As a former US intelligence officer, I see a red flag in the CIA’s latest anti-Russia playbook

The Agency has a long and largely unsuccessful track record when it comes to duelling with Moscow

Reports that the CIA is running training programs to prepare Ukrainian forces for unconventional warfare bear an uncanny similarity to a long-exposed Cold War-era project. If history is any judge, it is likely to end the same way.

A tranche of allegations recently published in the press, ostensibly sourced to “five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative,” claims that America's top spy agency has been, since 2015, conducting training for select Ukrainian military and security personnel. According to the speculation, the program aims to develop skillsets associated with unconventional warfare (UW), a form of conflict often referred to as insurgency. These reports say that the training takes place in the US, and is overseen by the CIA’s paramilitary arm, the Special Activities Division.

An unconventional approach

The Department of Defense defines UW as “activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary or guerrilla force in a denied area.” The term ‘guerrilla force’ is further defined as “a group of irregular, predominantly indigenous personnel organized along military lines to conduct military and paramilitary operations in enemy-held, hostile, or denied territory.”

If the press reports are to be believed, the CIA is actively training Ukrainian citizens to resist a Russian occupation. One reading of this would be that Washington is creating a capability designed to inflict a follow-on cost to any future Russian military invasion and occupation of Ukraine, something Russia insists it is not preparing for. Another reading, given the fact that both Ukraine and the US consider Crimea and the Donbass to be territories that are illegally occupied, is that the CIA could be training Ukrainian forces to conduct offensive guerrilla warfare on lands either controlled directly by the Russian government, which has been the case in Crimea since 2014, or controlled by anti-Kiev separatists, as in Donbass. Either version would be cause for alarm in Moscow.

From Nazis to communists

If true, the reported CIA activity would not represent the agency’s first foray into organizing Ukrainians to fight against the authority of Moscow. At the conclusion of WWII, the CIA established close contacts with two Ukrainian resistance groups, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought alongside Hitler’s Nazi Germany against the Soviets.

https://www.rt.com/russia/546254-cia-training-programs-ukrainian/

Pope’s close aides test positive for Covid-19

No word on whether Pope Francis was exposed

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has tested positive for Covid-19 after displaying “very light” symptoms, while his deputy, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, is also positive, though asymptomatic.

The two men are the most senior Vatican figures to test positive for the virus thus far. The church has not revealed when their most recent contact with the Pope took place, though Parolin was reportedly tested between Sunday and Monday after showing symptoms, according to local media.

Pope Francis has urged his followers to get vaccinated for Covid-19, declaring that receiving the shot is an “act of love” and failing to do so “suicidal.” While one faction of Catholics has come out in opposition to the jabs, arguing that they were developed using tissue from aborted fetuses and are thus immoral, the Vatican has claimed it is in fact “morally acceptable” to take the vaccine despite the fetus factor.

The Vatican last month announced vaccination would be mandatory for all employees, with Parolin imposing a “super green pass” system similar to that of Italy, requiring either proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the virus. Previously, individuals entering the Vatican could also show a negative Covid-19 test.

The Pope has received at least two Pfizer-BioNTech shots, and his deputies are also vaccinated.

https://www.rt.com/news/546450-pope-deputies-infected-covid/

>>15409207

pfffft

take your vaccine next?

New West Charter School LA Caught Abusing Young Unvaccinated Girls – Denied Chairs, Forced to Sit Outside on Pavement, Not Allowed to Use Restrooms

This is child abuse.

Several young girls including four freshmen, one sophomore, and a junior were abused at their school New West Charter LA because they chose not to get the COVID vaccine.

The girls were denied chairs, forced to sit outside on the pavement behind warning tape, and were not allowed to use the school’s restrooms.

School police are seen outside the warning tape guarding the area.

One little girl describes the abuse: “I’m a student at New West Charter School and I’m here with five other girls. Four of them are freshmen, one is a junior and I’m a sophomore. And we are being threatened to be suspended because we don’t have the COVID 19 vaccine. And we’re being refused of the right to attend school… And we’re being closed off by this caution tape thing. We’re being segregated from the rest of the school.”

This may be a good time to switch schools.

The girls posted video from behind their warning tape.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/new-west-charter-school-la-caught-abusing-young-unvaccinated-girls-denied-chairs-forced-sit-outside-pavement-not-allowed-use-restrooms/

>>15409241

NOTABLE

Schumer’s daughters work for Amazon, Facebook as he holds power over antitrust bill

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is responsible for shepherding antitrust bills that aim to crack down on Big Tech — and both his children are on the payroll of companies the proposals would seek to rein in, On the Money has learned.

Jessica Schumer is a registered lobbyist at Amazon, according to New York state records. Alison Schumer works at Facebook as a product marketing manager.

Advocates of the legislation fear that the tech companies’ ties to Sen. Schumer’s children could create a conflict of interest, people close to the matter told On the Money. And they say Schumer’s familial connection to the tech companies is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the cozy relationships some members of Congress have with the firms.

“When you put together the amount of money Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi made off tech with the fact that leader Schumer’s two kids work for giant tech companies, Democrats are going to have a very hard time explaining if major legislation doesn’t move forward this session,” one progressive operative told The Post.

“It’s not just a messaging problem — it also raises substantive concerns,” this person said. If you were a judge with a kid who worked for Facebook you’d recuse yourself from the case.”

The most immediate test will be on the so-called “non-discrimination bill” that would stop platforms from “self-preferencing” their content. For instance, Amazon would no longer be able to promote its own content over third-party sellers on its e-commerce platform.

The bill could be ready for introduction as soon as this week. It is under review by the Senate Judiciary Committee — and assuming it emerges from the committee markup, it could be put to a vote in the coming weeks. Schumer, however, has yet to signal where he stands on it — or when he could introduce the legislation.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/18/schumers-daughters-work-for-amazon-facebook-as-he-holds-power-over-antitrust-bill/

US Federal Judge Releases Puerto Rico From Bankruptcy, Slashes Municipal Debt by 80%

A US federal judge resolved a five-year battle over Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy on Tuesday, slashing the US territory’s debt by 80% as part of a restructuring plan allowing it to pay off US creditors without hated cuts to the island’s pension plan.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a plan pitched by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico to cut the island’s public debt by 80%, from $33 billion to just over $7.4 billion. According to a news release by the board, the deal will save the government more than $50 billion in debt service payments.

According to the board, the deal gives San Juan the ability to pay off its debt by 2034, provided it accepts more cuts to public services and price hikes.

The control board is a group of seven unelected officials given vast power to restructure Puerto Rico’s finances by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a 2016 law passed by the US Congress after the territory’s government said it was unable to pay its $70 billion public debt. However, locally the board is known simply as “the junta” for its dictatorial power.

The following year, the Puerto Rican government declared bankruptcy, beginning the process that led to Tuesday’s settlement. The PROMESA board used austerity measures to put a tight rein on the territory’s finances and ensure it could pay its creditors on Wall Street, which included an attempt to slash the pension fund that had been chronically mismanaged for years.

That same year, 2017, Puerto Rico suffered its worst natural disaster in recorded history: a direct strike by Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 5 storm that annihilated the country’s electrical infrastructure and killed 3,000 Boricuans. The public utility company, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), was sold to private buyers in January 2018, who formed the corporation LUMA Energy. However, it still holds PREPA’s substantial debt, which was not included in the deal approved on Tuesday.

Demonstrations rocked the island in 2019 demanding the resignation of then-Governor Ricardo Rosselló, who was seen by angry Boricuans as facilitating the control board’s fleecing of the island.

Puerto Rico was seized from Spain by the US in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, and was subsequently turned into a US territory. Nationalists and critics have accused the US of colonialism, and multiple uprisings in the 20th century sought to shake off US rule over the island. A parallel social movement has sought Puerto Rico’s admittance as a US state.

https://sputniknews.com/20220119/us-federal-judge-releases-puerto-rico-from-bankruptcy-slashes-municipal-debt-by-80-1092354807.html

16 men face child-sex charges resulting from Mt. Pleasant-based operation

Sixteen men were charged with various internet-based sex counts against children stemming from a weeklong task force operation detailed by more than a dozen state and local officials.

Operation X-Posed, which took place in early November, sought those on the internet who were soliciting children between ages 12 and 14 for sex, Tyrone Simmons, deputy chief of the Mount Pleasant Police Department, said during a Jan. 18 news conference.

The police department hosted 12 local, state and federal agencies belonging to South Carolina’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Authorities from each of the partner agencies gathered in Mount Pleasant, putting in an 80-hour work week.

The department was responsible for investing its personnel, time and financial resources throughout the operation, providing everything from cars and food to hotel rooms, said Kevin Atkins, an investigator with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office.

“When you can go out and arrest people that aim to do our children harm — I mean, what better way to spend your time,” he said.

The authorities received special training to conduct the investigations, which involve posing as minors and engaging with potential suspects on social media sites and chat rooms.

Prosecutors were present throughout the operation to ensure each investigation is legally sound and doesn’t raise the issue of entrapment, or when law enforcement officers coerce someone into committing a crime.

Much of the work had to be done after the one-week operation when investigators identified and arrested suspects who may not have traveled to the Mount Pleasant area during the actual operation, Atkins said.

Those arrested as part of X-Posed included: John Edgar Arnold; Daryall Lamour Clark; Dylan James Dioguardi; Todd Eric Emery; Kevin R. Gerzema; Paul Andrew Guerry; Charles Alan Hamilton; David Matthew Hulette; Matthew George Johnson; Andrew Morton Patla Kramer; Michael D. Munib; Brian Frank Murphree; Sabas Morales-Rodriguez; Brandon Lazarus Pelphrey; Devante Jamal Reardon-Williams; and James Davis Wray.

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/16-men-face-child-sex-charges-resulting-from-mt-pleasant-based-operation/article_2591524a-789b-11ec-b6d5-ef5c4f705803.html

Attorney: Hard drives missing from home of Dennis and Cynthia Perkins years after high-profile child sex crimes arrest

BATON ROUGE - In the years since Cynthia and Dennis Perkins were arrested, a defense attorney says hard drives listed as being found in the couple's safe by investigators have vanished.

The couple have been behind bars since their arrest in November 2019. Prosecutors charged them with a combined 150 counts of sex crimes, including some against children and animals.

Jarrett Ambeau, Dennis Perkins' attorney, told WBRZ this week there are one or two digital storage devices missing from the scene.

"We think at least two hard drives, maybe more," Ambeau said in an interview with WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto.

Ambeau said investigators "took possession of numerous hard drives in [the Perkins' home], in a safe that my client had. Those hard drives are now missing," he said.

Originally he said the Attorney General's Office told him they had turned over the evidence to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office.

"They don't know where it is either," Ambeau said. "It's lost. When I confronted them out of it, they said they must have given it to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office. Now they made the statement we left it at the house. We have possession of the home, and have had it since the beginning and they are not here."

Court documents indicate that the Attorney General's office processed the evidence but said the files were not relevant. They claim those hard drives were not seized.

However, Ambeau said the hard drives that were in the safes are gone, and Cynthia and Dennis have not set foot back in the house they shared following their 2019 arrests.

Dennis, who was working as a Livingston Parish sheriff's deputy at the time of his arrest, was fired from the department. Cynthia was a teacher at Westside Junior High, but she resigned after her initial arrest.

The Attorney General's Office released the following statement.

"There are no missing hard drives. We look forward to holding Dennis Perkins accountable and getting justice for the crime victims."

WBRZ also inquired with the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office about whether they took possession of any evidence. The Sheriff's Office did not answer those questions and referred everything to the Attorney General's Office

https://www.wbrz.com/videos/attorney-hard-drives-missing-from-home-of-dennis-and-cynthia-perkins-years-after-high-profile-child-sex-crimes-arrest/

Woman, 37, weeps as she admits raping and sexually abusing girl aged under 13 with two men and sharing photos of the assault

Vicki Bevan, 37, of St Helens, Merseyside, raped and sexually abused a young girl

Several times she assaulted her alongside Paul Rafferty, 62, and Tony Hutton, 42

The abuse was filmed and photographed, leading to the arrests of all three

Bevan wept as she pleaded guilty to 34 counts and will be sentenced in March

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10413463/Woman-37-weeps-admits-raping-sexually-abusing-girl-aged-13-two-men.html

Parents, uncles in horrific child sex abuse locked up for years

A FATHER and mother who engaged in the “most awful” sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and wilful neglect of their children have been jailed for 15 years and nine years respectively.

Sentencing the parents and three other family members in the Central Criminal Court this Tuesday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the parents had engaged in “the most profound breach of trust a human being can commit against their children”.

He said the children were left isolated and under the total control of their adult relatives, who left them with no one to turn to and who engaged in the most “appalling” and “prolonged” sexual abuse of the three eldest children.

The judge jailed the 57-year-old father for 15 years after he was found guilty of all 31 offences against him. These included raping his three older children, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, wilful neglect and child cruelty.

The 34-year-old mother was jailed for nine years. She was found guilty of all 25 offences against her, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation and wilful neglect of her children.

The children's 49-year-old uncle – the husband of their maternal aunt - was jailed for 15 years. He was found guilty of all 10 counts against him including rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation of the three eldest children.

His wife, the children's 35-year-old maternal aunt, was jailed for three years for her part in the abuse, which involved three counts of sexually assaulting two of the children.

The children's maternal uncle (27) was jailed for 15 years. He was found guilty of eight of the nine charges against him in relation to two of the children, including rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

The judge said there was no doubt that the effect of the abuse on the children has been enormous.

“The suffering they have endured has been enormous. The difficulties and stresses that they have been under have been enormous,” the judge said.

“I have little doubt there are difficulties they will face in the future resulting out of the consequences of what was done to them and what was not done for them and that this will have an effect on each of their lives.”

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/crime—courts/722023/parents-uncles-in-horrific-child-sex-abuse-locked-up-for-years.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/victoria-covid-case-numbers-hospitalisations-deaths-omicron/100765562

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10416271/Twist-Jordan-Goeys-New-York-nightclub-assault-case.html

GOP Lawmakers Say Dem Appointees Doing Chinese Spy Firm’s Bidding

Two Republican lawmakers are calling out Democrat-appointed congressional administrators for waging a stealth pressure campaign against a U.S. company on behalf of a Chinese surveillance firm, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the House clerk and Senate secretary.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) say a massive Chinese surveillance firm implicated in the Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses is using the offices of the House clerk and Senate secretary to "bully" an American company. The Chinese company, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, petitioned both congressional officers last year to launch an investigation into IP Video Market Info Inc. (IPVM), a U.S.-based firm that has exposed the CCP's use of Hikvision to monitor the enslaved Uyghur ethnic minority.

Clerk of the House of Representatives Ann Berry and Secretary of the Senate Cheryl Johnson, who are handling the investigation on behalf of Congress, informed IPVM in July that the company was under investigation due to an anonymous claim that it engaged in undisclosed lobbying work. Information came to light earlier this month that showed the anonymous accuser was Hikvision, according to Axios. The reporting raised the lawmakers' concerns that China orchestrated a congressional investigation into one of its top critics. IPVM says the complaint is part of a political campaign to silence its reporting and that the allegations against it are bunk.

Hikvision, the lawmakers write, "is attempting to subvert the law by attacking the integrity of its critics, using a cohort of American legal and public relations firms to do its bidding. Congress must not fall victim to its dishonest scheme." The lawmakers in their letter reprimand both congressional officers, warning them that they are doing the bidding of a CCP spy company. Rubio and Tenney write that Hikvision is using "the offices of the House Clerk and Secretary of the Senate to bully [IPVM] … into silence for its unfavorable reporting about the company."

The lawmakers urge both congressional officers to "not allow our transparent and open system to be cynically exploited by firms like Hikvision, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for its implication ‘in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.'"

Rubio and Tenney also say that other Communist companies may attempt to silence criticism by enlisting the help of Congress's ethics committees.

"Hikvision's efforts to silence dissent using your offices will likely be replicated by other malign entities tied to the CCP," they write. "Congress should take no part in these efforts. We urge your respective offices to see Hikvision's smear campaign against IPVM for what it is worth and to remain vigilant against future attempts to use your offices as a mechanism to chill free speech and silence dissent."

Hikvision in its original letter to congressional officials said that IPVM could be running afoul of lobbying disclosure laws because of its self-expressed work to influence the U.S. government. IPVM's founder said in October that the company "does increasingly talk to the U.S. (and other) governments but it is virtually always to inform them of things going on in this industry." The company maintains these conversations do not constitute lobbying.

IPVM disputes the charges and says Hikvision is targeting it as payback for a series of reports that expose how the CCP uses Hikvision's surveillance equipment to repress the Uyghurs and other populations.

Conor Healy, IPVM's government director, in comments to the Washington Free Beacon praised Rubio and Tenney for investigating the matter.

"Congress should not let China's state corporations, or any entities, abuse government ethics rules to intimidate media critics," Healy said. "It should be noted that Hikvision's attempt to silence IPVM comes amid much more widespread abuse of those that report on or speak out about the CCP, an entity responsible for unspeakable crimes against humanity including genocide."

Hikvision did not respond to the Free Beacon‘s request for comment on the matter.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/gop-lawmakers-say-dem-appointees-doing-chinese-spy-firms-bidding/

WHO says ‘no evidence’ for boosting children & teens

World Health Organization says Covid-19 boosters should be priority for highest-risk populations instead

There is currently no evidence that Covid-19 booster jabs should be administered to healthy children and adolescents, the WHO’s top scientists said. The organization is still trying to work the appropriate booster schedule.

“The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying, those are our elderly population, immunocompromised with underlying conditions and also health care workers,” WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said at a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that “there’s no evidence right now” for administering them to otherwise healthy children and teens.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization will meet later this week to consider how governments should think about boosters, Swaminathan said.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director for health emergencies, said the organization hasn’t figured out yet how many doses of the jab people may ultimately need.

“I think people do have a certain fear out there that this booster thing is going to be like every two or three months and everyone’s going to have to go and get a booster. And I don’t think we have the answer to that yet,” Ryan said.

SAGE may eventually redefine how many doses will make up the “primary series” of shots, Ryan added, explaining that most healthy people may need just two, but the elderly or immunocompromised could require three or four.

Last week, the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC) said that a vaccination strategy “based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable,” urging member countries to prioritize primary vaccinations for high-risk groups over universal boosting.

TAG-Co-VAC experts also said that current vaccines focus on reducing severe disease and protecting healthcare systems, while there is an ongoing need for vaccines that prevent infection and transmission of the virus.

https://www.rt.com/news/546448-who-boosters-children-teens/