25 Jul, 2022 02:00

US officials voice DNA biowarfare fears

A House Intelligence Committee member warns Americans against using DNA testing kits

Biosamples gathered by various DNA testing services could be sold and used to develop bioweapons specifically tailored to target certain groups or even individuals, US lawmakers have claimed at the Aspen Security Forum – echoing concerns long voiced by Russian officials.

“There are now weapons under development, and developed, that are designed to target specific people,” US Representative Jason Crow (D-Colorado), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in Colorado on Friday. “That’s what this is, where you can actually take someone’s DNA, take their medical profile, and you can target a biological weapon that will kill that person or take them off the battlefield or make them inoperable.”

Given that threat, Crow added, it’s troubling that expectations of privacy for personal data have diminished over the past 20 years, to the point that young people have “very little expectation of privacy” and readily give their data to private companies, such as DNA testing services.

“People will very rapidly spit into a cup and send it to 23andMe and get really interesting data about their background,” Crow said. “And guess what? Their DNA is now owned by a private company. It can be sold off with very little intellectual property protection or privacy protection.”

He added that the US will need to create new guidelines for protection of personal health data, including DNA, “because that data is actually going to be procured and collected by our adversaries for the development of these systems.”

Moscow has been warning about the dangers of uncontrolled gathering of DNA samples for years, with President Vladimir Putin stating back in 2017 that according to Russian intelligence services, biological samples were being harvested “purposefully and professionally” all over Russia by various NGOs and other organizations for obscure purposes.

Since then, the Pentagon has “significantly expanded its research potential not only in the field of creating biological weapons, but also obtaining information about antibiotic resistance and the presence of antibodies to certain diseases in populations of specific regions,” Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force, said in May.

In a series of briefings starting in March, the Russian military has been presenting evidence of the Pentagon’s alleged involvement in funding biolaboratories in Ukraine. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the US poured more than $224 million into biological research in Ukraine between 2005 and early 2022.

While Washington admitted its support of 46 biological research facilities in Ukraine over the past 20 years, it insists it was all part of a peaceful public health project. The US military accused Russia and China of “spreading disinformation and sowing mistrust” about its efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction – while Western media dismissed the claims as a conspiracy theories and science fiction.

Concerns over customized bioweapons extend beyond human DNA data, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities and Armed Services Committee, who spoke on a panel with Crow. America's adversaries can also direct bioweapons specifically at US livestock and crops to create a food security crisis, she claimed.

“There’s a number of ways we can look at biological weapons and the need to make sure not only are we securing human beings, but then also the food that will sustain us,” Ernst said.

A report issued earlier this year by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission suggested that China could someday attempt to wage biological warfare against genetically modified American crops, given its increased “interest in US agriculture” and GMO-related intellectual property….

https://www.rt.com/news/559580-dna-samples-targeted-bioweapons/

24 Jul, 2022 21:16

Israel warns Moscow about ‘consequences’ amid Jewish Agency row

Banning a key agency in Russia would have a “grave” impact on ties between the two countries, Israeli PM warned

The anticipated closure of The Jewish Agency in Russia will have a serious impact on Russia-Israel relations, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned on Sunday. The quasi-governmental organization, which promotes the repatriation of Jews to Israel, has been targeted by Russia’s Justice ministry over alleged violations of local law.

“Prime Minister Lapid said in the meeting that ties with Russia are important to Israel. The Jewish community in Russia is large and important and comes up in every diplomatic discussion with the administration in Moscow,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

Closing the Jewish Agency’s offices would be a grave event, which will have consequences on those ties.

Earlier this week, a Moscow court said it had received a formal request from the Justice Ministry to liquidate the Russian branch of the agency.

While the exact nature of the allegations the agency faces has not been made public, Israeli media reported the organization had earlier this month received a warning from the ministry over a breach of laws related to data storage and protection. The pretrial hearing on the case, which may result in a ban on the agency, is scheduled for Thursday.

Responding to the situation around the organization, Israel expressed readiness to immediately dispatch a diplomatic delegation to Russia to “to ensure the continuation” of the group’s activities in the country. The readiness for talks was reiterated on Sunday, with the PM’s office confirming the delegation would be ready to set out for Moscow as soon as “it receives Russian approval for the talks.”

The Jewish Agency, founded in late 1920, first assisted in repatriating Jews to Palestinian lands, and to the state of Israel later on. In Russia, the organization maintains a large network, with its officers and partners operating in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major cities across the country.

(It’s started, finally a nation says what the real threat is. This imo is huge)

https://www.rt.com/news/559576-israel-russia-jewish-agency/

24 Jul, 2022 22:19

Top US general warns of more ‘aggressive’ China

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has claimed that the Chinese military has become a greater danger to America and allies

America’s top general is sounding an alarm over the Chinese military, saying it has become increasingly aggressive in encounters with other military forces operating in the Asia-Pacific region, making itself a greater threat to the US and its allies.

“The message is, the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday during a visit to Indonesia.

Intercepts of US and allied aircraft and ships by Chinese forces have increased significantly over the past five years, Milley said. The number of such interactions deemed “unsafe” by the Pentagon has escalated similarly. The general recently ordered his staff to compile a report detailing interactions between Chinese forces and the US and its allies in the region.

In one such incident just last month, a Chinese J-16 jet pilot allegedly endangered the crew of an Australian surveillance plane in international airspace over the South China Sea. The pilot allegedly cut in front of the plane and released a bundle of chaff containing small pieces of aluminum, some of which were sucked into the engine of the Australian aircraft.

US officials have increasingly raised concerns over China’s military and foreign policy, including its refusal to join in sanctioning Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Just last month, US Air Force Major General lamented that Beijing is building its arsenal of weapons five to six times faster than Washington and is doing so at a dramatically lower cost. He argued that China’s geopolitical ambitions are “an existential threat to our way of life, to the freedoms that our kids may or may not enjoy.”

Beijing has pushed back. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters last week that the US instigated the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Chinese officials also have accused Washington of raising tensions in Asia-Pacific, including meddling with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

Chinese officials reportedly warned President Joe Biden’s administration of a possible military response if US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) goes through with a planned visit to Taiwan next month.

Milley made his stop in Indonesia as part of a trip through the Asia-Pacific region, culminating with a meeting of defense chiefs later this week in Sydney. Among the concerns likely to be discussed is China’s new security agreement with the Solomon Islands, which was signed in April. The US and Australia have fretted that China may try to build a military base in the Solomon Islands.

“This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this is concerning because China is not doing it just for benign reasons,” the Associated Press quoted Milley as telling reporters who are traveling with him on his Asia trip. “They’re trying to expand their influence throughout the region. And that has potential consequences that are not necessarily favorable to our allies and partners in the region."

(Really the guy that said he’d call his counterpart in China if the US was going to war with China, now call them a threat?)

https://www.rt.com/news/559577-milley-warns-of-chinese-military-aggression/

24 Jul, 2022 17:56

Spies tried to force me to take anti-Russia stance – Serbian minister

Serbian interior minister claims foreign spies have been pressing him into taking anti-Russia stance

A major foreign intelligence service has been pressing Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin over his attitude towards Russia and China, the official revealed on Saturday. The minister expects a large media campaign against him to kick off next week.

“One of the largest intelligence services in the world, if not the largest, told me that my stance was unacceptable and that if I do not change [it] and do not abandon the policy that I am pursuing … then I will not be a member of the government and they will do absolutely everything to smear me,” Vulin told media outlet Pink.

A media campaign against him is expected to begin next week, Vulin claimed. Despite the pressure, the minister said he refused to cooperate in any way with the foreign spies. “I haven’t worked and won’t work for anyone except for the Serbian people, the Serbian state, and I won’t be completely loyal to anyone, except for the president of all Serbs, Aleksandar Vucic,” the minister said.

The condition was that I start working for this foreign intelligence service. I will not, even at the cost of my own life.

The minister also urged the country’s president to keep Serbia neutral, as well as to maintain good relations with Russia and China, regardless of external pressure.

Top Serbian officials have repeatedly said the country faced mounting foreign pressure amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Belgrade, however, has refused to join any anti-Russian sanctions or other hostile acts by the collective West, maintaining that Serbia will continue pursuing its own interests, while keeping its long-standing ties with Moscow.

Vulin has taken a particularly strong position amid the ongoing crisis. Early in July, the minister said the US and the EU have been openly pressing Serbia into becoming “a NATO foot soldier” in order to become “someone who wants to engage in a conflict with Russia.”

“We are very clear: We will not engage in a conflict with Russia, we will not engage in other people’s wars, we will not be someone else’s foot soldiers,” he declared back then.

https://www.rt.com/news/559571-serbia-foreign-spy-campaign/

23 Jul, 2022 13:31

Zelensky makes claim about Ukraine’s combat losses

The armed forces are losing around 30 troops a day compared to 100-200 previously, the Ukrainian president claims

Ukraine’s combat losses have decreased to around 30 fatalities a day from the previous 100-200, President Vladimir Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview published on Friday, Zelensky said he always knows the exact numbers because he lives with this “every day.” Checking his smartphone for the latest figures supplied to him by the military, Zelensky said that at the peak of the fighting in May and June, Ukraine was losing 100-200 troops a day, while now it’s around 30 soldiers killed per day and around 250 injured.

The president, citing military policy, refused to disclose the country’s total military losses since the beginning of the Russian military operation, but claims that the figure is a few times lower than Russia’s. Moscow’s assessment of the numbers is the opposite.

Zelensky partially attributed Ukraine’s supposed success to the Western weapons being sent to the country, particularly to the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems and howitzers.

Moscow has consistently warned the West against providing Kiev with weapons, saying it would only lead to unnecessary casualties and would not prevent the Russian military from achieving its goals.

On July 4, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that over the previous two weeks alone, Ukraine had lost almost 5,500 troops, including over 2,000 killed.

Regarding its own military casualties, Moscow has not been updating the numbers since March, when it reported 1,351 military personnel killed.

In June, the head of the Russian Duma’s Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, claimed that, due to changes in military strategy, theRussian Army has “practically ceased to lose people.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/559514-losses-ukraine-russia-zelensky/

22 Jul, 2022 18:42

Top Ukrainian official denied entry to country

Vladimir Zelensky has reportedly stripped a number of people of citizenship

The Ukrainian border guard has stopped Gennady Korban from entering the country and seized his passport, the politician said in a Facebook post on Friday. Korban, who currently leads the territorial defense force of Dnepr Region, was attempting to enter Ukraine from Poland.

“It still feels like some kind of misunderstanding or prank. They confiscated my Ukrainian passport,” Korban said.

The official urged Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to personally address the “misunderstanding.” Korban is now reportedly stuck at the Smilnitsa border, as he lacks the documents to go back to Poland. So far, no official information on the incident has been made public by the border guard or any other authority.

The border standoff comes in wake of media reports that suggested Zelensky had issued a secret decree, stripping several high-profile Ukrainian nationals of their citizenship. The list includes Ukrainian oligarch and former governor of Dnepropetrovsk Region Igor Kolomoysky – believed to be the top sponsor of Zelensky’s 2019 presidential campaign – Kolomoysky’s former deputy Korban, the co-chair of the outlawed Opposition Platform — For Life party Vadim Rabinovich, and other figures.

The authenticity of the decree, however, has been questioned, given that Ukraine’s constitution explicitly prohibits stripping anyone of citizenship. Ukraine’s top officials have been quite ambiguous on the matter, with Alexey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, neither confirming nor denying the existence of the decree.

“Decrees, if they contain personal data, are internal use-only. You may not see them because citizenship decrees contain personal data. I cannot tell you whether they will be published because I have entirely different duties,” Danilov told local TV.

The Korban affair was harshly criticized by his long-time associate, Mayor of Dnepr Boris Filatov, who slammed the decision to bar him from entering the country as “petty” and “indecent” in a Facebook post. The official also drew a comparison between the actions of the Ukrainian authorities and those of Nazi Germans, who “stripped [Jews] of citizenship based on their birth.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/559476-ukraine-official-entry-ban/

22 Jul, 2022 13:52

Donbass republics ban Google

The Donetsk People’s Republic will block the search engine to protect its population from alleged misinformation

The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has decided to block Google in an attempt to shield the local population from “threats” coming from both the West and Kiev, DPR leader Denis Pushilin announced on Friday.

The Russian and DPR leadership are taking steps to protect Donbass, as “the West and Ukraine are placing unprecedented pressure on the Republic and creating threats to both physical and psychological security,” Pushilin wrote on Telegram. “The purpose of this pressure is to intimidate the citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic, to break their spirit.”

Although he expressed confidence that the West will not succeed, Pushilin said action had to be taken, adding that “the ruthless propaganda” from Ukraine and the West has gone over the edge, with Russians being persecuted, and “disinformation and lies” being spread.

In this regard,Google search engine, which is at the forefront of information technologies, openly promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians, and especially the Donbass population, acting at the behest of its supervisors from the US government.

“To my mind, this situation can be tolerated no more. We have decided to block Google on the territory of the DPR. This is what any society would do to criminals – it isolates them from other people,” Pushilin said.

He noted that the decision would be reversed if Google backtracks on its “criminal policies,” embraces common sense, and complies with the law.

A similar statement to this effect was made by the authorities of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), with its head, Leonid Pasechnik, saying Google has become “the main weapon” used by the West and Ukraine in their media offensive against Donbass. “We will do fine without Google. If they redeem themselves and start respecting people – we will think about its return,” he said.

The move to ban Google in the DPR comes after Russia fined the company 21 billion rubles ($356 million) on Monday, citing its failure to delete prohibited information on the Ukraine conflict. Russia has long been critical of the way foreign platforms deal with online content. In March, it introduced a law that allows substantial fines or more severe punishment to be imposed on persons and entities deemed to be discrediting the Russian Armed Forces and spreading false information about the conflict.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559454-donbass-bans-google-propaganda/

24 Jul, 2022 23:55

White House doctor explains Biden's ‘deep voice’

The US president’s symptoms are easing, except for a persistent sore throat, after three full days of treatment

President Joe Biden is making strides in recovering from his Covid-19 infection, as his cough, body aches and other symptoms have “diminished considerably” after three full days of treatment with the Paxlovid antiviral drug, White House Dr. Kevin O’Connor reported.

The president’s main symptom currently is a lingering sore throat, O’Connor said in a statement on Sunday, adding, “This is most likely a result of lymphoid activation as his body clears the virus and is thus encouraging.”

Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, despite having been fully vaccinated against the virus and receiving two booster shots. He was infected with the BA.5 variant of the virus, currently the dominant strain in the US, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha confirmed on Sunday.

Biden hasn’t been seen publicly since Friday, when he participated in a remote meeting with his economic advisors. The president, 79, repeatedly interrupted his comments to cough. He began by saying in a raspy voice, “Let me start by apologizing my voice. I’m feeling much better than I sound.”

“His voice remains a bit deep,” O’Connor said in Sunday’s statement. “His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature all remain normal.”

Jha claimed that Biden is recovering well largely because he was fully vaccinated. None of the 17 people who were determined to have been in close contact with the president around the time he may have been infected, including White House staffers and members of Congress, has tested positive for Covid-19, the doctor added.

(Has he been replaced?)

https://www.rt.com/news/559578-biden-doctor-symptoms-covid/

https://twitter.com/McAdooGordon/status/1551362756787539975?s=20&t=qfZHq7hafRAVkQ3eHlGbPQ

Army recruiting soiboys…this will not end well

https://twitter.com/michelepexner/status/1551384397752025091?s=20&t=qfZHq7hafRAVkQ3eHlGbPQ

I think this story is made up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if its true

https://twitter.com/ShidelerK/status/1551339867589820417?s=20&t=qfZHq7hafRAVkQ3eHlGbPQ

>>16798798

Really good and it was great to see this 18 year old kid, getting it early and asking important questions.

Notable

https://twitter.com/claudiatenney/status/1551365252280893440?s=20&t=qfZHq7hafRAVkQ3eHlGbPQ