Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called in troops to assist the country after protests erupted over high fuel prices and the autocratic government that has been in power the past two decades.

The troops, who were told to "shoot to kill" by the president, were wearing blue helmets that resembled those used by U.N. peacekeepers. The U.N. raised concerns about the use of the helmets, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Monday, The Washington Post reported.

"Countries are to use U.N. insignia only when they are performing their mandated tasks as U.N. peacekeepers in the context of their deployment within a U.N. peacekeeping operation," Dujarric said.

Kazakhstan's ambassador to the United Nations said on Twitter that there was no "UN" marking on gear worn by those responding to the protests, except for local peacekeepers, and "all necessary measures" were used to prevent equipment associated with the U.N. being used in "counter-terrorism operations" during the protests.

https://news.yahoo.com/un-rips-kazakhstan-troops-seen-163245475.html

Oath Keepers planning to violently subvert the 2020 election stockpiled 30 days of supplies and a cache of rifles and ammunition just outside of Washington, D.C., prosecutors alleged in a late-night court filing.

In a memo seeking the pretrial detention of Oath Keeper Ed Vallejo — one of 11 members of the group charged last week with seditious conspiracy to violently prevent Joe Biden from taking office — prosecutors provided new details about the weapons stockpile Oath Keepers had assembled at a Comfort Inn in nearby Arlington, Va.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/19/oath-keepers-jan-6-weapons-cache-527359

“But for Rhodes and others, there was no need for Trump’s words of encouragement. Action was already planned.”

WILMINGTON, Del. — Two days after the presidential election on Nov. 2, 2020, the Oath Keepers were already convinced that victory had been stolen from President Donald Trump and members of the far-right militia group were making plans to march on the U.S. Capitol.

“We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” the group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes, wrote fellow members, according to court documents. “Too late for that. Prepare your mind. body. spirit.”

Five days after the election, when The Associated Press and other news outlets declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, the documents say Rhodes told Oath Keepers to “refuse to accept it and march en-masse on the nation’s Capitol.”

The indictment last week of Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and 10 other members or associates was stunning in part because federal prosecutors, after a year of investigating the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, charged them with seditious conspiracy, a rarely-used Civil War-era statute reserved for only the most serious of political criminals.

But the documents also show how quickly Trump’s most fervent and dangerous supporters mobilized to subvert the election results through force and violence, by any means necessary, even though there was no widespread election fraud and Trump’s Cabinet and local election officials said the vote had been free and fair.

Hundreds of people have been charged in the violent effort to stop the congressional certification of Biden’s victory. Many were animated by Trump’s speech at a rally near the White House, just before the riot, where he said: “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

But for Rhodes and others, there was no need for Trump’s words of encouragement. Action was already planned.

https://triblive.com/news/world/for-oath-keepers-and-founder-jan-6-was-weeks-in-the-making/