "discounted".

Speaking to ABC Insiders, Mr Dutton said Beijing was very clear about its reunification goal and people should be "realistic" about activity in the region, citing militarisation of bases across the region.

China advises Australia not to send the 'wrong signals'

At a daily news briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China sought "peaceful reunification," and urged Australia to "fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue".

The Chinese government regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be united with mainland China.

"We hope that Australia will fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, adhere to the One China principle, be cautious in its words and actions, refrain from sending any wrong signals to the secessionist forces of Taiwan independence," Mr Wang said.

Mr Wang also called on Canberra to "stop interfering with normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries," as Mr Dutton warned of further acts on China-related deals.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne is reviewing more than 1,000 China-related deals, including a 99-year lease on the Port of Darwin.

"If it's not in our national interest, then obviously she'll act," Mr Dutton said.

Australia cancelled two infrastructure deals negotiated with China by the Victorian government last week , adding to strains in relations that are at a multi-decade low after Beijing blocked imports of coal and other goods from Australia in retaliation for its call to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Separately, in an Anzac Day message to staff, one of Australia's most powerful national security figures warned that free nations "again hear the beating drums of war" as military tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific.

Home Affairs Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo warned that the nation must strive to reduce the likelihood of war, but be prepared to "send off, yet again, our warriors to fight".

Mr Pezzullo is expected to follow Mr Dutton from Home Affairs to the Department of Defence.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/china-responds-to-dutton-comment/100096928

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 11:24 p.m. No.13522384 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

Australia inflates presence on Taiwan question to show loyalty to US

Li Qingqing - Apr 26, 2021

Australia continues its attempt to stamp its presence on the Taiwan question. Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said on Sunday that a conflict with China over the island of Taiwan "should not be discounted," adding that Australia wants to continue being "a good neighbor in the region" that works with its partners and allies.

This is another move of Dutton, a far-right politician, to show loyalty to the US on behalf of Australia. Dutton's position is typical in Australia: By claiming to maintain peace and stability in the region, Canberra is actually hyping disputes and trying to rope in countries that may have conflicts of interests with China.

Australia has had discussions on the Taiwan question over the past few decades. Canberra's position on the Taiwan question has swayed and sailed with the wind, which depends on China-Australia relations and China-US relations. Some Australian politicians would hype intervening in the Taiwan question especially when China-US relations are tense.

In 2004, then-Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said that Australia would not be obliged to assist the US in a military defense of Taiwan. But now, China-US relations and China-Australia relations are tense. And as Washington and Tokyo hype the Taiwan question and reach a so-called consensus on underscoring the "importance of peace and stability" in the Taiwan Straits, Canberra wants to chime in.

"In the past, people may assume that some of Australia's tough actions were caused by the Trump administration's pressure. But after US President Joe Biden assumed office, it seems that Australia is making its independent decision, trying to please the US and follow the US on questions such as the Taiwan Straits," Guo Chunmei, an expert on Australian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Monday.

But can Australia really be "a good neighbor in the region?" Obviously not. Canberra does not even care much about its local state's interests, and even places them below geopolitical purposes. For example, Australia recently tore up agreements signed between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). After that, Australia is now scrutinizing the 99-year Port of Darwin deal with China. Dutton said on Sunday that Australia "will act" if the deal "is not in our national interests."

The original intent of the BRI and the Port of Darwin was to promote regional economic development and infrastructure construction. However, Australia's moves and statements have disregarded the interests of local states and governments. They need economic development. However, Canberra is depriving local states of their autonomy. Australia may tear up the Port of Darwin deal in the future as well, but its local states and people will have to bear the consequences.

"If Canberra does not even care about local interests, how can it take overall regional interests into account or be a 'good neighbor' in the region?" Guo asked.

Australia tore up the BRI agreement signed between Victoria state and China, dealing a heavy blow to the already freezing China-Australia relations. Now, Canberra is trying to muddy the waters on the Taiwan question, seeking geopolitical gains by toeing the line of Washington. PLA's firm will to safeguard China's territorial integrity is fully demonstrated. If Australia uses force against China, China will definitely deal a heavy blow to Australia.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222165.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 11:26 p.m. No.13522393 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 26, 2021

AFP: Australia's defence minister said a conflict with China over Taiwan should not be discounted. He said that China has been very clear about reunification. But he also added that Australia wants to continue as a good neighbor. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this issue?

Wang Wenbin: I have noticed relevant reports. I would like to emphasize that abiding by the one-China principle is an important part of China-Australia relations. Taiwan is an integral part of China's territory. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair that bears on China's core interests, and brooks no external interference. We can trace the roots of the current tension in cross-strait relations to the fact that the Taiwan DPP authorities refuse to recognize the 1992 Consensus embodying the one-China principle, and constantly make provocations in pursuit of "independence" in collusion with external forces. China must and will be reunified. We are willing to do our best to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any space for "Taiwan independence" separatist activities in any form. It is hoped that the Australian side will fully recognize that the Taiwan question is highly sensitive, abide by the one-China principle, be prudent in its words and deeds, avoid sending any wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, and act in ways beneficial to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and conducive to China-Australian relations.

…..

SCMP: The Australian defence minister, when asked in an earlier interview whether he accepts the lease on the Port of Darwin, said that if it is found to be not in Australia's national interest, he believes the government will act. I wonder if China has any response to that?

Wang Wenbin: China-Australia cooperation in economy, trade and investment are mutually-beneficial in nature. The Chinese government encourages Chinese companies to conduct investment cooperation overseas on the basis of market principle, international rules and host country laws. We will also firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses investing and operating overseas. We hope the Australian side will look at bilateral cooperation in an objective and rational light and stop disrupting normal exchange and cooperation with China.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1871648.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 26, 2021, 11:33 p.m. No.13522425 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>2437 >>1281

>>13477600

>>13515342

Academic’s mea culpa on China Uighur abuse comments

JANE GOLLEY - APRIL 27, 2021

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The Australian has asked me to amplify my comments at the Press Club last week about Xinjiang. I am extremely concerned that these comments, which were centred on threats to academic freedom and the need to assess the evidence, may have offended the many Uighurs who I have no doubt are suffering at the hands of an increasingly repressive Chinese government.

I am also concerned that my remarks have been misinterpreted by some as a criticism of the academic literature on the topic. This was not my intent. I was sent the anonymous article that I referred to in my speech via a number of Australian China specialists who share my concern that “China debates” in Australia are being stifled: anyone who speaks out about the mainstream, or “dominant”, press narrative is quickly crushed. I have ample personal experience of this, as do a number of my academic colleagues. By referring to this narrative with regard to Xinjiang, I absolutely did not intend to question the scholarly literature that has provided ample evidence of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. And nor did I intend to downplay the significant suffering of individuals who have bravely shared their stories with us.

Instead, my intent was to point out that in an increasingly hostile climate, there are scholars and analysts of all ethnicities here in Australia who feel unable to put their names to what they are thinking: for example, that “genocide” may not be the most accurate term for what is happening in Xinjiang. I am not making this judgment myself — I am not qualified to do so. But I am reading widely and speaking with a range of experts to inform myself about it. And I found the arguments laid out in the paper on that point convincing. I also found the arguments against the “one million” figure and the “pervasive use of forced labour” convincing — or at least plausible enough to warrant further consideration.

This does not mean I think the number of Uighurs suffering is insignificant (a point which extends to other persecuted ethnic minorities in China, including Mongolians and Tibetans, as well). But I think we need to conduct these conversations openly to ensure the best possible outcome for those who are suffering — while also not destroying the livelihoods of those who are not.

(continued)

>>13522425

2/2

The example I used to illustrate this point (in brief) was sanctions. Expanding on this point (as I did on Radio National on the evening of April 21), I’ve been thinking carefully about what would happen if Australia were to apply sanctions on Xinjiang — as Mike Pompeo has encouraged us to do — in response to what he has called genocide. What might this achieve and who might it hurt in return?

My judgment is that it will achieve very little, as the Chinese government will deny that genocide is happening and, accordingly, will not change its position. Instead, sanctions will hurt the many Uighurs who are voluntarily engaged in labour transfers (a longstanding practice in China, not only for Uighurs), while failing to help those who are being forced into labour against their free will. It will likely cause Beijing to retaliate against yet more of our sectors, hurting Australian businesses and workers as well. Academics working on Xinjiang will also be targeted by Beijing’s retaliatory sanctions — as some already have been — further crushing the academic freedom that is so important for understanding the truth about this highly complex issue.

I don’t claim any certainty about the facts that might pertain to Xinjiang. But I think we need to be able to discuss them openly, without being subject to personal abuse. That’s what free speech and academic freedom are all about.

May I point out once again: at no point have I denied that human rights abuses are occurring in Xinjiang, on a scale that is horrifying. I have mentioned these abuses in almost every public forum I have been on in the last three years. I also acknowledged them in my Press Club speech, with reference to the debates needed to ensure that we settle on the best possible course of action to achieve the change that is needed.

I chose my words very carefully, and I thought long and hard about making the comments that I did. Perhaps I should not have used the word “debunk” — “challenge” might have been better. And perhaps I should have said “some” rather than “much” of the dominant narrative is tendentious. Or perhaps, in hindsight, I should not have referred to Xinjiang at all?

But if in making such reference I assist those who are working to improve the plight of the Uighurs, it would be worth all of the Twitter abuse and hate mail I have received as a result. That is why I chose to speak out. I will respect the rights of anyone who disagrees with what I’ve said. I hope in return people will respect my right to speak freely as well.

Jane Golley is the director of the ANU’s taxpayer-funded Centre on China in the World.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/academics-mea-culpa-on-china-uighur-abuse-comments/news-story/71bef8d2d5acca51a246b5b11ed4a08d

Exclusive: Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s speech at the ACC conference

Rationalists Australia

25 Apr 2021

This is the full speech by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Australian Christian Churches Conference on the Gold Coast last week. This footage was broadcast by Vineyard Christian Church.

Discover how you can support the work of the Rationalist Society of Australia: www.rationalist.com.au/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aziBueAsv6U

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 27, 2021, 12:26 a.m. No.13522636 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1298

Sydney child rapist Bryan Grange: details of harrowing abuse movies emerge

Admitted paedophile Bryan Michael Grange has pleaded guilty to more charges of child abuse after a court heard he filmed abuse of a preschooler.

Perry Duffin - April 26, 2021

New details have emerged about a Sydney paedophile’s rape and molestation of young children as he created and shared a collection of horrific home movies.

Bryan Michael Grange’s archive of abuse is so confronting a judge has refused to look at extracts even after police requested she witness the full “depravity” of his actions.

Grange, 38, was living near a primary school in Maryong while he downloaded 190,000 child abuse images and videos.

He was part of a subscription service that saw him pay $7000 to access encrypted files depicting children being abused.

He pleaded guilty to dozens of crimes earlier this year and, on Monday, pleaded guilty to more.

The District Court heard Grange repeatedly molested a preschool-aged girl at Maryong over a period of years while recording the abuse.

Descriptions of the videos were read aloud in court but are too confronting to publish.

Sometimes the girl was asleep, sometimes she was in public bathrooms and she was less than five-years-old during the abuse the court heard.

Australian Federal Police raided Grange’s home after the US Department of Homeland Security tipped them off about a Sydney user of a dark web group.

Justice Kara Shead heard the AFP raid also uncovered videos and images of Grange raping children when they went through his hard drives.

Among the dozens of charges against Grange that is the most serious – sexual intercourse with a child under 10 years old – and it carries life imprisonment.

It’s believed only one paedophile has ever been given such a sentence for the same charge and that was Anthony Sampieri who raped a seven-year-old in a Kogarah dance studio bathroom.

He died in prison earlier this year before he could appeal.

A court has previously heard Grange pleaded guilty to raping and molesting three girls.

The fact Grange was abusing children for years and sharing it online means the case, quite unusually, has one prosecutor acting on behalf of the AFP and another for NSW Police.

The AFP’s prosecutor handed Judge Shead a sealed envelope containing extracts of the abuse found on Grange’s computer.

But Judge Shead said she’d heard enough from the descriptions.

“I know you’re urging me to look at the objective seriousness and depravity of the material, (but) I find the descriptions sufficient,” she said, handing the sealed envelope back to police.

Judge Shead said she was not convinced by Grange’s legal team that he has “good prospects of rehabilitation”

“I do not accept they weren’t hurt or distressed because of their young age,” she said.

“A child does not need to be threatened or coerced - particularly a baby. And subjecting a child to the most serious sexual offences… the court does not accept a submission that there was no harm.”

Grange sat quietly with a grey shirt, nodding only briefly at his wife in the public gallery when he was led into the room by guards.

He will be sentenced in June.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nsw/sydney-child-rapist-bryan-grange-details-of-harrowing-abuse-movies-emerge/news-story/ca3b8d02140db166c18bfbbc4616b3e9

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 27, 2021, 1:34 a.m. No.13522873 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell’s sleep loss in jail concerns judges

LARRY NEUMEISTER - 26 April 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Appeals judges hearing bail arguments seemed sympathetic Monday to claims that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is unjustly kept awake at night by guards ensuring she doesn’t die in jail like Jeffrey Epstein did while awaiting his sex trafficking trial.

Two of three judges on a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Manhattan expressed concern about light shined in her cell every 15 minutes at night as Federal Bureau of Prisons guards make sure she’s breathing.

They did not, however, seem necessarily inclined to free Maxwell, 59, on bail before a July 12 trial on charges that she procured teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse and sometimes joined in the abuse. She has pleaded not guilty. Bail has been rejected three times since her arrest last July.

“Is she a suicide risk or not?” Circuit Judge Richard J. Sullivan asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz. “Has the BOP concluded she’s a suicide risk or is it some other reason why they’re shining lights all night long?”

Pomerantz said it was a routine guards employed to ensure inmates are breathing. She said guards shine light at the ceiling above where Maxwell sleeps rather than at her eyes when they check her breathing.

Her comment was challenged by Circuit Judge Pierre N. Leval, who repeatedly asked if Maxwell posed a suicide risk.

“Routine to shine a light into the eyes of every prisoner every 15 minutes during the night? Are you really telling us that?” he asked.

“Your honor, I can’t tell you what is done as to all inmates, but what I can say is that we have not been told that she is a suicide risk,” Pomerantz responded.

Attorney David Markus, representing Maxwell on appeal, said she is not suicidal.

“There’s no evidence she’s suicidal. Why is the Bureau of Prisons doing this? They’re doing it because Jeffrey Epstein died on their watch. And again, she’s not Jeffrey Epstein, this isn’t right,” Markus said.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan lockup in August 2019 as he awaited trial.

“One of the main complaints in the defendant’s briefing is that she is being improperly treated as a suicide risk in a manner that makes her life hell and doesn’t allow her to sleep and makes it very difficult for her to prepare” for trial, Leval said.

Defense lawyers have complained that Maxwell is deteriorating in jail, where she is repeatedly searched and is filmed outside her cell. Prosecutors counter that she remains healthy and has been given accommodations other prisoners lack.

The judges also seemed concerned that Maxwell isn’t permitted to wear an eye mask that wraps securely around her head.

Markus said Maxwell puts a sock or towel over eyes so she can sleep at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“The government used the word routine to say how Ms. Maxwell’s being treated in MDC. There is absolutely nothing routine about it. She’s being treated differently than any other inmate ever in that institution,” he said.

https://apnews.com/article/ny-state-wire-ghislaine-maxwell-4d7e32ad6e1b12a61fe8259fea187663

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 27, 2021, 1:42 a.m. No.13522894 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

>>13517899

Major General Jin Yinan mocks Australia as ’white supremacist’

WILL GLASGOW - APRIL 27, 2021

A Chinese general has mocked Australia’s ability to stop the People’s Liberation Army taking over Taiwan, declaring Canberra’s military contingencies are motivated by “white supremacy”.

In an interview with China’s official military media, Major-General Jin Yinan dismissed reports that Canberra had escalated its planning for military action in the Taiwan Strait.

“We don‘t need to take it seriously,” said General Jin, who is also professor at the PLA National Defence University, the top military university in China.

“(Australia) is not that strong, it’s not that powerful… If it insists on intervening, it will only cause greater damage to Australia itself,” he said.

The Morrison government has recently talked with unprecedented directness about a long-feared military conflict in the Taiwan Straits.

Over the weekend, Defence minister Peter Dutton warned a war could not be ruled out between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a wayward province.

And in an extraordinary ANZAC Day message to staff, Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said the “drums of war” were beating and Australia must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight”.

The comments by Mr Dutton and his former chief bureaucrat follow efforts by the Biden administration to shore up support among its allies as it attempts to increase the potential costs for Beijing of any conflict over Taiwan.

Last Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping oversaw the launch of three new warships at a ceremony in the South China Sea.

Some interpreted the unusual display of China’s growing naval strength as a sign that Mr Xi is building a force capable of retaking Taiwan, a democratically run island with a population of 24 million.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman responded to Mr Dutton’s comments by saying Taipei had constantly made “provocations in pursuit of ‘independence’ in collusion with external forces”.

“China must and will be reunified. We are willing to do our best to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any space for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities in any form,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday in Beijing.

“It is hoped that the Australian side will fully recognise that the Taiwan question is highly sensitive, abide by the one-China principle, be prudent in its words and deeds, avoid sending any wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and act in ways beneficial to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and conducive to China-Australian relations,” he said.

America’s top diplomat in Canberra recently indicated that the Biden administration and Morrison government were co-ordinating over what to do about a conflict in Taiwan.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his advisers have also been in discussions with US President Joe Biden and his team about the flashpoint.

General Jin, a hawkish military adviser to the Chinese government, said Canberra’s commitment would be immaterial to Beijing’s plans.

He said if “Australia wants to rush to the front line of the conflict… then let it come, let it walk on the forefront of the conflict… then we can have a good fight”.

The Beijing-based PLA strategist — who said he had visited the Australian National University in Canberra in 2012 — argued that many people in Australia believed in “white supremacy”, which made them more likely to go to war.

“They always feel that Anglo-Saxon whites and Christian whites should be the leaders of the world,” General Jin said in the interview.

“So, on the surface, these people seem to love peace very much and want to stop a war. In fact, it can be seen from their hypocritical words that their goal is that the white-dominated world should not be disturbed.

“The white man is the master of the world, and the others are nothing more than belongings of the world. This group of people in Australia are entrenched white supremacists.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/major-general-jin-yinan-mocks-australia-as-white-supremist/news-story/4c2ab906c55bf670082821f6c6ed85ac

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 27, 2021, 1:53 a.m. No.13522929 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5208 >>1294

Australia pauses all flights from India amid COVID outbreak, readies aid package of ventilators and other medical supplies

Stephen Dziedzic and Georgia Hitch - 27 April 2021

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced all flights from India to Australia will be temporarily halted, as the South Asian country continues to deal with a record-breaking COVID outbreak that has plunged its medical system into chaos.

The pause, which includes repatriation flights into the Howard Springs facility near Darwin, will last until May 15 and the decision will be reviewed before then.

Mr Morrison said indirect flights through other cities like Doha, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur had been paused by their respective governments.

He also said Australia would send a range of goods to India to help as it struggles with a critical shortage of medical supplies.

Australia will send 500 ventilators, as well as 1 million surgical masks, 500,000 P2 and N95 masks, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 pairs of gloves and 20,000 face shields.

"I stress this is an initial package, there'll be more to follow," Mr Morrison said.

More than 9,000 Australians in India want to come to Australia, with 650 of those considered vulnerable.

The news comes after last week's decision by National Cabinet to reduce flights — both commercial and repatriation — from India by 30 per cent.

The number of new cases in India was slightly down on Tuesday for the first time in six days, but the country still recorded more than 323,000 new infections.

It comes after five record-breaking days, with cases peaking above 350,000 and total infections surpassing 17.6 million.

Another 2,771 people have died of the disease, taking the death toll to 197,894.

Shutting people out not a solution, Morrison says

The Prime Minister said repatriation flights would resume as soon as possible and the most vulnerable would be prioritised on the first planes back.

"We don't think the answer is to just forsake those in India and just shut them off," Mr Morrison said.

"I don't see this as a problem we have to solve, I see this as a group of people we need to help.

"These are Australians and Australian residents who need our help."

He rejected criticism that by implementing the pause he was abandoning Australians currently stranded in India, saying the government was focused on bringing people back once it could safely.

"This is the challenge of a pandemic, you don't get the perfect of all situations," the Prime Minister said.

Mr Morrison also noted that the number of breaches of Australia's hotel quarantine system was low, saying it was "99.99 per cent effective".

He said the decision to halt flights into Howard Springs, which has so far not had any community cases from the quarantine centre, was to give the facility time to deal with the overwhelming number of positive cases it is currently looking after.

Australians 'all over India' are registering with DFAT

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said there had been an increase in the number of people registering with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) in recent days as the severity of the outbreak increased.

"When I spoke to the High Commissioner this morning we touched on this challenge [of people wanting to return]," she said.

"They are all over India, literally in every single corner of the country.

"That does make the process challenging but we will stay in touch with them and provide any support we are able to."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/scott-morrison-pause-flights-india-covid-outbreak/100098322

>>13522929

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 12:09 a.m. No.13529854 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9868 >>1281

‘Drums of war’ warnings spread across the world to British news

Sky News Australia

28 Apr 2021

Australia’s Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo warned the “drums of war” were beating louder, which spread across the planet and featured on the front page of The Times in Britain.

Secretary Mike Pezzullo wrote a message to the Home Affairs Department for Anzac Day in which he warned the global “drums of war” are beating and Australia should prepare itself for a possible conflict.

The story was picked up by the The Times after the comments made waves in the Australian political and media environment.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison skipped over the issue when he was asked by Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell whether he agreed with the secretary.

“Our objective is to pursue peace,” Mr Morrison said.

“All of the agency that we have as a country and as a government is designed to achieve that”.

Meanwhile former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr weighed in on the issue slamming Mr Pezzullo for “itching for a showdown in the Taiwan Strait”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohuSR0kQc1g

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 12:12 a.m. No.13529868 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

>>13529854

‘Drums of war beating’ warns Australia as China tension grows

Bernard Lagan - April 28 2021

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-56910085

Northern Territory bases‘ $747m boost after ‘drums of war’ warning

FINN MCHUGH - APRIL 28, 2021

1/2

Scott Morrison has denied a pledge to beef up Australian military bases is a warning to China, just days after a top national security chief warned the “drums of war” were beating.

The Prime Minister travelled to the Northern Territory on Wednesday, announcing a $747m revamp of four military training bases across the Territory.

The upgrades are designed to facilitate joint training exercises and war games with the United States amid rising concern over Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance in the Pacific.

But Mr Morrison denied the announcement was a warning to China but insisted Australia would continue to build its capabilities to “keep Australians safe”.

“All of our objectives through the activities of our defence forces is designed to pursue peace. That is the objective of our government. That is the path that we are pursuing,” he said.

“But to do that in a region as uncertain as this, you need to ensure that you have the defence capability that enables you to protect and defend Australia’s interests in that region.”

The announcement came just days after Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo warned the “drums of war” were beating, and Australia should be prepared to send its “warriors to fight”.

The comments drew international attention, including on the front page of The Times in London.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday said conflict over Taiwan should not be “discounted”.

Mr Morrison rejected suggestions the comments were inflammatory

“I have set out what the government’s purposes are here. I know that’s strongly supported by the Defence Minister, who has simply made a point about ensuring we have appropriate capability. That’s the Defence Minister’s job,” he said.

The plan was initially announced in 2019 at under $500m, but Mr Morrison said it had been “significantly upgraded” in a bid to get defence spending to 3 per cent.

Mr Morrison said the “environment has been changing” since the initial announcement, but he would not be drawn on whether the upgrade was a response to rising tensions in the region.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese backed increased support for the ADF but dismissed the funding as “just another reannouncement”.

“Our defence services deserve support more than they deserve a prime minister who seems intent on using them for photo opportunities at each and every occasion,” he said.

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews conceded Mr Pezzullo’s tone was “direct” but stressed he did not single out any particular nation.

“He was making it very clear that our overarching responsibility is to work towards peace,” she said.

“We are always going to be alert, but not alarmed, about threats that may be facing our nation.”

(continued)

>>13529891

2/2

Mr Pezzullo’s intervention was widely interpreted as a reference to China, which has been locked in an escalating diplomatic stoush with Canberra lasting more than a year.

Those tensions were inflamed further last week when the federal government used new powers to scrap the Belt and Road initiative, signed between Beijing and the Victorian government.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday said Australia was “sick” and needed to “take medicine” to repair relations.

But Ms Andrews would not be drawn on whether China posed the biggest threat in the region.

“I know that you’d like me to quote which nations, but we are very conscious of the various threats that are apparent right across our nation,” she said.

Concerns have been raised Beijing could react to the beefed-up security measures in the NT.

But China expert Clive Hamilton said Beijing’s reaction should not be factored into decisions on Australia’s defence.

“As China militarises further and becomes increasingly aggressive, Australia has little choice but to devote more resources to strengthening defences. Australians will have to get used to it, unfortunately,” he told NCA NewsWire.

Australian National University international security expert John Blaxland welcomed the upgrade but hoped it was the “first step” in revamping defence capabilities in the Territory.

“It’s really good, timely. It’s important to do. The facilities there need to be made more robust,” he said.

But he warned Australia was living in a “false sense of security” during an era in which the US was no longer a sole superpower.

“We’re as prepared as we can be when we’re thinking about the old paradigm … when the United States could do almost all of the heavy lifting, and we just contributed a nice little force to go attack alongside the United States,” he told Sky News.

He stressed Australia’s military professionalism was “second to none” but warned its capabilities were limited by size.

“We are having ourselves on if we think we are in a position to contribute to a major great power contestational stoush with our one-punch force,” he said.

“It’s just so small, it’s not that hard to push over. We’re not in a position to think through the implications of a force designed for the peace dividend of the post-Cold War years 30 years ago.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/northern-territory-bases-get-747m-boost-after-drums-of-war-warning/news-story/2017e1bdf6173a72431b95e8a7910d08

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 12:31 a.m. No.13529937 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9942 >>1281

China says Australia is ‘sick’, needs to ‘take medicine’

WILL GLASGOW - APRIL 28, 2021

China’s foreign ministry has said Australia is “sick” and suggested Canberra needs to “take medicine” after the Morrison government’s most senior diplomat said Beijing wanted to compromise key Australian interests.

Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday evening, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Australia was entirely responsible for the deterioration of the relationship.

Mr Wang cited Canberra’s ban on Chinese telco Huawei from Australia’s 5G network, rejections of Chinese investment in Australia-based companies on national security grounds and the federal government’s tearing up of Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement.

“Australia is sick, however it is asking others to take medicine, which will not solve the problem at all,” he said.

“We hope that the Australian side will view China and China’s development objectively and rationally, and do more to enhance mutual trust between the two countries and promote pragmatic cooperation, instead of going further and further down the wrong path.”

The comments come after a week in which the Morrison government has demonstrated it is no hurry to repair the strained relationship with Australia’s biggest trading partner.

Despite an almost 12-month trade retaliation campaign by Beijing, Australia’s total exports to China remain at record highs because of the elevated prices of iron ore and liquid natural gas.

That has emboldened the Morrison government, although it has led to widespread economic pain in rural Australia, particularly in the lobster, wine and timber industries.

Last week, Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced the federal government was annulling Victoria’s cooperation agreement with China’s Belt and Road infrastructure-led foreign policy, saying it was not in the national interest.

Over the weekend, Defence minister Peter Dutton warned a war could not be ruled out between China and Taiwan and in an extraordinary ANZAC Day message to staff, Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said the “drums of war” were beating and Australia must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight”.

Some senior military officials in Beijing have mocked Australia’s capacity to influence the situation in the Taiwan Strait.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman’s medicinal comments on Tuesday were in response to a recent speech by Australia’s most senior foreign ministry bureaucrat.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson told a University of Adelaide graduating class that China wanted Australia to “compromise on key national interests” before it would resume dialogue and cooperation with the federal government.

“As China adopts a more authoritarian approach domestically and asserts itself internationally in ways which challenge and undermine those rules, Australia is experiencing a range of difficulties in its bilateral relationship with China,” said Secretary Adamson.

“The Australian government wants a constructive relationship with China where we can discuss differences and work for mutual benefit,” she said.

“Governments of other countries want the same or similar, but China expects compromise on key national interests in exchange for dialogue and cooperation.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/china-says-australia-is-sick-needs-to-take-medicine/news-story/cd07e3363bc2431fc1aad1ff771f758c

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 12:32 a.m. No.13529942 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

>>13529937

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 27, 2021

China Review News: Frances Adamson, Secretary of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said while addressing a graduation ceremony at University of Adelaide that "Australia is experiencing a range of difficulties in its bilateral relationship with China…The Australian government wants a constructive relationship with China…but China expects compromise on key national interests". She also stressed "how important it is for global security and prosperity that agreed rules are upheld", adding, "That's in Australia's interests, China's interests, everyone's interests". What's your comment?

Wang Wenbin: China always believes that sound and stable China-Australia relations serve the fundamental interests of both peoples. The root cause of the severe difficulties in bilateral relations is that Australia grossly interferes in China's domestic affairs, hurts China's interests and adopts discriminatory trade practices against China. None of the responsibility rests with China. The Australian side used the word "authoritarian" to describe China, but it was among the first to ban Chinese companies from its 5G rollout. It has also vetoed time and again Chinese investments under the pretext of "national security" and wantonly searched Chinese journalists in Australia. It accused China of undermining the rules, but again it blatantly torn up cooperative deals with China and disrupted bilateral exchange and cooperation. Basically Australia is telling others to take the medicine when it is sick itself. How can this solve the problem? We hope Australia will look at China and China's development in an objective and rational light and work to build mutual trust and facilitate practical cooperation instead of going further down the wrong path.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/t1871998.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 12:37 a.m. No.13529959 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

GT Voice: Spiraling of Canberra moves against Chinese interests to backfire

Global Times - Apr 26, 2021

The Port of Darwin lease with a Chinese company could be the next target of Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, after tearing up the state of Victoria's Belt and Road contract with China, the country's defense minister Peter Dutton suggested on Sunday.

Noting that the port lease was one of the thousands of cases Payne was examining, he said that "I think it is a question for Marise to look at these individual cases. If it is not in our national interests then obviously she will act."

Even though Dutton did not directly call for a scrap of the lease deal, his remarks were interpreted by Australian media outlets as sending a signal that the Port of Darwin lease with the Chinese company is in danger.

In response, a spokesperson from China's Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed hope that Australia could treat China-Australia economic cooperation fairly and stop sabotaging normal business interactions.

While encouraging Chinese enterprises to conduct overseas investment and cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules and on the basis of abiding by local laws, the Chinese government will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises investing and operating abroad.

The Northern Territory Government inked a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company named Landbridge Group in 2015. If the Morrison government intended to go political and interfere with the port project the Chinese company has been running for years, it would mark a sad and new low in bilateral relations, resulting from a clear escalation of Canberra's deliberate provocation against Chinese companies.

It is no secret that the animosity that Canberra holds towards China is so strong that it has already blocked dozens of investment deals with Chinese companies in recent years. In August 2020, Chinese dairy behemoth Mengniu Dairy was forced to ditch a A$600 million acquisition deal to acquire Australian dairy brand Lion-Dairy & Drinks after Canberra said the business deal was "not in the national interest" of Australia.

If Australia continues to intentionally escalate its hostility by undermining existing cooperative projects involving Chinese companies, it will hurt Chinese investors, but Australian businesses would also suffer greatly.

Moreover, Chinese companies that have been abiding by local laws and contributing to the Australian economy should defend their lawful rights by resorting to laws and demand fair compensation, if they were forced to terminate operation due to political reasons.

In the case of the Port of Darwin lease, Landbridge has made long-term investment plans for the port, including but not limited to an initial $35 million of new investment in the first five years of its lease.

Against the backdrop of the growing anti-China sentiment in Canberra, there are plenty of reasons for us to warn Chinese business entities against the growing uncertainty in Australia. They should heighten their alert there.

Precautions are needed for Chinese companies to seek legal recourse to defend their rights and interests. Meanwhile, relevant Chinese authorities should also offer legal assistance to help Chinese businesses, while a response in kind should also be considered.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222156.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 2:07 a.m. No.13530211 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0215 >>1305

For the fourth time, Ghislaine Maxwell is denied release from ‘horrific’ Brooklyn jail

BEN WIEDER - APRIL 27, 2021

1/2

Ghislaine Maxwell’s fourth request to be released from federal custody was met with the same response as her three previous tries: Denied.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected an appeal by Maxwell of prior decisions by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan to deny her bail.

The decision followed a roughly 30 minute hearing Monday that largely focused on Maxwell’s complaint that she is subjected to regular wellness checks throughout the night that prevent her from sleeping. The appeals court said in its ruling that Maxwell should address these concerns to Nathan.

Maxwell’s lawyer David Oscar Markus argued in the hearing that Maxwell’s conditions made it impossible for her to prepare for trial, which is currently scheduled for July.

“For the last 10 months she has been held in horrific conditions that make it impossible for her to prepare for her trial,” Markus said.

But in a preview of Tuesday’s ruling, the three judge panel pushed back on this argument, asking whether Maxwell’s conditions and situation truly were unique.

Markus said Tuesday that he is “heartbroken” in response to the ruling.

“If our system tolerates detaining a 59-year old woman with no criminal history and subjecting her to torturous conditions, simply because of her old connection to Jeffrey Epstein, we should all be deeply troubled,” he said.

Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend and alleged accomplice of deceased financier and serial abuser Jeffrey Epstein, has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for the past nine months as she awaits trial, which is currently scheduled for this July.

She was arrested last July and currently faces six charges related to the sex trafficking of minors and is accused of grooming and recruiting four girls for Epstein’s abuse between 1994 and 2004, allegedly participating in the abuse of one of the girls herself. She faces a separate trial on two perjury charges connected to statements she made in two depositions in a defamation suit brought against her by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein victim who has said that Maxwell recruited her when Giuffre was about 17 and working as a spa assistant at Mar-a-Lago.

Federal prosecutors have argued that Maxwell’s access to extensive wealth, foreign citizenship in the United Kingdom and France — the latter of which doesn’t extradite citizens — and the prospect of decades in prison if convicted make Maxwell a serious risk to flee the country to avoid trial. Maxwell initially gave an incomplete accounting of her finances to federal authorities and her initial bail proposal was short on specific details of what she would offer to guarantee her appearance at trial.

Judge Nathan rejected that request as well as two subsequent proposals in which Maxwell offered a bail package worth $28.5 million in assets belonging to her and family and friends, said she would be confined to a residence in New York and offered to renounce her foreign citizenship, among other conditions.

(continued)

>>13530211

2/2

Maxwell was arrested on July 2, 2020, at a 156-acre New Hampshire property that had been purchased the previous December through a shell company. Maxwell’s name had not appeared in any of the sale documents, according to someone with knowledge of the transaction, and federal prosecutors say she had toured the property using a pseudonym.

Maxwell’s arrest came nearly one year after Epstein had been arrested on sex charges in July 2019. Epstein’s earlier abuse of dozens of women and a remarkably lenient 2008 plea deal he struck with federal prosecutors was the subject of the Miami Herald’s 2018 Perversion of Justice series and led federal prosecutors to revisit the case and bring new charges against Epstein in July 2019. He died in federal detention one month later in what has been ruled a suicide.

Maxwell has complained bitterly about her conditions behind bars, which her lawyers have said is a direct response to Epstein’s death in custody. Maxwell’s lawyers have said that she is being kept in solitary confinement, the food and water in the jail is unpalatable and that the wellness checks throughout the night prevent her from getting a full night’s sleep. They have complained that the computer she has access to doesn’t allow her to search the voluminous potential evidence turned over by the government, making it extremely difficult for her to prepare for her case, and, in the appeal, argued that her detention is sexist, given that high-profile men such as Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Dominique Strauss-Kahn have been granted bail in the past.

Prosecutors have countered that the conditions of her confinement are designed to protect her and that she is granted more time to access her computer than any other inmate in the Brooklyn facility.

Maxwell has been accused by numerous Epstein victims of combing schools and spas to find girls to satisfy Epstein’s sexual appetite and grooming and recruiting those girls for Epstein’s abuse.

“Maxwell’s presence as an adult woman helped put the victims at ease as Maxwell and Epstein intended,” said Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, in announcing the charges against Maxwell last July.

Giuffre has said that Maxwell and Epstein directed her to have sex with a number of their high-profile friends, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, hotel magnate Tom Pritzker and prominent defense attorney Alan Dershowitz. All of the men have denied the claims and Dershowitz and Giuffre have each sued each other for defamation.

Maxwell is currently scheduled to go to trial in July, though her legal team requested that the trial date be pushed back after prosecutors unveiled a new indictment last month that added the fourth victim and added additional sex trafficking charges. Nathan, the district judge, has said that she will be deciding on whether or not to push back the trial soon.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article250983184.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 2:30 a.m. No.13530268 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0272 >>1305

Ghislaine Maxwell claims jail guards seized her confidential documents

James Hill and Aaron Katersky - 27 April 2021

1/2

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell are accusing guards at a federal detention center of improperly confiscating and reviewing her legal documents after she met with her lawyers at the facility over the weekend, according to a letter Monday to the federal judge overseeing Maxwell's criminal case.

"Ms. Maxwell observed three guards going through the [folder], reading papers and pages of the notebook, dividing papers into two stacks, and leaving the room with the papers," wrote Bobbi C. Sternheim, one of Maxwell's criminal lawyers, in the letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan.

Maxwell's lawyers said guards then "intimidated Ms. Maxwell" by standing "knee to knee" over her as she used the bathroom, and threatening her with a disciplinary infraction, the letter states.

The latest dispute over the conditions of Maxwell's confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn began on Saturday, one day after she pleaded not guilty to an eight-count superseding indictment alleging she aided and conspired with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the sexual abuse of four minors between 1994 and 2004.

Staff at the jail informed Maxwell's lawyers after the visit that she had violated policy by receiving paperwork from her attorneys that was not in her possession when she entered the visiting area, according to an email from the facility's legal counsel attached to Sternheim's letter.

Sternheim called that allegation "inaccurate" and noted that Maxwell and her lawyers were "under the constant watch of four to five guards" with a portable camera and fixed surveillance cameras recording the two-and-a-half-hour visit.

"At no time did the guards, who were assiduously watching and filming the legal conference, bring any concern to my attention," Sternheim wrote. "The conduct of which both Ms. Maxwell and counsel have been accused did not happen; and the conduct on the part of the guards was reprehensible."

The institution's visitation policy allows detainees to bring materials to a legal meeting that were previously received in the mail, but does not permit carrying out any additional items. "The contents of legal material will be visually scanned, but not read by staff," the policy states.

Maxwell's attorneys are threatening legal action over the alleged incident and sent a letter to the facility's lawyer demanding that all video and notes surrounding the Saturday visit be preserved.

The documents in question were returned to one of Maxwell's lawyers on Sunday, but Sternheim claimed that it is "unknown whether any seized documents were retained or copied by the MDC."

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to comment on Sternheim's letter.

The Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to an inquiry from ABC News.

(continued)

>>13530268

2/2

Earlier Monday, another attorney for Maxwell, David Markus, argued before an appeals court panel that Nathan erred in rejecting Maxwell's three attempts to be let out on bail pending trial.

"Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein," Markus said. "For the past 10 months she has been detained in horrific conditions that make it impossible for her to prepare for trial."

Markus argued the government has presented insufficient evidence to warrant Maxwell's remand.

"We just want a fair opportunity, a fair chance, so that she can get ready for the trial of her life," Markus said.

The appellate judges peppered the government with questions about guards checking on Maxwell every 15 minutes by shining a flashlight in her cell, a practice the government has defended as necessary "to confirm that the defendant is not in distress every fifteen minutes."

"To do so, staff point a flashlight to the ceiling of the defendant's cell to illuminate the cell sufficiently to confirm that the defendant is breathing," prosecutors wrote in a February letter to the court.

"Is she a suicide risk or not? Has [the Bureau of Prisons] concluded she's a suicide risk? Or is it some other reason why they're shining lights all night long," asked one of the judges during oral argument.

"We have not been told that she is a suicide risk," assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Pomerantz said.

Pomerantz said Nathan, "is aware of the circumstances under which this defendant is confined" but denied Maxwell release on bail because she thinks she is a flight risk.

The appellate judges asked the defense about Maxwell's "ties to foreign countries" and her "significant financial resources."

The defense pointed out Maxwell has offered to renounce her foreign citizenships in England and France and to put her assets of more than $20 million into a monitored account.

"I'm not sure what else she can do to demonstrate she's not a risk," Markus said.

The three-judge panel took the arguments under advisement, but there was no immediate ruling.

Maxwell's trial is currently scheduled to begin on July 12. Her lawyers have asked the court to postpone until the fall or winter to allow them time to investigate and prepare for the allegations in the superseding indictment, which added two new charges and a fourth alleged victim.

The government opposes the delay, citing, among other reasons, the stress on the alleged victims ahead of the trial.

Nathan indicated in a hearing on Friday that she would decide soon whether to grant the defense's request.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-claims-jail-guards-seized-confidential-documents/story?id=77334691

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.248.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 2:55 a.m. No.13530313 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1281

Victoria’s axed Belt deal ‘not end of the road’, says James Merlino

ANGELICA SNOWDEN - APRIL 27, 2021

Victoria’s Acting Premier has dodged questions about the federal government’s decision to rip up the state’s Belt and Road agreement, in his first public appearance since the decision was made last Thursday.

James Merlino held a press conference at a primary school in Melbourne’s north on Tuesday, almost one week after Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne announced the state’s memorandum of understanding with China would be torn up under new commonwealth powers.

“My response is similar to responses from other ministers who have been out over the past few days,” Mr Merlino said.

“It’s a federal government act, it’s a federal government decision. We respect that.

“In terms of the broader impact, I assume … that the federal government took all of that into account,” he added.

Asked if the state government was concerned about jobs growth now that the China agreement was off the political plate, Mr Merlino responded: “What we will continue to do is exactly what we have done for the past six years — and that is engaging with jurisdictions around the world to maximise opportunities for Victorian businesses and for Victorian jobs.

“That has been our focus, whether it is these agreements, whether it’s the work of the Victorian government business offices around the world — it’s about building relationships and building opportunities to create jobs,” he said.

The response was in contrast to Premier Daniel Andrews’ prickly reaction to the Foreign Relations bill, unveiled by Scott Morrison in August last year.

At the time, the Prime Minister said it would target state government deals with foreign governments and terminate any which threatened Australia’s national interest.

Mr Andrews questioned Mr Morrison’s focus on the issue during the middle of a pandemic and said: “If the Prime Minister’s got time to be doing those things, then that’s fine for him. I don’t.

“I am exclusively focused on fighting this virus and then making sure that we have got the strongest economy that we can possibly have on the other side of this,” Mr Andrews said.

“Given the announcements the Prime Minister has made today, he will no doubt be able to list the full range of other free trade agreements and other markets that we’ll be sending Victorian products to. I’ll look forward to that.

“Presumably, this approach will include quite soon a very detailed list of alternative trading arrangements, alternative free trade agreements, alternative markets. I’ll leave that to the PM to announce, but presumably that’s coming and coming pretty quickly.”

In July, Mr Andrews refused to attend classified briefings on Chinese interference at which intelligence and security officials — including Australian Security Intelligence Organisation chief Mike Burgess — were to raise concerns about Belt and Road deals with Beijing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/victorias-axed-belt-deal-not-end-of-the-road-says-james-merlino/news-story/03de0df4ee5c3a66e822d6512ad44b63

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 28, 2021, 3:03 a.m. No.13530328 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>0331 >>1281

Deal on Darwin Port under the shadows of Australian politicians

Ai Jun - Apr 28, 2021

1/2

After Australia tore up Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with China, will the lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company be next? Conjecture is mounting after Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton suggested on Sunday the program may be reviewed under the name of "national interests." Former prime minister Kevin Rudd echoed the view on Tuesday, predicting the Morrison administration will "tear up the lease" during an interview with ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio Darwin.

The 99-year lease, worth AU$506 million ($393 million), was inked in 2015 between Chinese company, Landbridge Group, and Australia's Northern Territory government. At that time, Canberra was promoting its vision and strategy for developing Northern Australia, hoping to turn the vastly underdeveloped region into a thriving place of manufacturing, clean energy and research and innovation. Yet Australia is short of funding for it, thus the country invited foreign enterprises for investment. The successful Landbridge bid helped resolve the region's issue over the lack of cash for development.

In the same year, then secretary of the Department of Defense Dennis Richardson told Australian Senate committee that the rhetoric of Landbridge's lease posing a security risk was "absurd" and "alarmist nonsense." However, six years later, Australia is making a U-turn in its stance. The previous "absurd nonsense" has become a matter of national interests. No one ever provided any evidence. It seems what the lease really is depends on what Australian politicians say based on their political calculations.

The lease did not change, but the international environment has. Six years ago, China and the US had stable ties. Yet the US is launching a comprehensive containment against China today.

Observers believe that for the Australian government, the so-called national interests is all about following the US' footsteps closely to maintain Canberra's regional hegemony based on Washington's endorsement. And for Australian politicians, only a nod from the US can help them secure a promotion in their personal careers. They could not care less about national interests when it comes to their appetite over their personal political future.

Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the research center for Pacific island countries of Liaocheng University in East China's Shandong Province, told the Global Times on Tuesday, "Dutton is a figure with big ambition, so is Foreign Minister Marise Payne, they are both seeking to become prime minister." So when they talk about "national interests," rest assured, it has nothing to do with the country's economy, long-term development or people's living standards, Yu said, adding it is all about their personal gains.

(continued)

>>13530328

2/2

China poses no threat to Australia's national interests and it has no political ambition to interfere in Australia's affairs, Yu said, adding the Darwin Port lease is a pure business deal with no military purposes.

On the contrary, it is Washington who has major strategic needs from the port. In 2019, a US Congressional bill revealed that a total of $211.5 million had been allocated for new "Navy Military Construction" in Darwin as it expanded its military presence in Australia, according to the ABC. In the same year, Australia invested $715 million in naval facilities in the Northern Territory that hosts US Navy warships, Stars and Stripes reported. In 2020, the Australian government announced a $1.1 billion upgrade to the Northern Territory's air force base in a bid to expand Australia and the US' air force capabilities into the Indo-Pacific, reports show.

For the US, the Darwin Port is a strategically vital position which could enable US forces to take the Strait of Malacca under control, cutting off China's maritime transportation line, Yu noted. Therefore, amid intensifying competition between China and the US, the issue of Darwin port naturally surfaced. Yet if Australian politicians shred China's lease by stressing "national interests," it will only lay bare their political selfishness, without making any sense.

Xu Shanpin, adjunct researcher at the Center for Australia Studies, China University of Mining and Technology, told the Global Times that if Canberra tears the lease up, its inconsistency in words and deeds and the move to break its deals will further erode Australia's national image and credibility.

The country's economic development will also suffer from more hardships. "Australia's plan to develop its north has died," Yu said, adding so is its vision on economic transformation, as the country has wrecked too many cooperative projects that could bring it more investment.

In Xu's opinion, the already icy political ties between Beijing and Canberra will take another dive, the pace of economic decoupling between the two countries will accelerate, their strategic mutual trust will totally wither, and the possibility of strategic misjudgment will be greatly increased.

The author is a reporter with Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222298.shtml

>>13529891

Let war games begin: ADF bases upgraded

GEOFF CHAMBERS and BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 28, 2021

1/2

Scott Morrison has ordered sweeping upgrades of military training bases in Northern Australia to enhance land combat capability and support simulated exercises in a major strategic step-up aimed at expanding “war gaming” with the US and defending the Indo-Pacific.

The Prime Minister will announce a $747m defence package in the Northern Territory on Wednesday after Home Affairs Department secretary Michael Pezzullo warned the “drums of war are beating” and that Australia must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight”.

The upgrades of four training bases include an overhaul of weapons firing ranges, lengthening the Northern Territory’s Bradshaw Field Training Area airstrip to support heavier aircraft and new training facilities for Australian Defence Force personnel and US marines.

“Working with the United States, our allies and Indo-Pacific neighbours, we will continue to advance Australia’s interests by investing in the Australian Defence Force, particularly across Northern Australia,” Mr Morrison said. “Our focus is on pursuing peace, stability and a free and open Indo-Pacific, with a world order that favours freedom.”

Mr Morrison said the investment, part of a $270bn spend across the nation to ensure the ADF can respond to emerging challenges, would also maximise local jobs through a “targeted industry plan to contract local businesses throughout the entire supply chain”.

“My commitment is keeping Australians safe and keeping Australians in a job,” he said.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the funding boost would ensure the ADF’s land combat capability was “equipped with the technology it will require to maintain our competitive advantage”.

Defence strategists on Tuesday urged the government to increase investment in military capabilities to counter the growing threat of China following Mr Pezzullo’s Anzac Day message to staff, which warned of rising strategic uncertainty and growing militarisation.

The Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen said Mr Pezzullo’s message was “not pessimistic enough”, arguing Australia could not rely with certainty on the US coming to its aid in a conflict.

Mr Roggeveen said Australia needed a bigger, more capable ADF which would make the 2 per cent of GDP benchmark for Defence spending “look more like a floor than a ceiling”. He said Australia would continue to rely on the extended deterrence of the “US nuclear umbrella”. But in conflicts short of nuclear war, “we need to be more prepared to look after ourselves”.

Yet the US military is bolstering its presence in the Top End, with marines arriving in Darwin in groups of between 200 and 500 since February ahead of joint exercises with the ADF. By June about 2200 US troops are expected to be in the NT for operation Talisman Sabre, which will involve a range of training activities including humanitarian assistance, security operations and high-end live-fire exercises.

WA Premier Mark McGowan took issue with Mr Pezzullo’s comments and urged the Morrison government to “tone it down”. “What good does that do, saying things like that? It’s totally unnecessary, it gets you a headline, no doubt, probably secures you some coverage around the world. And, you know, there may be elements in the community who cheer,” Mr McGowan said.

“But it is in no one’s interests, that sort of language. Diplomacy should be conducted diplomatically, by people in elected office, and also by those who are public servants.”

Mr Morrison also downplayed the comments, saying that Australia’s objective was “to pursue peace” for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

(continued)

>>13530344

2/2

The training areas slated for upgrades are the Robertson Barracks Close Training Area; Kangaroo Flats Training Area; Mount Bundey Training Area and Bradshaw Field Training Area. The upgrades will support a more effective simulation of conflict to help maintain a world-class military, support greater engagement and combined training with the US under the Force Posture Agreement.

The 2020 Force Structure Plan prioritised training and simulation as critical in preparing Defence for present and future missions, and boosting investment in technology to maintain its competitive edge.

The US Force Posture Initiatives are considered by the government as a “fundamental pillar” of the ANZUS alliance, supporting shared security and stability interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Marcus Hellyer said the Morrison government was sending a message to the Australian people to harden their resolve, and to Beijing that “we’re off the fence”.

He noted the ADF still didn’t have a single armed drone in its arsenal, while Azerbaijan, with 3 per cent of Australia’s GDP, had mastered unmanned precision strike capabilities in its recent conflict with Armenia, using off-the-shelf Israeli drones.

“Defence needs to get much more serious about what capabilities we can acquire quickly,” Dr Hellyer said. “If there is a war with China, it will be nasty.

“The US would expect a far more substantial contribution in any war with China over Taiwan. And if the war were to extend beyond the Taiwan Strait, China has ways of applying military force at much greater range.”

ANU professor of international security John Blaxland on Tuesday said Australia was “underprepared for what the future may hold”, with last year’s Defence Strategic Update already “looking relatively limp”.

“We have a boutique defence force structured for the unipolar moment of the post-cold war years where the US did the heavy lifting and all we had to do was provide some niche contributions on occasion,” he said. “Those days, if they are not gone, are quickly passing.”

He said China’s “gobsmacking” acceleration in military capabilities, and “Wolf Warrior” rhetoric signalled a dramatic elevation in the threat faced by Australia. On the weekend, Mr Dutton warned that the prospect of a war with China over Taiwan could not be discounted.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Monday responded to the comment, cautioning Australia to “fully recognise that the Taiwan question is highly sensitive”.

“(It should) abide by the one-China principle, be prudent in its words and deeds, avoid send any wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and act in ways beneficial to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and conducive to China-Australian relations,” Mr Wang said.

Opportunities for local businesses on the defence upgrade sites announced on Wednesday will be maximised with a target set for at least 10 per cent of the local workforce to be indigenous Australians. In addition, 6.5 per cent of the value of the supply chain is to subcontracted to indigenous enterprises.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/let-war-games-begin-adf-bases-upgraded/news-story/a1a65abdd7c83d2550a67046126f905c

>>13522489

Kevin Rudd on religion, politics and Scott Morrison’s speech to the Pentecostal conference

Kevin Rudd

28 Apr 2021

On ABC 7.30 with Leigh Sales.

My 2006 essay on “Faith In Politics” is here: https://kevinrudd.com/2006/10/01/faith-in-politics/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLKn1PXqpo

>One party discusses God.

>One party discusses Darkness.

>One party promotes God.

>One party eliminates God.

>Symbolism will be their downfall.

>The Great Deceiver(s).

https://qanon.pub/#4627

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 1:11 a.m. No.13539434 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9440 >>1248

Podesta: Quad will demand Australia does more on climate change

Latika Bourke - April 28, 2021

London: Senior Democrat John Podesta has warned Australia will be confronted by its fellow Quad members over its weak carbon reduction targets as the Biden administration places climate change at the heart of its security agenda.

Podesta, a political consultant, chairs the Washington-based Centre for American Progress, ran Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and co-chaired the Obama transition committee in 2008.

Speaking to the podcast Rekindling Hope hosted by Labor’s climate spokesman Chris Bowen and former Labor candidate Sam Crosby, Podesta said Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s insistence that technology will sort out emissions reductions “is just not going to cut it”.

“The Biden administration is going to expect a lot more than they got at the summit out of the government,” Podesta said. “Everybody’s moving and Australia is left behind and at the end of the day that’s going to have important consequences.”

Morrison is sticking to the Coalition’s goal of cutting Australia’s emissions by 26-28 per cent by 2030 and is resisting pressure to state a goal for the middle of the century. He told Biden’s virtual leaders’ summit last week that Australia was “on a pathway to net-zero” with a goal to “get there as soon as possible” through technology rather than carbon taxes.

Morrison has been criticised by Labor, which backs a net-zero target by 2050, but has not yet indicated its 2030 emissions and has no plans to revive a carbon price policy in the future.

Biden has praised Morrison’s technology-led approach in personal calls with the Prime Minister and has never publicly rebuked Australia’s targets, although officials in his administration briefed The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald before the summit, saying that following the existing Australian trajectory was insuffient and a shift would be needed.

Australia’s major trading partners including the UK, USA, European Union, Japan and Canada have set targets for around 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030, and have already committed to net-zero 2050 deadlines.

But Podesta said both the EU and the United States were poised to introduce carbon border taxes which would hurt the “free riders” in key sectors including steel, cement, aluminium and glass.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, as Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, sits on the National Security Council. The Pentagon, US intelligence agencies and State Department have been told to make climate change a priority of Biden’s National Security strategy.

“So there’s no question that this has moved way up the international relations and security agenda for the United States and I think the pressure will come on Australia to get with the program,” Podesta said.

While the focus of the reprised Quad, comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan, is currently focused on dealing with China’s rising aggression in the region, Podesta said it would soon address climate change.

“Right now [Australia] can take some solace from the fact that the architecture around trying to compete [with] and confront China has taken precedence in the Quad but at some point, even in the Quad, India, Japan, and the US are going to turn to Australia and say ‘we’ve got to deal with this issue too’,” he said.

Biden’s net-zero emissions goal by 2050 is shared by Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Both India and Japan pledged higher cuts than originally planned for 2030.

However, like Morrison, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not pledge any new goals for slashing India’s carbon output – the developing giant is the world’s third-largest emitter.

The informal Quad grouping was created in 2007 at the suggestion of Japan’s then-prime minister Shinzo Abe but was abandoned by Australia by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

As a result of its revival, the four leaders held their first-ever virtual summit in March when they identified climate change as a “priority,” establishing a Quad Climate Working Group.

The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/podesta-quad-will-demand-australia-does-more-on-climate-change-20210427-p57mwa.html

>https://qanon.pub/?q=podesta

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 1:13 a.m. No.13539440 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13539434

Rekindling Hope

Rekindling Hope is the new show by Sam Crosby, CEO of The McKell Institute, and Chris Bowen, Shadow Health Minister. This is a show for the nerds - from how we can address the challenges of obesity or corruption and who’s front in line for the US Presidency. This is about rebuilding the progressive cause, rebuilding Labor and rebuilding policy. Join us as we rekindle hope.

100 Days

APRIL 29, 2021 - MINNIMAL PRODUCTIONS - SEASON 2 EPISODE 1

The ultimate Washington power broker John Podesta opens up about how Biden is traveling and how Australia’s climate policy needs to lift its game.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1049989

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1049989/8424530-100-days

>https://qanon.pub/?q=podesta

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 1:48 a.m. No.13539534 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9625 >>1281

Prime Minister says no security concerns raised with him about Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge

Jano Gibson - 28 April 2021

The Prime Minister says he would act if national security concerns were raised about any critical infrastructure in Australia, but he has indicated no such advice has been provided about the Darwin Port.

Chinese company Landbridge purchased a 99-year lease over the facility as part of a $506 million deal negotiated by the Northern Territory's former CLP government in 2015.

But the deal over the strategically important asset has been the subject of ongoing scrutiny and criticism amid rising diplomatic and economic tensions between Australia and China.

Last month, a federal parliamentary committee recommended the Commonwealth consider reclaiming Australian ownership of the port if the lease was deemed to be against the national interest.

Yesterday, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd called on the federal government to conduct and make public a national security review of the port lease.

Mr Rudd said the deal had become a political problem for Scott Morrison, because it had occurred under his watch as federal treasurer.

But during a visit to Darwin on Wednesday, Mr Morrison defended his handling of the port deal, saying it was the sole responsibility of the former Territory government.

"It was not a lease that was approved by the federal government, it was not, that was not something that was subject to federal laws at that time," Mr Morrison said.

"And, indeed, as treasurer, I made sure that in the future that such transactions would be subject to federal approvals."

The Prime Minister said if any adverse assessments were made by security agencies, he would respond as necessary.

"If there is advice from the Defence Department or our security agencies that change their view about the national security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure … then you could expect me, as Prime Minister, to take that advice very seriously and to act accordingly."

However, he said he had not received any such advice.

The government has repeatedly said the port deal with Landbridge is not subject to the same legislation that recently allowed Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China to be rescinded.

Mr Morrison was asked if the government was looking at any alternative issues, including Landbridge's contract obligations.

"That presupposes a piece of advice from our Defence and intelligence agencies," he said.

"And there is not anything before the government that would make that recommendation."

NT CLP senator Sam McMahon yesterday said she too had been told that there were no security concerns about the port lease.

However, she confirmed she had asked the Foreign Affairs Minister to assess whether Landbridge was abiding by its contractual obligations to improve infrastructure at the port.

"If it wasn’t, then the minister would have to make a decision on whether the breach was such that it would warrant some sort of action," she said.

Landbridge told the ABC it had met all of its commitments under its agreement with the NT government.

"We continue to work collaboratively with the Northern Territory government and our stakeholders to develop and expand Darwin Port's operational capacity," Landbridge Australia's managing director, Mike Hughes, said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-28/darwin-port-lease-no-security-concerns-raised-scott-morrison/100101724

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 1:55 a.m. No.13539557 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1284

China’s top diplomat gives rare public warning to Australia

Andrew Tillett - Apr 29, 2021

China’s top diplomat in Canberra says it is Australia, not China, that has engaged in economic coercion, and issued a veiled warning that Chinese students and tourists will be reluctant to return post-pandemic because of a hostile environment.

Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye lamented that attacking his country had become the “politically correct” view in Australia, repeating Beijing’s insistence that blame for the deteriorating bilateral relationship rested with the Morrison government.

In an hour-long online presentation to Australia China Business Council members, Mr Cheng said it “doesn’t hold water” to claim China had become more assertive.

“China has never launched any provocations. As a matter of fact it is the Australian side that is changing its perceptions about China,” he said.

“How could China-Australian relations not suffer if China is seen as a threat?

“It seems that being tough on China or even attacking China has become a politically correct thing to do. What is more astonishing is that some Australians claim that such provocations and confrontation are ways to safeguard Australia’s values, national interest or security.”

While Mr Cheng did not name the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Five Eyes network, he said “teaming up in small groupings against China will not work at all. Playing the victim game will not change the nature of the problem”.

His rare public comments come after China’s Foreign Ministry slammed the head of Australia’s Home Affairs Department, Mike Pezzullo, as a “troublemaker” after the high-profile bureaucrat warned the “drums of war are beating” and Australia needed to be prepared to send its “warriors” to fight.

“Some individual politicians in Australia, out of their selfish interests, are keen to make statements that incite confrontation and hype up threat of war, which is extremely irresponsible and will find no audience,” spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

“I have noticed that many people in Australia have expressed disapproval on social media, saying that such inflammatory language are outrageous and extremely crazy.”

Tensions between Canberra and Beijing have risen dramatically over the past few years, with Australian businesses bearing the brunt of damage after China launched a series of trade sanctions against billions of dollars of exports in what has been labelled economic coercion.

But Mr Cheng accused Australia of inflicting economic damage on China.

He said the Morrison government had adopted a “discriminatory” approach towards Chinese investment, which had slumped dramatically, while simultaneously Australian trade to China had held up.

Other strikes against China included the “unjustified suppression” of Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and more recently the “unreasonable and irrational” decision to tear up Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China.

“The so-called coercion is just a cover-up in order to shift responsibilities,” Mr Cheng said.

“Therefore if there is any coercion it must be done by the Australian side.”

Mr Cheng repeated Beijing’s other grievances, including “gross interference” in China’s internal affairs – code for criticism of the erosion of democracy and human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang – erection of roadblocks to exchanges in education and academic research and “harassment” of Chinese institutions and personnel by security agencies.

He also said racial discrimination and reported attacks against Chinese people were a concern, as was “stigmatisation” of China in media coverage. Mr Cheng said he feared this may influence students and tourists over whether to come to Australia when international travel restrictions ease.

“All this appears to create obstacles for Chinese travellers to return,” he said.

While no minister has been able to speak to their Chinese counterpart for months, Mr Cheng said at the diplomatic level lines of communication remained open and there was a “businesslike” relationship.

But at times he struck a more conciliatory tone, with potential for co-operation between Australia and China in areas such as clean energy, health and aged care and regional economic integration, saying the two countries should push for speedy ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade deal.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/china-s-top-diplomat-gives-rare-public-warning-to-australia-20210429-p57nde

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 1:59 a.m. No.13539570 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1284

Aussie interests not in minds of saber-rattling politicians

Zhang Yi - Apr 28, 2021

Australian Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo, one of the country's top national security officials, warned "free nations" of "the beating drums of war" in his Anzac Day speech on Sunday. He also said Australia should "send off our warriors to fight the nation's wars."

Although such hyper-excited remarks did not explicitly name the target, the Australian media have turned to China, especially as Pezzullo's remarks came not long after Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said that a conflict between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan "should not be discounted."

The zeal of some Australian politicians for war is running high. Pezzullo's saber-rattling approach is currently representative of Australia's top national security circles who are inciting the unwarranted threat of China. Pezzullo is tipped to become defense secretary. Public emotive communiques of his kind, which is supposed to be rare for officials with such a senior role, are gaining ground and could drag Australia into a highly risky scenario. The cabinet of this Australian government reminds us of the Trump team that competed for who was more hawkish toward China. But the outcome of those US politicians does not make people envy.

Australian politicians should understand that the Taiwan question is being exploited by the US to contain China's rise and draw allies into its orbit to serve for its hegemonic objectives. Washington has never made the explicit commitment to defend the island of Taiwan in case of a war and it seems that it has no will to change its policy of strategic ambiguity regarding Taiwan. But it is Australia that is jumping high and singing a tune.

For politicians like Pezzullo, what he cares is his political leverage and the length of his political life, rather than the interests of the Australian people and regional and international peace. Holding the US tight, finding fault with China and hyping a war is the easiest way to catch media attention, and Australian politicians are more than eager to use it.

In the China-Australia ties, it's always the Australian side that took the initiative to undermine the relationship. It is eager to exploit the current tense China-US relationship to show its loyalty to the US. By claiming to maintain peace and stability in the region, reckless Australian politicians are actually hyping disputes and trying to rope in countries that have conflicts of interests with China.

These Australian politicians are to blame for the current icy China-Australia relationship. For them, Washington, rather than Canberra, dictates Australia's foreign policy. As the long-held hysterical opinion in Australia has poisoned the atmosphere toward China, catering to such a twisted atmosphere and intimacy with the US can turn into political incentives of these politicians.

The Morrison government has already been struggling with the worsening China-Australia relationship. Australia thinks it could lean toward the US if it cuts cooperation with China. To its dismay, the US companies have taken up China's market share that Australian companies used to take. The US lukewarm attitude toward India during its surging cases of COVID-19 should be a lesson for Australia.

Australia's China policy has reached a cul-de-sac. China does not seek enmity with Australia, and Australia should avoid proactively turning itself into an enemy of China. If Australia resorts to provocative actions in China's offshore areas, it is bound to face severe countermeasures from China.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222399.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:11 a.m. No.13539590 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9591 >>1284

Australian politicians hyping up war threats are real troublemakers: Chinese FM spokesperson

Global Times - Apr 28, 2021

Some Australian politicians, out of their personal interests, are eager to stir up confrontation and hype up war threats, which is extremely irresponsible and against the will of the people, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday, in response to the recent "drums of war" remarks made by Secretary of Australian Department of Home Affairs Michael Pezzullo.

"They are the real troublemakers," Zhao said.

"We urge some Australian politicians to abandon the Cold War mentality, stop making irresponsible remarks and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability," Zhao said.

He added that he has noticed many Australians have also expressed their dissatisfaction over such remarks on social media and called the provocative comments appalling and insane.

China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and defender of global peace, and China's development is an opportunity for the world, Zhao said.

Australia has long benefited from its cooperation with China, so Australia's ramblings about the so-called China threat are untrue and immoral. It will eventually shoot itself in the foot, Zhao added.

In a recent speech, Pezzullo said Australia's military alliance with New Zealand and the US has protected the country, and today "free nations" again hear the "drums of war" beating, which is widely believed by the Australian media to be aimed at China.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222354.shtml

https://twitter.com/ChinaConSydney/status/1387383975585353730

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:12 a.m. No.13539591 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1284

>>13539590

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 28, 2021

Global Times: Amid growing tensions between China and the US over Taiwan, Australian Home Affairs Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo highlighted the "protection afforded to Australia" by its military alliance with the US and New Zealand. He said, "Today, as free nations again hear the beating drums… let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war". Australia must be prepared "to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight", he added. His remarks are believed by many local media outlets to be aimed at China. Does China have any comment on this?

Zhao Lijian: Some individual politicians in Australia, out of their selfish interests, are keen to make statements that incite confrontation and hype up threat of war, which is extremely irresponsible and will find no audience. These people are the real troublemakers. I have noticed that many people in Australia have expressed disapproval on social media, saying that such inflammatory language are outrageous and extremely crazy.

China has been a promoter of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. China's development means opportunities for the world. As a country long benefited from cooperation with China, Australia is being untruthful and immoral with its false allegation of "China threat theory". This will only end up hurting its own interests. We urge certain individuals in Australia to shake off the Cold War mentality, stop making irresponsible remarks and act in ways that are conducive to regional peace and stability.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1872195.shtml

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:21 a.m. No.13539612 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9618 >>1284

Australian mother marks nine months in Chinese prison as curious online posts emerge

Bill Birtles - 29 April 2021

1/2

An Australian mother of two detained in China for allegedly leaking state secrets has told Australian diplomats she has been warned her family should not raise her case in the media.

Cheng Lei, a former Chinese state-television journalist and news anchor, has repeatedly been denied access to a lawyer and is being held without charge in a Beijing prison.

She is being kept in a cell with two others and is brought to a different room once a month for a highly controlled video call with Australia's ambassador Graham Fletcher or other Australian consular officials.

For the latest visit this week, she was brought into the room blindfolded, masked and handcuffed by four guards, two of whom were wearing full PPE hazmat suits.

She was made to sit in a chair with a wooden restraint affixed across her lap, before having her blindfold and face mask removed for the webcam interview, according to notes of the virtual visit.

Guards tightly control the topics that can be discussed but Australian consular officials have learned that Ms Cheng is still not allowed to speak on the phone to her children in Melbourne, aged 11 and nine.

In a previous visit in March, held just weeks after her family broke their silence in an interview with the ABC's 730 program, Ms Cheng told Australian officials "she'd been led to believe, in the context of the interrogations, that her family speaking to the media could end up impacting negatively on her case".

Australian officials noted "she made this point carefully and said nothing further on the matter".

It came after Ms Cheng's niece in Melbourne Louisa Wen, speaking on behalf of the family, called on Chinese authorities to "show compassion".

Odd WeChat posts raise questions

Since confirming in February Ms Cheng Lei is under investigation for "providing state secrets or intelligence to foreign entities", China's government has provided no other detail on her case.

State media has reported on the brief official statements.

But a series of posts and videos from several small public blog accounts on the social media app WeChat have emerged in recent months, denouncing Ms Cheng as a "spy" and writing about her in far more detail than what the official state media provides.

One WeChat account registered to a woman in Heilongjiang province with the name "Beijing small sweet melon" wrote a post in early April with an elaborate chronology of Cheng Lei's life, titled: "Betraying her motherland, how did CCTV famous anchor Cheng Lei become an Australian spy?"

The author mined Ms Cheng's WeChat and Facebook posts, decrying her as "two-faced" for expressing concerns on Facebook in early 2020 about the risk of her family contracting coronavirus, supposedly an unpatriotic criticism of China's containment efforts.

The lengthy post also delved into her personal and professional biography, getting some details wrong and making up others, claiming "China has given you everything, yet you counterattack as a tool of the enemy".

The same account was used to denounce Chinese-Australian writer and commentator Vicky Xu as a "traitor" earlier this year.

(continued)

>>13539612

2/2

More mysterious posts emerge

Following the initial post about Cheng Lei, another article with similar details was published four days later on a similar WeChat blog called "Movies 369" — at odds with the usual content about celebrities and films.

Several more later emerged, some getting basic details wrong, including her name.

In the past week, a video titled "Spy CCTV anchor Cheng Lei: For 20 years she hid in state television, stole state secrets, now after being detained, shamelessly claims injustice" was published.

"These posts are written by Ministry of State Security (MSS) people to set the public tone," said Feng Chongyi, a Chinese studies specialist at University of Technology Sydney who himself was detained for a week during a visit to China four years ago.

"The ministry has its own propaganda department and they decide which way they want to take it to demonise the accused."

He also pointed out that mainstream Chinese government media channels usually only reported information officially released by the court.

"That is the beauty of Chinese propaganda — it looks like it's just people's opinion," he told the ABC.

"The [Ministry of State Security] works in the dark. They create all those fancy names on WeChat to hide their identity.

"People need to understand we're dealing with hooligans, not a normal government."

What the posts suggest about Ms Cheng's fate

Professor Feng believes the dissemination of public information may signal authorities are preparing to charge Ms Cheng, even though they can continually apply for extensions.

China has a criminal conviction rate of more than 99 per cent.

A relatively quick trial, conviction and a short sentence — including time served before deportation — is viewed by some supporters as the least-worst scenario.

But another Australian detained in Beijing for state security crimes, Yang Hengjun, has spent more than two years behind bars without trial.

Other experts are cautious, raising the idea that the WeChat blog posts may just be clickbait.

"The information looks like it could have easily been sourced from previous interviews Cheng Lei did or gleaned from her social media accounts," said Fergus Ryan, a cyber analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"But if the article originally came from the same WeChat account that first posted about Vicky Xu — and it appears it does — that would be a strong indication to me that there is MSS involvement.

"If that's the case, I think it's reasonable to conclude that the MSS is seeding that information into the Chinese-information space so that it can be weaponised for propaganda purposes down the line."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/australian-cheng-lei-mysterious-china-blog-posts/100098580

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:35 a.m. No.13539655 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9665 >>1248

Spy boss says ASIO anticipating terrorist attack in the next year from either right-wing or Islamic extremists

Georgia Hitch - 29 April 2021

The head of the nation's domestic intelligence agency has told a parliamentary inquiry that it is anticipating there will be a terrorist attack in Australia sometime in the next year.

The director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, said while the main security threat remained from Sunni Islamic extremist groups, the growth in right-wing extremism was also a major concern.

"Obviously, terrorism threat level remains probable," he said.

"Given the growth we've seen in nationalist and racist violent extremism we anticipate there will be a terrorist attack in this country in the next 12 months.

"It can come from either ideology and therefore for me doesn't really matter, because they're both capable of conducting acts of violence and that's where we focus."

Mr Burgess was later asked to clarify his comments, that he believed an attack could happen within the next year.

"We have credible intelligence that individuals and small groups have the capable intent and we, on that basis, assess that there is likely to be a terrorist attack sometime in the next 12 months as we've seen in the last 12 months," he said.

"Unfortunately there were two terrorist attacks in this country last year and it resulted in two Australians being killed.

"We anticipate that is likely in the next 12 months, that was probable means."

Mr Burgess was speaking at an inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia that's currently being run by the powerful Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

He said right-wing extremism had grown from 16 to 40 per cent of the agency's onshore terror-related workload over the course of the last three years.

The Australian Federal Police's Deputy Commissioner said he backed Mr Burgess's comments about the growth in right-wing extremist groups.

"It's the fastest-growing threat, but at this stage it's not the predominant threat," Ian McCartney said.

Mr Burgess told the committee a decision to avoid referring to "Islamic" and "right-wing" extremism came after months of discussions with the community and stakeholders.

ASIO will now use the umbrella terms of "religiously motivated violent extremism" and "ideologically motivated violent extremism" to describe those seeking to do harm.

"We didn't think just assigning political spectrums was helpful," he said.

"It's not a ban on other terms and where we need to give colour to a particular form ideology we will call it out."

When asked by Labor's Kristina Keneally if there was evidence of extreme misogyny in the messages spread by right-wing groups, the director-general said it went "hand-in-hand" with their broader narratives.

"It is the white supremacy racist narrative that does resonate with some Australians, not all, but there are a number that it does and that is of concern," Mr Burgess said.

But the ASIO boss went on to make the point that simply being white was not the only criteria for not being the target of the groups as "if you don't believe in their beliefs you will get called out and they will attack you".

"Senator Keneally has an example of that, in terms of she's on the receiving end of all sorts of comments by people who don't like what she believes in, and how she's challenging them," Mr Burgess said.

"Being white doesn't make you right in their eyes."

Internet a 'salad bar of hate'

Both Mr Burgess and Mr McCartney spoke about how the Internet was providing avenues for groups to reach out and radicalise people, as well as exacerbate the hate-fuelled messages.

"The online environment I think is very much a force-multiplier for extremism," Mr McCartney said.

"I have a colleague of mine who describes the internet as a 'salad bar of hate' in terms of what, even at a very young age, a person can access on the Internet."

The Deputy Commissioner also said the greatest threat of violent extremism was from people that were "lone actors" who were on the "periphery" of extremist groups.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/asio-anticipate-terrorist-attack-right-wing-islamic-within-year/100103546

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:41 a.m. No.13539665 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13539655

AFP backs ban on flags linked to terrorist groups, sharing of extremist material

Anthony Galloway - April 29, 2021

The Australian Federal Police is pushing for bans on flags and insignia linked to terrorist groups and the spread of extremist material including violent images and videos, saying parts of the criminal law are out of step with community expectations.

Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said the AFP was particularly concerned about younger people being influenced by graphic material on the internet, which he described as a “force multiplier of hate”.

He told a parliamentary inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia his agency supported the criminalisation of flags promoting terrorism and other terrorist insignia. There were no circumstances where people should be accessing and sharing instructional terrorist manuals, propaganda and graphically violent images and videos, he said, other than for genuine research or journalistic purposes.

Mr McCartney said there was a gap in the law, adding: “We think certain aspects of current criminal laws are out of step with community expectations.”

AFP figures reveal four of the 26 people arrested over the past year for terrorism offences were “ideologically motivated” extremists with nationalist and racist beliefs. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation told the inquiry ideologically motivated extremism had grown from about 30 per cent of its priority counter-terrorism caseload to 40 per cent over the past 12 months.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said there had been two “major disruptions” of ideologically motivated extremist threats since 2016. AFP officials later confirmed in the inquiry this referred to planned attacks in Melbourne, for which right-wing extremist Phillip Michael Galea, 36, was sentenced to at least nine years’ jail; and an alleged plot to attack an electrical substation in NSW.

Mr Burgess said law enforcement agencies in multiple states had taken action recently against individuals with links to nationalist and racist groups, “focusing on offences relating to possession of extremist material, racial vilification and wilful damage”.

He reiterated the threat of a terrorist attack in Australia was “plausible” over the next 12 months, saying it came from a mix of lone actors and small cells.

He said Sunni Islamic violent extremism remained the biggest threat, but ideologically motivated extremism was the fastest-growing threat. ASIO anticipated the threat from white supremacist and nationalist extremism “will not diminish anytime soon”.

“We are facing a growing assortment of ideologically motivated violent extremists – both individuals and groups who are driven by a diverse range of grievances,” Mr Burgess said. “This reflects both an international trend and our decision to dedicate more resources to this threat. The face of this threat is evolving.

“More often than not, they are young, well-educated, articulate and middle class and not easily identified … These violent extremists are acutely security conscience and adapt their security posture to avoid attention.”

The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald revealed dozens of far-right extremists gathered in the Grampians and Halls Gap over the Australia Day weekend, chanting white supremacist slogans, raising their arms in Nazi salutes and waving flags.

But Mr Burgess said it was “important to put this threat in context”.

“The National Socialist Network is not ISIL; the Grampians is not a caliphate. And while the threat from ideologically motivated violent extremism is real, you should be reassured that ASIO and our law enforcement partners are on the case,” he said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/afp-backs-ban-on-flags-promoting-terrorism-sharing-of-extremist-material-20210429-p57ng7.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:47 a.m. No.13539684 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1263

Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly threatened to sue his ex-wife over defamation case, court told

Jamie McKinnell - 29 April 2021

Decorated Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly threatened to sue his ex-wife if she breached a confidentiality agreement while speaking to lawyers acting in his defamation case, a court has heard.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing three former Fairfax newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, as well as three journalists over a series of 2018 articles.

The Victoria Cross recipient claims the reports were defamatory and wrongly portrayed him as a criminal due to his alleged conduct while on deployment in Afghanistan, including the alleged murder of an unarmed civilian.

He claims the articles contained imputations including that he "broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement", "disgraced his country", bullied a fellow soldier and committed an act of domestic violence against a woman in a Canberra hotel.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies the specific events mentioned in the stories took place, while the media companies claim they are able to justify the imputations.

Ahead of a lengthy trial beginning in June, the Federal Court today heard lawyers acting for the media companies provided an outline of evidence set to be given by his ex-wife Emma Roberts to Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team.

When more detail was requested, they sought an agreement that he would not rely on a confidentiality agreement but never received a response.

Barrister Nicholas Owens SC, for the media companies, said Mr Roberts-Smith wrote to Ms Roberts with threats of an injunction, to sue her for damages and to overturn a property settlement.

Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister, Bruce McClintock QC, later said he was "simply not in a position" to waive the confidentiality agreement, and also rejected the classification of the correspondence as a threat.

"It wasn't a threat," he said.

"It was simply a requirement that she obey an agreement she entered into in February this year, only two or three months ago."

Mr McClintock said despite the case being "pretty awful already" he would need to cross-examine Ms Roberts to put to her that she is a liar.

He suggested his opponents should "re-think what they're doing" because "sometimes you can pay too high a price to air a family's dirty linen".

Mr Owens insisted Ms Roberts's evidence will be "carefully limited" so as to relate to matters directly relevant to the case, including allegations of witness intimidation and covert communication with witnesses by Mr Roberts-Smith.

The court also heard military witnesses who may give evidence risk consequences of "extraordinary gravity" including accusations of murder.

During arguments about the order in which evidence should flow, Mr McClintock said he wanted his client to be the first witness ahead of military witnesses.

But he said the position of those military witnesses must be considered due to the gravity of what is alleged against them, including the commission of murder and war crimes of the most serious kind.

Mr McClintock said the witnesses had a right to know the extent of the allegations before they were called.

He said the starkest examples were two people known by the pseudonyms 'person 5' and 'person 11'.

"The consequences for those two men, person 5 and person 11, could be of extraordinary gravity," he said.

"Indeed they could be of extraordinary gravity just by giving evidence in chief.

"In my submission, people in their positions should be entitled to hear and know the actual evidence against them before they're called upon to respond."

Mr Roberts-Smith is claiming damages, including aggravated damages, interest and costs, arguing the articles "brought [him] into public disrepute, odium, ridicule and contempt".

The trial begins on June 7.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/ben-roberts-smith-warned-ex-wife-about-confidentiality-agreement/100104166

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:57 a.m. No.13539713 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9715 >>1272

Cardinal Pell: ‘The duty of the German bishops is to uphold the teachings of Scripture’

Courtney Mares - Apr 28, 2021

Cardinal George Pell has said in an interview that the situation of the Church in Germany appears “ominous,” underlining that the German bishops must fulfill their duty to uphold the teachings of Scripture.

“I think that there is a percentage of the German Church that seems to be resolutely heading in the wrong direction,” Pell said in an interview with Colm Flynn that aired on EWTN April 27.

“By that, I mean it is quite clear that a liberalized Christianity, whether it is a liberalized Catholicism or Protestantism, in a generation or so merges into agnosticism. … If you adopt the policies of the world and just go along so that they approve, nobody is going to be interested in that.”

Pell’s comments come as members of the Church in Germany are planning on May 10 to hold a day of blessings for same-sex partners, despite the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.

Record numbers of Catholics have left the Church in Germany in recent years with 272,771 people formally leaving in 2019.

Pell said: “The duty of the German bishops is to uphold the teachings of Scripture, to uphold the teachings of the Church. We stand under those teachings. They’ve got no power to change them – none of us do.”

“What is important is what is in the Word of God, what is in the apostolic tradition. And I don’t think that when push comes to shove they’ll and I cross my metaphors cross the Rubicon.”

The cardinal followed the situation of the Church in Germany through news articles during his imprisonment in Australia, something he notes in his latest book, “Prison Journal, Volume 2: The State Court Rejects the Appeal,” published by Ignatius Press.

During his 404 days in prison before he was ultimately acquitted, Pell said he kept the diary as a “historical record of a strange time.”

The cardinal was imprisoned in 2019, the year in which the German bishops launched their controversial “Synodal Way.”

The “Synodal Way” is a process bringing together German lay people and bishops to discuss four major topics: the way power is exercised in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women.

When the bishops launched the initiative, they initially said that the deliberations would be “binding” on the German Church, prompting a Vatican intervention.

Pell said: “The really important issue for the Church is: Do we teach publicly what Christ taught? Now some of those teachings are quite unpopular: forgiveness, people with no rights like the unborn, people at the bottom of the pile, like prisoners, and then you can move to more controversial areas of family and marriage.”

The cardinal added that all leaders in the Church must decide whether or not to speak up about Church teachings at times when that message may be unpopular.

“You have all sorts of voices who are trying to crowd us out of the public square and saying we shouldn’t be doing this and that. Well, one of the things I am saying now and to all my successors is: We just have to keep talking,” he said.

“And our society will be deeply diminished to the extent it moves radically away from the Christian teachings on love and service and forgiveness.”

“And we can already see that in society in the changes that are taking place. We are often concentrating on the losses to the Church of a decline of practice and the departure of believers. That is certainly true, but it has big consequences for society generally, especially when a majority of the people had been Christian."

Cardinal Pell will turn 80 on June 8, thus becoming ineligible to vote in a future conclave. Asked how he felt heading into his 80s, the cardinal said he was grateful for the many blessings in his life.

"My biggest consolation now is that whatever my imperfections and foolishness, I haven’t thrown my life away on some nonsense cause – like just making money for yourself. I have devoted my life to Christ, to the Church, imperfectly and ineffectively, but I get some considerable consolation from that,” he said.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247430/cardinal-pell-the-duty-of-the-german-bishops-is-to-uphold-the-teachings-of-scripture

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 2:58 a.m. No.13539715 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1272

>>13539713

EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal George Pell on his second prison diary.

EWTN

27 Apr 2021

In this EWTN News exclusive, Colm Flynn sits down with Cardinal George Pell in his Rome apartment to talk about the release of his second volume of prison diaries and their contents. In the interview, Cardinal Pell reveals his legal costs amassed to more than $3million. He also talks about his views on the Church in Germany, and his ambition to talk at the next pre-conclave meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoiGWop2K1E

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 3:28 a.m. No.13539771 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

Pacific Marines Tweet

@USMC with @mrfdarwin conduct flight operations during a forward arming refueling point exercise at @ausairforce Base Darwin, #Australia. The exercise was conducted to hone the #Marines' capabilities as a skilled and lethal expeditionary fighting force. #freeandopenindopacific

https://twitter.com/PacificMarines/status/1387194855630073856

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 29, 2021, 3:31 a.m. No.13539779 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>9679 >>1248

>>13529891

>>13530344

Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Facebook Post

April 29 2021

Honorable Mentions

Yesterday, the Honorable Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, met with members of the Australian Army and U.S. Marine Corps for a visit to Robertson Barracks, NT, Australia. Mr. Morrison recently approved a budget of $747 million for the purpose of improving training areas in the Northern Territory for the Australian Defence Force and U.S. Marines to utilize. These improved training areas will allow the U.S. Marines and ADF to train in advanced facilities and live fire ranges.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Lydia Gordon)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/4065108620245074

The Illuminati Mothers of Darkness

An excellent video by Jesse Czebotar, explaining the Mothers of Darkness and how the Illuminati Occult works.

Jesse Czebotar is the highest level Illuminati insider who is talking and giving out information about the inner workings. She is born Illuminati bloodline and was trained from age 4 1/2 to someday replace her Grandmother as the Queen Mother of Darkness which is the highest position in the System.

Jesse refused and aligned with God.

Fascinating material!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q62ZXGPraE

^^^this Reveal Report channel has other interviews of Jesse.

Altiyan Childs is an X Factor competition winner.

He was strange back then and probably would’ve walked into Satanism with open arms.

He is now a walking dead man having exposed [THEM] by breaking oaths to the religion.

He exposes much of the secrets behind the veil and outs some big names.

I watched the whole 5 hour marathon and as much as he is annoying as a presenter, constantly touching his face with his thumbs and delicately brushing his hair back and then allowing it to fall repeatedly over his right eye, a pure affectation, the content is worth almost every minute of time invested. He also has limited speaking skills, uses incorrect emphasis and intonation, so forgive him that, but, he is clearly articulate and highly intelligent.

This vid also solved a mystery of children being trafficked to a winery in California that anons worked on a coupla years ago. We now know why the winery.

It did cross my mind several times that this is a Satanist play of some kind, based purely on his demeanour, the hair over the eye, the overt Christian symbolism (which is fair enough if genuine), barking dog, chirping birds and conversations out of earshot peppered throughout the presentation. I’d like to know what the pendant below the crucifix is.

It can’t be denied though, he drives his points home.

I recommend watching it.

If it is Satanic disinformation, we will probably never know.

Anon.

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 1:01 a.m. No.13547948 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>7949 >>1307

‘Pastel QAnon’: Instagram conspiracy peddlers a political headache for design giants

Cara Waters - April 30, 2021

1/2

At first glance the Instagram posts look innocuous: pastel-hued sunsets overlaid with text, a black and white shot of a couple embracing in a field of grass.

The imagery and the bucolic aesthetic sits well with the type of content posted regularly by countless wellness and parenting influencers. But there’s a catch, as the underlying messages embedded in these posts can be dangerous, spreading baseless QAnon conspiracy theories about child sex trafficking rings or anti-vaccination information.

The rise of this content dubbed ‘pastel QAnon’ by extremism researcher Marc-André Argentino is posing a challenge for graphic design platforms such as $19 billion Australian startup Canva and international tech giant Adobe, with both grappling with the problem of their software being used to spread misinformation.

Canva’s co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht says he is alert to the problem and there are inevitably going to be some “questionable” designs in the 250 million created every month by its users.

Canva allows anyone to easily design products including greeting cards, posters, websites and presentation slides.

“We have our terms and conditions that are very clear in what we allow and don’t allow,” he says. “We don’t allow anything that propagates untruths that essentially make our world a worse place.”

The push to clamp down on the pastel QAnon phenomenon comes amid a growing global debate around where technology platforms must draw the line in censoring uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous activity by their users.

The platforms increasingly no longer consider themselves passive services and are actively taking steps to thwart content they object to - Twitter famously blocked former US President Donald Trump, and Amazon refused to host far-right social network Parler on its servers. In Australia, Facebook this week booted out independent MP Craig Kelly for repeatedly spruiking COVID-19 misinformation and former celebrity chef Pete Evans has also had his Instagram and Facebook accounts closed for sharing debunked claims about COVID vaccines.

The actions, while lauded by many, have raised concerns of overreach by technology platforms, where they police the behaviour of their users to stifle their freedom of speech.

Whether Canva and Adobe will go as far as to block users from their platforms remains to be seen, however, Ariel Bogle, analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says the services provided by Canva and Adobe to create visually pleasing aesthetics allow potentially dangerous messages to blend in on social media.

“It makes things more pleasant to look at but I do think the ability of some of these accounts that share, say anti-vaccination messages or QAnon messages, the ability to maintain aesthetic consistency makes it hard for the casual observer to quickly distinguish conspiracy related messages from more lifestyle messages,” she says.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald contacted several QAnon, anti-vaccination and sovereign citizen groups about their use of the graphic design platforms.

The majority declined to respond, however, anti-vaccination group The Australian Vaccination Network confirmed it uses Canva to create its posts.

(continued)

>>13547948

2/2

London-based think tank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue monitored the use of QAnon related hashtags and phrases on social media in countries around the world including Australia from 27 October 2017 to 17 June 2020 and recorded 69,475,451 million tweets, 487,310 Facebook posts and 281,554 Instagram posts.

ISD researcher Elise Thomas says the coronavirus pandemic saw a big rise in QAnon and other conspiracy theories around the world including in Australia with pastel QAnon providing a “more diluted version” of the messaging.

Thomas says locally QAnon theories are often “part of a weird conspiracy stew” mixed in with anti-vaccination sentiment and sovereign citizen groups that argue, for example, that being required to wear a mask contravenes human rights.

Checks and balances

Obrecht says Canva is working on additional measures to ensure that its design platform is not used to disseminate conspiracy theories.

“We’re not like some of these platforms where our users can do whatever they want, we want people to be creating things that have some sort of positive impact on the world or if they’re creating things that have a detrimental impact on the world, we want to stop that,” he says.

“So we’re working very, very heavily [on that] right now.”

One measure under consideration is to give users the ability to flag content that they think might not be appropriate, as Canva aspires to installing a comprehensive system of checks and balances.

“It’s impossible to review every design and nor would we ever do that,” Obrecht says. “But we do want the ability for our customers, our users and people in the broader community to be able to flag the thing that might be deemed to be inappropriate and for us to take a look at that and figure out how we can kind of stop any sort of shitty behaviour in the product.”

International giant Adobe, which operates design platform Photoshop, isn’t going as far as Canva at this stage. “These are all super sensitive topics, which, frankly, no one has a great answer to,” Adobe’s Asia Pacific president Simon Tate says. “The good thing is that we’re talking about it, which the industry has never talked about before.”

Adobe has signed up to industry organisation Digi’s Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation which aims to address the spread of disinformation online and has created tools to enable authentication of Photoshop images in an attempt to combat image manipulation.

“Where are the lines of responsibility blurred between the people that are publishing potentially sensitive or politically abrasive content, and the platforms that they’re using to publish that content?” Tate says. “Adobe and others are looking at it.”

https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/pastel-qanon-instagram-conspiracy-peddlers-a-political-headache-for-design-giants-20210429-p57nkb.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 1:10 a.m. No.13547962 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

Biden could learn from Australia on border policy, says Hockey

Matthew Knott - April 30, 2021

Washington: Former US ambassador Joe Hockey says President Joe Biden should learn from Australia’s experience on asylum seeker boat arrivals as he tries to limit the surge of migrants on America’s southern border.

Hockey said Biden had performed strongly during the first 100 days of his presidency, a milestone the US President reached on Friday (AEDT). But the former Abbott government treasurer said Biden’s softening of predecessor Donald Trump’s tough border policies had been his “Achilles’ heel”.

“There are so many lessons learnt by the Australian Labor Party on this issue,” Hockey told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

“The White House would be well-advised to pick up the phone and speak to some wise old Labor operatives to find out how it went for them taking a more open door approach to the borders.”

Although there are differences between the asylum seeker challenges faced by the US and Australia, Hockey said there were obvious parallels.

As Labor did during the early days of the Rudd-Gillard era, Democrats have placed a strong emphasis on so-called “push factors” driving migrants to leave their home countries. Republicans have emphasised the “pull factors” drawing migrants to the US.

“Instinctively, it doesn’t sit well with the left to sell tough borders as caring and humanitarian,” Hockey said.

“It doesn’t sit well with them until it’s too late. But the most caring and compassionate thing you can do is have an orderly immigration and refugee program that gives genuine refugees hope and a process that provides some degree of certainty.”

Polls show only about a third of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, lower than almost all other issues.

On the first day of his presidency, Biden suspended Trump’s “remain in Mexico” rule which required asylum-seekers trying to enter from the south to wait in Mexico for their American court hearings.

Under Biden’s changes, unaccompanied minors can now enter the US and, after a short period in detention, live in the community while their immigration claims are processed.

In March US Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended 172, 331 migrants at the southern border, up from 74,020 in December.

Hockey, who served as US ambassador from 2016 to 2020, said he would give Biden an A- for his first 100 days.

“There’s no doubt he’s got off to a very strong start. He’s pursued an incredible amount of reform in a short amount of time.”

Contrasting Biden with his predecessor, Hockey said: “The style of the two administrations could not be more different.

“In the Biden administration there is a quiet steely resolve backed up by team discipline that was clearly absent in the Trump administration.

“It’s given Americans - and those involved in public policy - a bit of a breather from the disruption of Trump.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/joe-biden-could-learn-from-australia-on-border-policy-says-joe-hockey-20210430-p57np8.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 1:24 a.m. No.13548003 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1294

Plan to build Victorian quarantine facility is ‘political smoke and mirrors’: Dutton

Rachael Dexter and Sumeyya Ilanbey - April 30, 2021

Federal Defence Minister Peter Dutton has shot down a Victorian plan to build a Commonwealth-funded quarantine facility in Melbourne’s north, just a day after it was announced by acting Premier James Merlino.

Mr Merlino said on Thursday morning that the state would set aside $15 million to design and plan a 500-bed quarantine facility to house international arrivals on federal land in Mickleham.

But the federal government was unaware of the Victorian plans until, almost literally, the last minute. The business case was sent to the federal government at 9.42am on Thursday, moments before Mr Merlino fronted the media to announce the plan, which is entirely contingent on $200 million of Commonwealth funding.

On Friday morning, Mr Dutton indicated there was little support from the federal government for a purpose-built facility in Victoria.

“I have seen some political smoke and mirrors over my time and I think this is right at the top of the list,” Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today program.

“This is a $15 million generous donation from the Victorian government to do the planning for a $700 million bill that they want the Commonwealth to pick up.”

Mr Dutton said hotel quarantine was “doing a good job” and described numerous leaks that led to snap lockdowns around the country as “small blips”.

“As we are seeing in NSW, where 3,000 people a week are coming into hotel quarantine… as we have seen around the rest of the country, hotels are working very well,” he said.

“They are able to be scaled up. It gives us the ability to bring people in, quarantine them and send them back home to get on with their lives.

“We have now had half a million people who have come back from overseas for different reasons and it’s working.

“We are supporting the states. They’re doing a good job. The contact tracing is working where things might go off the rails, but the fact is that this is a very good model and we will continue to support the states.”

Hume City Council, which takes in Mickleham, said they were also unaware of the proposal and had requested an urgent meeting with the Victorian Government.

“Council has not been consulted on the proposal prior to today’s announcement and seeks clarification about the ongoing management of the facility,” the council said in a statement.

“Our community is concerned about what impact a centre of this size and type will have on local residents’ health and safety and the amenity of the area.”

The Victorian government hit back late on Friday morning. Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio insisted the federal government was responsible for quarantine arrangements, and the state would continue to engage with the Commonwealth.

“The government ought to step up and take responsibility for quarantine,” she said. “The Commonwealth cannot shirk its responsibility on quarantine.”

Ms D’Ambrosio described the state government’s $15 million investment for design and planning works as a “significant contribution” towards the project.

And she said there would be “ample opportunity” to meet with Hume City Council and local communities about the government’s proposal for an alternative quarantine facility in Mickleham.

Mr Dutton’s early morning comments came just hours before a meeting of national cabinet. Travel from high-risk countries, the vaccine roll-out and quarantine arrangements are on the agenda.

The Defence Minister also said authorities would investigate reports that passengers from India arrived in Melbourne on Thursday via Doha.

Australian players Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa were due to land in Melbourne on Thursday after quitting the IPL. The ABC reports their flight from India came via Doha.

That was despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison stating on Tuesday that indirect flights from India through Doha, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur had already “been paused by the respective governments.”

“So that third country entry point into Australia has already been closed by those key embarkation points to Australia,” he said at the time.

On Friday, Mr Morrison told radio station 2GB the government had been given advice about arrangements in Doha that “wasn’t fully correct” and took action to close the loophole on Wednesday evening.

He said further action would be taken under the Biosecurity Act on Friday.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/plans-to-build-victorian-quarantine-facility-are-political-smoke-and-mirrors-dutton-20210430-p57not.html

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 1:36 a.m. No.13548052 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

Clive Palmer to pay $1.5 million after losing Twisted Sister copyright fight

Michaela Whitbourn - April 30, 2021

Businessman Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to Universal Music after losing a copyright fight over his use of the Twisted Sister anthem We’re Not Gonna Take It in a string of political advertisements before the 2019 federal election.

In a judgment on Friday, Federal Court Justice Anna Katzmann said the former federal MP and United Australia Party founder had infringed Universal Music’s copyright in the 1984 hit and rejected his claims he had penned his own lyrics and used the melody of an 18th century hymn.

It was “ludicrous” and “fanciful” to suggest Mr Palmer’s song “Aussies Not Gonna Cop It” was created independently of the Twisted Sister anthem, Justice Katzmann said, and his behaviour in using the song without a licence was “high-handed and contemptous”.

“He gave false evidence, including concocting a story to exculpate himself,” she said.

Justice Katzmann ordered him to pay $500,000 in damages, $1 million in additional damages in light of the flagrancy of the infringement, and legal costs. Interest on damages will be calculated at a later date.

In copyright law, the music and lyrics of a song are separate works. Mr Palmer had claimed he did not infringe copyright in the Twisted Sister lyrics because he penned his own lyrics while “deep in contemplation” in the early hours of one morning in September 2018.

He said he was not inspired by Twisted Sister but by actor Peter Finch’s famous utterance in the 1976 film Network: “[I’m mad as hell, and] I’m not going to take this anymore.”

He said he developed the concept “Australians are not prepared to accept it” from this nugget of inspiration, and it evolved into the chorus: “Australia ain’t gonna cop it, no Australia’s not gonna cop it, Aussies not gonna cop it anymore.”

Justice Katzmann said “this evidence appeared to take everyone else in the virtual courtroom by surprise”.

His claims were at odds with evidence a video producer approached Universal on Mr Palmer’s behalf in 2018 to licence the Twisted Sister hit.

Mr Palmer had also claimed the hit’s melody was a “rip off” of the 18th century Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful and was not protected by copyright law.

Justice Katzmann said he later admitted Universal held the copyright in both the lyrics and melody, but argued his song did not incorporate a substantial part of either work and did not amount to copyright infringement.

Separately, he argued any use of the song fell under a “fair dealing” defence for satirical works.

Justice Katzmann found he had used a substantial part of the lyrics and the melody by using the chorus of the Twisted Sister hit, widely regarded as the song’s “most prominent feature”. She rejected the fair dealing defence on the basis the song was “not used to satirise anyone or anything”.

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, who wrote We’re Not Gonna Take It, gave evidence that he realised years later that he had transformed the first six notes of O Come, All Ye Faithful into his famous chorus, but the “key word” was “transformed”. It was unconscious “inspiration, not duplication”.

Justice Katzmann said the evidence demonstrated Mr Palmer knew he needed a licence to use the song but “decided to go ahead without one.”

The court heard that Universal initially quoted a licence fee of $150,000 to use a re-recorded version of the song, subject to Mr Snider’s approval. Justice Katzmann said Mr Palmer “baulked” at paying the fee. A counter-offer of $35,000 was rejected by Universal.

Adam Simpson of Simpsons Solicitors, who acted for Universal, said “the additional damages award of $1 million is one of the highest for copyright infringement in Australia, and the highest in relation to music copyright – and rightly so”.

The decision sent a strong message that Mr Palmer’s conduct was “blatant and entirely unacceptable,” he said. It was an “affront to songwriters” to use songs in advertising, particularly political advertising, without permission.

Mr Simpson said Mr Palmer had “acted unilaterally” and denied Mr Snider, Twisted Sister and Universal the right to match advertising opportunities with “artistic integrity, ethics and commercial values”.

“Today’s decision rights that wrong,” he said.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/clive-palmer-to-pay-1-5-million-after-losing-twisted-sister-copyright-fight-20210430-p57nq2.html

Ghislaine Maxwell says she got a black eye at Brooklyn federal jail — but doesn’t know the cause

Stephen Rex Brown - April 30, 2021

Ghislaine Maxwell revealed a photo of herself sporting a black eye Thursday amid her escalating battle with staff at the Brooklyn federal jail she’s desperate to leave.

Attorneys for the British socialite claimed Maxwell did not know the cause of the bruising — but that it could be linked to her difficulty getting a good night’s sleep due to Metropolitan Detention Center staff shining a flashlight into her cell every 15 minutes overnight.

Maxwell attorney Bobbi Sternheim included the photo in a Manhattan Federal Court filing in a letter asking Judge Alison Nathan to order the Bureau of Prisons to stop shining the light into her cell. Maxwell has said she places a towel or sock over her eyes to avoid being disturbed by the light.

The photo is the first public image of Maxwell, 59, since her arrest in July 2020.

“While Ms. Maxwell is unaware of the cause of the bruise, as reported to medical and psych staff, she has grown increasingly reluctant to report information to the guards for fear of retaliation, discipline, and punitive chores. However, there is concern that the bruise may be related to the need for Ms. Maxwell to shield her eyes from the lights projected into her cell throughout the night,” Sternheim wrote.

Attorney David Oscar Markus, who is also repping Maxwell, indicated sleep deprivation may have had something to do with the bruise.

“It’s no surprise that she may have been unintentionally injured trying to keep the light out of her eyes at night. She may have been in that stage of half sleep while being tortured with shining lights. Please keep in mind that it’s been 10 months of bad sleep, inedible food, and undrinkable water in solitary confinement. For absolutely no reason. How would you look?” Markus wrote in an email.

The accused underage sex trafficker was unaware of the bruise until she saw her reflection in nail clippers, according to the filing. MDC staff then allegedly threatened to place her in solitary confinement — known as the Special Housing Unit or SHU — if she did not reveal the cause.

“The MDC routinely places inmates in the SHU if they have engaged in a physical altercation with other inmates or to protect inmates who are the subject of abuse. It would be ironic if the MDC follows through with its threat to place Ms. Maxwell in the SHU: It would signal that Ms. Maxwell needs protection from the very staff so intent on protecting her, since she has no contact with anyone but staff,” Sternheim wrote.

Maxwell was denied bail for a fourth time this week after making arguments that largely focused on conditions at MDC. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Nathan, the judge overseeing Maxwell’s case, address the dispute over the light shined in Maxwell’s cell.

She’s pleaded not guilty to procuring, grooming and trafficking underage victims of multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

https://news.yahoo.com/ghislaine-maxwell-says-she-got-194400675.html

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.256.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 2:20 a.m. No.13548210 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5218 >>1305

>>13548207

Judge Seeks Answers for Jail's Ghislaine Maxwell Treatment

LARRY NEUMEISTER - 30 April 2021

A judge ordered the government Thursday to explain why guards repeatedly flash light into Ghislaine Maxwell’s cell overnight, an action her lawyers say may have led to a bruise over one eye as she awaits trial in an alleged sex trafficking conspiracy with ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan issued the order after a lawyer for Maxwell complained that guards threatened to punish her client after Maxwell was unable to explain a bruise above one eye that was noticed on Wednesday night when she saw her reflection in a nail clipper.

The lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, said the 59-year-old Maxwell may have gotten the bruise as she tries to shield her eyes from the light that awakens her every 15 minutes as guards make sure she's breathing.

“While Ms. Maxwell is unaware of the cause of the bruise, as reported to medical and psych staff, she has grown increasingly reluctant to report information to the guards for fear of retaliation, discipline, and punitive chores,” Sternheim wrote.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges alleging she recruited teenage girls for ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004. Epstein, a financier, killed himself in a federal Manhattan lockup in August 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial.

A lawyer for Maxwell told a three-judge panel for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week that Maxwell is being treated as if she is a suicide risk even though she is not one.

Two judges expressed concern that light is flashed in Maxwell's cell at night, interrupting her sleep.

A government lawyer conceded to the appeals panel that Maxwell has not been declared a suicide risk as she argued for Maxwell to remain behind bars prior to a trial scheduled for July 12. Defense lawyers have asked that the trial be delayed until next January.

The 2nd Circuit in a brief order upheld the lower court's decision to thrice deny Maxwell bail on the grounds that she is a flight risk. Defense lawyers had offered to put up $28.5 million and hire 24-hour armed guards to prove Maxwell would not flee. Maxwell, a U.S. citizen, also offered to renounce her British and France citizenships.

The appeals court directed Nathan to deal with any complaints about Maxwell's sleep conditions.

In her order Thursday, Nathan directed the government to find out if Maxwell is being subjected to flashlight surveillance every 15 minutes at night or any other atypical flashlight surveillance.

If so, the judge said, the government should explain the basis for doing so and whether Maxwell can be provided appropriate eye covering.

Maxwell's lawyer told the 2nd Circuit she had to cover her eyes with a towel or socks because she was not provided with a mask.

Ian Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell's brother, said in a statement that he was “shocked my sister’s guards didn’t immediately refer her for proper medical care.”

“Instead,” he said, “they bullied and harassed her, effectively blaming the victim. The simple solution is to review the round-the-clock security camera footage to see what may have occurred.”

He added: "Apart from whatever happened in this ‘House of Horrors,’ I can report that Ghislaine’s family and friends continue to support her. We are confident, once this is over, it will be the prosecutor who has a proverbial black eye.”

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/judge-seeks-answers-for-jails-ghislaine-maxwell-treatment/3028507/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.257.0.pdf

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 2:36 a.m. No.13548262 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1261

Brittany Higgins meets Scott Morrison, says he agreed system let her down over rape allegation

abc.net.au - 30 April 2021

Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins says she had a "robust" discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a meeting this afternoon.

Ms Higgins, who alleges she was raped by a colleague in a minister's office two years ago, said the conversation was "very difficult on a personal level" and that Mr Morrison had " acknowledged the system had let me down".

"It was an honest and frank discussion. It's important that we had it," she said.

Ms Higgins said the pair also talked about reforming the legislation that staffers are hired under, known as the Members of Parliament (Staff) or MoPS Act.

The act gives MPs the right to sack staffers on the spot if they lose trust or confidence in them, a rule Ms Higgins said created a power imbalance and did not protect employees who come forward with complaints.

"We had a discussion about what needs to happen in terms of the MoPS Act, where there needs to be better safeguards," the former staffer said.

"We had a robust discussion about the need for an independent authority [for] human resources.

"It was robust, but ultimately, in the end, I think there was a consensus that reform needs to happen.

"I think that's where we need to be, that's a starting point and that is encouraging."

PM: 'I acknowledged her courage'

In a statement, Mr Morrison said he was pleased to be able to meet with Ms Higgins "and listen to her views on how we can make parliamentary workplaces safe and more respectful".

"I look forward to her participating in the ongoing discussions on this matter through the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces," Mr Morrison said.

"Ms Higgins' views and experience will be invaluable to the work of (Sex Discrimination) Commissioner Kate Jenkins.

"I acknowledged her courage in coming forward and assisting in this work."

A number of reviews were called in the wake of Ms Higgins' allegations, including one by Commissioner Jenkins into the culture towards women in Parliament House, and how it could be improved.

Ms Higgins has made it clear that she thinks an independent body should be set up to handle staffers' complaints.

At the moment the Department of Finance is responsible for investigating any claims brought by parliamentary staffers, but even if a complaint is found to be true, it has no authority to sanction a parliamentarian or their staff.

"I am committed to achieving an independent process to deal with these difficult issues," Mr Morrison said.

'Progress moves slowly'

Ms Higgins said she was hopeful the meeting would lead to changes to the law and that Mr Morrison would "do the right thing by the women" at Parliament House.

"Progress moves slowly. I am hopeful that it's going to happen. I guess time will tell."

When asked what she thought Mr Morrison had taken away from their meeting, she replied that she thought he better understood how she was made to feel in the days after she told her then-boss Linda Reynolds that she had allegedly been assaulted.

"I think he fundamentally seemed to understand what had happened to me."

Ms Higgins has made a formal complaint to police about the alleged incident. An investigation is underway.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/brittany-higgins-meeting-scott-morrison/100107676

Anonymous ID: 6dba8c April 30, 2021, 4:51 p.m. No.13553013 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3513

The Illuminati Mothers of Darkness, How It Works

*Jesse Czebotar is the highest level Illuminati insider talking.

*5 Mothers of Darkness - they meet with Satan and other entities. They act as CEO's of the System.

*Ley lines energy and familial ground - used to access both demonic powers and familial energy.

*Bloodlines - each bloodline has different spiritual gifts. They test you to see which spiritual gifts you have and how strongly. Then they match your spiritual gifts with the demon that matches it.

*Gloria Vanderbilt - uses the darkest of the Dark Magic. Whenever anyone first met her, she would cut off a piece of your hair. Then make a doll with your hair, and put it in her doll houses. She would use that to put demonic markers on you and uses demons to track you.

*Scripture - they read the Word not to know God, but they read the Word to know the enemy. They use the word of God, twisting it, changing it. Their old spell books use a lot of Scripture.

*Painting of Boys Hanging in a Tiled Pool - that was at one of the Vanderbilt houses. That was for boat cleaning, that you would drive a boat in to wash it down, but there was no water, no boats around that property.

That was for the 12 Year Old Boys' Ritual.

When they turned 12, boys who were born in the System bloodline, this is the First Blasphemy ritual, you make that final committment to your peers and circle that you will keep their secrets. A very graphic ritual.

*Training Centers - Jesse's was in Chicago, a DUMB base there.(Northern Quadrant) She has seen at the training center who were age 12 at that time: a couple of Rothschilds, Nate Rothschild, Justin Trudeau, Quaddafi's son, Michael Trudeau, Sasha Cohen, Dustin Yellen, Julian Assange.

*George Soros was running the Satanic Council at that time.

*Jesse's defense trainer Michael Karcoff (spelling?) who taught her to fight in both the physical and spiritual world. He was also the head trainer of Michael Aquino and John Brennan. Those government experiments run through the Dept. of Defense, FBI and CIA.

*Michael Aquino - using children's spiritual gifts as weapons of defense.

*John Brennan - Human genetic experiments. He wanted to know can you combine human and angelic DNA to make a hybrid. They would do surgery on infants in the womb and graft on a pig nose or pig hooves, so when the child was born it would look like it was half human and half animal. He also did things to our military and veterans.

*Symbolism - MK Ultra is one of the minor programs that they use in the occult to control people's minds. The overall program is called the Monarch program, often symbolized by a Butterfly. Under the Monarch program are many other sub divisions.

The MK Ultra is used mostly by the Masonic lodges, the Military (Delta, Epsilon).

In the Jesuit Church, it breaks down into the Carousel program.

In the old days, Trauma was used to fracture the mind, to disassociate. Natural reaction is fear, that fear becomes a foothold or link for the demonic spirits that they try to connect people to.

*Red Scarf - you could see a red scarf and it would trigger an alter.

*Monarch Butterfly - the wings represent the Masonic symbols for Sex Magic.

*Baphomet - is one of the commanding Generals under Baal. Baal and Ashteroth are 2 of Satan's top generals. Throughout Scripture, Israel 's worship of Baal and Ashteroth - a lot of sex magic involved, a lot or ritualistic killing.

'''*Joan Rivers - was close to Joan Collins, who was the Grand High Priestess for the West Quadrant of the US.

Is Michelle Obama Transgender? Joan Rivers spoke truth as she knew it. I believe she was killed for it as well.

*Celebrities w/ Transgender Kids - turning their kids into Baphomets - they are indoctrinated, told this is what good parents do. Infants, usually starting from 6 months to 8months, are given enemas to groom and prepare them for anal sexual abuse.

*Tattoos - the hierarchy elite Illuminati are not allowed to get tattoos or wear any outwardly symbols because they live a cover life. Only the "expendables" are allowed to get tattoos.

*Children in Cages on Half-time Show - Bondage, sex slavery. Many in music industry and Hollywood are bound by sex magic. Sex Magic is the main way that the Enemy performs magic. Half time shows replicating rituals.

*High End Expensive Beta Kitties - are marked by wearing diamonds. such as Lady Gaga.

*Marina Abramovich - uses Blood, Gore to represent her evil. They bathe in blood around moon times, menstrual cycle.

Spirit Cooking - Ninth Circle.They consume flesh. Extra blasphemy if they have a pregnant woman in the bath, they'll consume the embryo, the breast milk and the blood.

*Can calling the name of Jesus stop demons?"Yes. It will literally stop demons."

>>13522489

>>13532829

Don’t give in to identity politics, Scott Morrison urges

''GEOFF CHAMBERS - APRIL 30, 2021

1/2

Scott Morrison has urged Australians not to surrender to “identity politics” and the forces that undermine the community, declaring freedom rests on “taking personal responsibility”.

In a speech outlining his values and beliefs, the Prime Minister on Thursday night launched an impassioned critique of the “growing tendency to commodify human beings through identity politics” and elevated the necessity of viewing “people as individuals — with agency and responsibility”.

Speaking at a United Israel Appeal NSW donor dinner in Sydney, Mr Morrison set out his vision of morality, community and personal responsibility in the modern world while warning that reducing individuals to their attributes would end in division and a broken society.

“We must never surrender the truth that the experience and value of every human being is unique and personal,” he said.

“You are more than your gender, your sexuality, your race, your ethnicity, your religion, your language group, your age.

“All of these contribute to who we are and the incredible diversity of our society, and our place in the world, but of themselves they are not the essence of our humanity.

“When we reduce ourselves to a collection of attributes, or divide ourselves on this basis, we can lose sight of who we are as individuals — in all our complexity and wholeness. We then define each other by the boxes we tick or don’t tick rather than our qualities, skills and character.

“Throughout history, we’ve seen what happens when people are defined solely by the group they belong to, or an attribute they have, or an identity they possess. The Jewish community understands that better than any.”

Mr Morrison will use the speech, titled You Matter: The responsibility of citizens in building community to achieve national success, to frame the values that will guide his government ahead of the next election, due by May next year, and draw a contrast with the Labor Party.

“My message is simple: you matter, you make the difference, you make community,” he said.

“And together with family, marriage and association — our clubs, community groups, faith networks, and so much more — these combine as the further building blocks of community, providing the stability and sinews of society that bind us each to another.”

The speech follows his address to the Australian Christian Churches conference last week in which he cited the works of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks to discuss faith, morality and identity politics in comments that triggered a fresh debate about his religious views as the nation’s first Pentecostal Prime Minister.

(continued)

>>13553273

2/2

Speaking before Jewish community leaders Steven Lowy, Lance Rosenberg and Jillian Segal, the acting ambassador of Israel Jonathan Peled, Employment Minister Stuart Robert and government MPs Dave Sharma and Julian Leeser, Mr Morrison on Thursday night again cited Rabbi Sacks on the “covenant of community”.

He said this was about “not leaving it to another” and urged Australians to reframe their thinking on rights, arguing that citizens should be contributing more to society than they expected to receive back from it.

“That is the moral responsibility and covenant of citizenship –— not to think we can leave it to someone else.

“There is a warning though. Where we once understood our rights in terms of our protections from the state, now it seems these rights are defined by what we expect from the state.

“As citizens, we cannot allow what we think we are entitled to, to become more important than what we are responsible for.”

Mr Morrison said “human dignity” was at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition underpinning modern Australian society and it was also foundational for freedom in a liberal democracy. “Human dignity. Everything else flows from this,” he said.

“Seeing the inherent dignity of all human beings is the foundation of all morality.

“It makes us more capable of love and compassion, selflessness and forgiveness.

“Because if you see the dignity and worth of another person, you’re less likely to disrespect them; insult or show contempt or hatred for them; or seek to cancel them, as is becoming the fashion of some. You’re less likely to be indifferent to their lives, and callous towards their feelings.”

Mr Morrison said Rabbi Sacks had concluded in his final work Morality that “if you lose your own morality, you are in danger of losing your freedom” as he sought to elevate the Liberal Party’s core value of individual responsibility.

“Liberty is not borne of the state but rests with the individual, for whom morality must be a personal responsibility,” he said.

“Freedom therefore rests on us taking personal responsibility for how we treat each other, based on our respect for, and appreciation of, human dignity.

“This is not about state power or market capital.

“This is about morality and personal responsibility.

“Morality is also the foundation of true community.”

Amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and China’s increasing efforts to disrupt democracies, Mr Morrison also said “we stand as a sovereign and free nation in an increasingly uncertain part of the world”.

He said community “matters especially” in a democracy. “It’s a tremendous source of strength — that’s why foreign actors seek to sow discord online, by inflaming angers and hatreds, and spreading lies and disinformation

“Of course, the right to disagree peacefully is at the very heart of democracy, but democracy is also a shared endeavour — and civility, trust and generosity are the currency that mediates our differences.”

Mr Morrison also reflected on Australians coming together through the COVID-19 economic and health crises and natural disasters.

“I’ve been so incredibly heartened to see people from across the country show the best of us this past year, the heroic virtues of our people,” he said.

“Through drought, bushfires, floods, cyclones and pandemic, Australians have found ways to support each other and stand with each other … checking in on each other, keeping jobs open, volunteering, helping neighbours with their shopping.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/dont-give-in-to-identity-politics-scott-morrison-urges/news-story/30dd25a7770be73d8fc92b5995b6aa99

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 5:31 p.m. No.13553300 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

>>13553273

PM’s plea from the heart a timely reminder

GREG SHERIDAN - APRIL 30, 2021

Scott Morrison has answered Kevin Rudd’s challenge and told us exactly what the most important consequence of his religious faith are for his politics: it is the belief that every human being is possessed of an innate human dignity that transcends all other considerations.

In a powerful address to the United Israel Appeal, Morrison certainly went beyond his own religious affiliations to speak to the heart of everything that he holds most dear in the human condition. And that is to recognise that in each human being there is a dignity and worth that cannot be compromised or reduced by politics or circumstance or ideology or identity.

Morrison sounded a clarion call against identity politics, decrying “the growing tendency to commodify human beings through identity politics”.

In a statement of profound religious humanism, he rightly declared: “You are more than the things that others try to identify you by in this age of identity politics. You are more than your gender, your race, your ethnicity, your religion, your language group, your age.”

These human attributes are important to any person but they are not, the Prime Minister argued, “the essence of humanity”.

Humanity is universal in two critical respects. We all, all of us without exception, share in the uniquely valuable quality of our human natures. And humanity attaches first to an individual, not to a group.

Morrison lauds community. It is the essence of human solidarity. But community begins with the individual. And one of the individual’s greatest and most defining characteristics is the capacity, and the ineluctable necessity, of moral choice.

Human beings are innately free. And that freedom brings responsibilities.

Morrison’s vision is thus both liberal — in the stress on the individual — and conservative, in the stress on the overwhelming importance of community arising from the association of human individuals, and on human responsibility.

His vision is not collectivist but it accommodates both community and an overwhelming sense of solidarity with fellow human beings, especially those down on their luck.

Morrison paid justified tribute to perhaps the finest moral thinker of our age, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, whose last book, Morality, has deeply affected the PM.

Sacks offers a modern guide to the perplexed from all religious backgrounds on the greatest issues of human meaning and social purpose.

Morrison did not quote the great classic Christian assertion of universalism, the Apostle Paul’s declaration: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

To have quoted Paul would have been to impart a denominational affiliation to what is truly a universal principle, shared, as Morrison suggested, by the Jewish and Christian traditions, and by many other traditions as well.

No doubt someone somewhere will find a bizarre way to distort Morrison’s comments so they can fit the preposterous narrative that he is a Christian fundamentalist imposing a false religiosity on society.

The criticisms of Morrison’s recent address to the Australian Christian Churches reached such heights of absurdity as to be beyond a Monty Python parody.

Consider the outrage at the shocking revelation that Morrison sometimes prayed for people. Surely in the long annals of government abuses of power, a Prime Minister offering a private prayer for a constituent must rank at least with Stalin’s show trials in infamy, must be a clue to Savonarola-like conspiracy and wickedness.

In truth, this supple and heartfelt speech by the Prime Minister is transcendently focused on the dignity of each human being — a vision we can surely all embrace, believer and non-believer alike.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pms-plea-from-the-heart-atimely-reminder/news-story/ff5d747b9980c471dc57579200f817ae

Future of Army's multi-billion-dollar Battle Management System uncertain amid tensions with Israeli military company

Andrew Greene - 30 April 2021

Tensions between Australia's military and a controversial Israeli weapons manufacturer are threatening to topple a multi-billion-dollar IT system that allows Army commanders to control units in the field.

Defence is refusing to comment on the saga but several sources with knowledge of the dispute say the Army is now moving to scrap its Battle Management System (BMS) produced by Elbit Systems Australia.

The digital Israeli technology allows Army commanders to better coordinate various land assets during complex battlefield scenarios, where previously they had to rely on "analogue" methods such as maps and radios.

The United States military has for years taken special precautions while operating alongside Australian vehicles that are equipped with the Elbit BMS, because of security concerns about the Israeli technology.

Military figures have said simmering tensions between the Defence Department and Elbit Systems Australia have come to a head in recent weeks, with the Army now moving to stop using its existing deployed BMS.

One Army source, who spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, described the standoff as a "complete shambles".

"People are getting the shits with Elbit exploiting their monopoly to impose huge premiums," the officer said.

"And there are definite concerns that the Israelis are backdooring the system for information".

The ABC understands Elbit employs 190 staff in Australia, but Defence is now looking to use an American company which is yet to properly establish itself in Australia.

A week ago, the ABC sent detailed questions about the contractual dispute to the Defence Department, but it is yet to respond.

The ABC has also contacted the federal government for comment, but a response has not been received.

A spokesperson for Elbit Systems Australia told the ABC "we will not be commenting at this stage".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/tension-israeli-company-lead-to-uncertainty-over-army-system/100105866

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 5:54 p.m. No.13553502 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>3946 >>1248

>>13553469

Elbit Battle Management System shut down

Katherine Ziesing - 29 April 2021

Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) understands that Elbit Systems Australia has been given notice earlier this month to cease use of the existing deployed BMS version with Army, effective from mid next month. The news was given to the company with no explanation as to the reasoning behind the decision, with Defence confirming that they have no interim solution to replace the capability.

The program also signed a multimillion dollar follow-on sustainment contract earlier this month which would see elements of the capability upgraded and expanded.

At this point, Defence has spent billions on the program over the past decade, with the last contract extension in 2017 signed for $1.4 billion alone.

ADM understands that Elbit Systems Australia program employs approximately 190 highly skilled local people across the nation to support this program for Army. There is also a significant local SME workforce that supports the program.

Neither Defence or Elbit Systems Australia would comment about the program or its consequences as this article went to press.

Background

The BMS forms the digital backbone of Army operations. Delivered under Land 200 nomenclature, it is the combination of the following projects/phases:

• Land 75 Phase 3.2 & Phase 3.3. Battlefield Command Support System (BCSS)

• Land 75 Phase 3.4. Battle Management System – Mounted (BMS-M)

• Land 125 Phase 3. Battle Management System – Dismounted (BMS-D)

The BMS is the central component of the Battle Group and Below Command, Control and Communications System (BGC3) that is being jointly delivered by the Land 75 Phase 3.4, Land 125 Phase 3A, and JP 2072 Phase 1 projects. It incorporates a mobile, data capable communications system, and be able to exchange combat information with BCSS and other Land BMS.

Defence applied to Government to delay First Pass approval for Land 200 Phase 3 Battlefield Command System by 12 months to at least February 2022 due to overall movement in committee approval processes and COVID-19 in October last year.

The program came under examination from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) with less than stellar results in 2019, noting issues with how the various related programs interacted.

“The 2015 sole-source procurement process for the Army’s BMS was ultimately effective, but the procurement was delayed pending resolution of affordability issues affecting Land 200 Tranche 2 as a whole. Defence addressed affordability issues by adopting a ‘design to price’ strategy, significantly reducing project scope and assuming additional risk and cost by taking on the role of Prime Systems Integrator. Defence has assessed that it can achieve value-for-money outcomes following these adjustments,” the report said.

ADM Comment: The more research into this decision undertaken, the stranger it gets. No notice. No reason given. No viable replacement. Relatively large extension contract signed less than a fortnight before. No senior Defence figure was in the loop or would admit to being in the loop. Both ministers have been thrown in the deep end with furious questions being asked all round.

For a government that has been open in its drive to support intellectual property (IP) transfer from global primes and the practical application of Australian Industry Capability (AIC), the decision is simply baffling.

While the program has seen issues over the years (show me a perfect program?) the suddenness of the decision is truly startling.

And neither party would speak to ADM about the issue in any form. Stay tuned as more information comes to light.

https://www.australiandefence.com.au/news/elbit-bms-shut-down

https://www1.defence.gov.au/project/battle-management-system

>>13553013

Spamming another bread with your bullshit shilly?

Anonymous ID: 0db8da April 30, 2021, 7:13 p.m. No.13554042 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>1248

Japan honors former Australian PM Gillard

nhk.or.jp - April 29 2021

The Japanese government has announced a list of 4,136 people to be awarded honors this spring for their services to the nation or public. Among them is former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Gillard is one of 117 non-Japanese from 46 countries and territories to be decorated. She will be awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, was in office from 2010 to 2013.

In an online interview with NHK, Gillard described the award as "a remarkable recognition." While saying she feels "very honored," she added that she sees it as "an award for the people of Australia generally."

Gillard was the first foreign leader to visit areas hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. In April of that year, she visited disaster victims at an evacuation center in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, to encourage them.

Looking back, Gillard said she decided on her visit "as a visible way of saying that Japan was coming through this profound period of tragedy and was looking to reopen and reengage with the world."

Gillard said she thinks the stoicism and determination of the Japanese people to rebuild and start anew "has propelled Japan through the decade." She said the sharpness of the memories of her visit will be with her for the rest of her life.

On bilateral relations, Gillard said she thinks Australia and Japan share a strategic mindset about issues concerning the region and the world. She added that the two countries can work together as friends on various issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, peace and prosperity, as well as education and development.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210429_06/