6 Oct, 2022 09:01

EU makes U-turn on sanctioning world’s largest diamond miner — media

Russia’s Alrosa was reportedly excluded after Belgium blocked an embargo

Alrosa, the Russian state-run diamond miner, has been excluded from the EU’s next round of sanctions, the EUobserver reported on Wednesday, citing European Commission papers.

The world’s largest diamond mining operation by volume was initially listed in the draft proposal of the bloc’s eighth sanction package.The enterprise allegedly provided direct financing of a new Russian naval submarine and fed billions of euros a year into the military budget.

However, Alrosa stayed off the final list that includes 29 individuals and seven legal entities. Belgium, home to the world’s largest diamond trading hub, Antwerp, blocked the EU embargo.

The U-turn reportedly came after Belgian diplomats and Antwerp Diamond Centre lobbyists raised red flags over the move that could cost thousands of jobs in the city.

Moscow-traded shares of the diamond miner, which is responsible for around 90% of Russia’s capacity, were up on the news.

In April, Alrosa, whose exports exceeded $4.5 billion last year alone, was placed on the sanction list of the US Treasury and State Department, along with the United Shipbuilding Corporation.

In June, the company managed to avoid a Western-backed attempt to prevent Russian precious stones from being sold on the global market. Ukraine, the EU, Australia, Britain, Canada, and the US were reportedly planning to put forward a proposal aimed at broadening the definition of conflict diamonds, used by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The effort was set to potentially label Russian gemstones as ‘blood diamonds’, but failed after Russia, Belarus, the Central African Republic, Kyrgyzstan, and Mali voiced their objections.

https://www.rt.com/business/564115-alrosa-excluded-eu-sanctions-belgium/

Diamonds safe, food and energy sanctioned, wow. Jobs in Belgium important but not the rest of the EU.

6 Oct, 2022 11:36

US may offer sanctions relief to Venezuela for oil – WSJ

Chevron may reportedly be allowed to drill for crude if Caracas agrees to “free and fair” elections

Washington is preparing to partially ease sanctions on Venezuela to allow the US multinational energy corporation Chevron to resume pumping oil in the South American country, WSJ reported on Wednesday.

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will have to hold talks with the opposition to “discuss conditions needed” to hold “free and fair” presidential elections in 2024, and will get a “significant sanctions relief” in exchange, the publication reported, quoting sources familiar with the matter.

Washington, Caracas and some Venezuelan opposition figures have reportedly worked out a deal that wouldfree up some of the Venezuelan state funds frozen in American banksto pay for food, medicine and equipment for utility services.

After a ban on Russian oil in the US and a partial embargo in Europe, Washington turned to Venezuela for oil relief and indicated over the past few months that it may relax economic pressure on Caracas, including allowing it to increase its oil exports. Before the war in Ukraine, roughly 30% of the oil consumed in the EU came from Russia.

It was reported in June that the US greenlit shipments of Venezuelan oil to Europe by Italian oil company Eni and Spain’s Repsol, under an oil-for-debt deal. In August, however, Caracas reportedly suspended the shipments and asked Eni and Repsol to provide it with fuel in exchange for future cargoes.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest known oil reserves, has been under US sanctions for over 15 years. The latest round of restrictions, imposed in 2019 following allegations of election fraud, has seen all Venezuelan government assets frozen in the US and any dealings with US citizens and companies barred.

Chevron maintains its presence in Venezuela but is not allowed to drill for crude oil. If the deal goes through and Chevron resumes drilling, it would put “only a limited amount of new oil on the world market in the short term,”WSJ writes.

https://www.rt.com/business/564155-us-venezuela-sanctions-relief-oil/

The birthplace of Dominion voting machine, will get sanctions lifted if they promise “free and fair elections”. Thats just fucking insane, but Bidan admin doesn’t mind cheating in elections and needs oil.

6 Oct, 2022 09:27

Telegram CEO issues warning about WhatsApp security

The mobile messenger service is a surveillance tool and will never be safe for users, Pavel Durov claimed

The latest vulnerabilities discovered in the WhatsApp messenger are a reminder that theMeta-owned product is first and foremost a surveillance tool, the man behind the competing Telegram app has warned.

Pavel Durov blasted WhatsApp in a post on Thursday. It came in response to a developer’s report about two new flaws discovered in its programming.

Both vulnerabilities allow an interested party to plant malware on a device running WhatsApp. A user needs to answer a video call or play a specially crafted video file to be exposed, potentially giving hackers full access to his or her phone.

According to Durov, the new discoveries fit a long pattern of WhatsApp posing a critical security risk to users. He explained that “it’s almost certain that a new security flaw already exists there”because such vulnerabilities are “planted backdoors.”

“If one backdoor is discovered and has to be removed, another one is added,” he claimed, urging people to read his own 2019 article about what he believes to be the inherently dangerous nature of the messaging service.

Durov noted at the time that WhatsApp was designed for surveillance purposes and was tailored to the needs of US government agencies like the FBI. He said claims that developers put user privacy at the forefront was false advertising.

In addition to recurring vulnerabilities, he cited the heavily-encouraged feature, which allows users to store conversations in the cloud. The archives are not properly encrypted, and the government can get access to them via subpoenas, Durov noted.

In his post, the Telegram developer warned that not even wealthy individuals like Jeff Bezos are safe. He was referring to the reported hack on the phone of the Amazon founder in 2018 allegedly via a message sent from a number used by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“If you have WhatsApp installed on your phone, all your data from every app on your device is accessible,” Durov claimed.

He urged people to delete the app and switch to any messenger that takes their safety seriously. He did so years ago, the tech executive added.

https://www.rt.com/news/564138-telegram-durov-whatsapp-backdoors/

Isnt this the app FBI uses?

An Epidemic of Cognitive Impairment?

Victor Davis Hanson

President Joe Biden, the nominal head of the Democratic Party, is 79. But he increasingly acts and sounds 89. Recently, Biden has pivoted repeatedly on stage with his arm outstretched to shake the hand — of someone not there.

On one recent occasion Biden called out for Representative Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., who passed away in a car crash in early August. He was insistent, shouting to the crowd, “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she wasn’t going to be here — to help make this a reality.” Biden’s fantasy was the reality that Walorski is no longer with us.

Biden slurs his words. He truncates sentences. He speaks in a muddled voice that often makes comprehension impossible. When questioned, he grows irate, growls, and stutters.

Biden’s messaging is even more confused than his medium. On any given day, Biden may impetuously announce that U.S. soldiers will defend the soil of Taiwan, or that the “killer” Russian President Vladimir Putin, unhinged head of nuclear Russia, must be removed from office promptly. Biden confuses Iran with Ukraine. He calls a senior African American assistant “my boy.”

For much of the Trump presidency, leftist opponents sought to remove him by the 25th Amendment. A Yale psychiatrist diagnosed Trump in absentia and declared him deserving of a straitjacket forced intervention. Partisan charges grew so intense that Trump voluntarily took — and aced — the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.Strangely, the same Left arm-chair psychiatrists offer no such worries about Biden’s clear mental decline.

One reason Biden enjoys immunity from removal is that his 57-year-old vice president,Kamala Harris, is seen to be even more incoherent and ill-informed. Harris cannot plead age as the cause of her mental confusion. Yet, the more the public sees and hears Harris’ mixed-up word salads, and bizarre cackling spells, the more it is convinced that she is either ignorant or intellectually lazy — or both.

Recently while at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, she read from a prepared speech that the United States honors its “very important,” “strong,” and “enduring,” “alliance” — with the communist, genocidal “Republic of North Korea.”

Millions of Floridians remain currently displaced by Hurricane Ian. In response, Harris recently reassured them that impending federal assistance would be predicated not on need or individual disasters, but on the basis of skin color. Translated that would mean that millions of the homeless, white middle-class should wait in line for relief..

Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi is 82. At times she too seems trapped in her own world disconnected from reality. Pelosi apparently recently mixed up Taiwan with mainland Communist China, and thus exclaimed “China is one of the freest societies in the world.”

She stood up and weirdly rubbed her clenched fists together when Biden in his state of the union address darkly mentioned the dangers of soldiers inhaling toxic fumes from burn pits.

Of course, after one of Trump’s SOTU addresses, Pelosi proceeded indignantly to tear up her copy of the speech on national television…

The Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania John Fetterman is running for senator in his home state. His handlers try to keep him from questioners. They duck debates. And they count on the media to edit videos of his increasingly rare and bizarre appearances.Why?

Fetterman recently suffered a severe life-threatening stroke, the details and prognoses of which he has yet to fully disclose.

Like Biden, Fetterman is now severely cognitively impaired. He cannot finish a coherent sentence while campaigning.

Almost daily Fetterman suffers long bouts of incoherence. He even becomes confused over where exactly he and his crowd are: “Send us back to New Jersey and send me to DC.”

The Democratic Party’s top hierarchy is run by octogenarians and septuagenarians. In the case of Biden and Pelosi, their powerful positions and age-related cognitive disabilities startle both Americans and allies abroad.

Why is the supposed party of youth dominated by such frail and forgetful elderly?

Maybe because the alternative of the next generation of would-be leaders waiting in the wings — like a Kamala Harris or John Fetterman — is more frightening still.

https://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/2022/10/06/an-epidemic-of-cognitive-impairment-n1635052

The Morning Briefing: Can a Republican Majority Rein in the Lawless DOJ?

Stephen Kruiser

I wrote last week about the growing “fascist creep factor” in Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice. The FBI has become a thug political hit squad under Joe Biden and Garland, with agents routinely being dispatched to harass and/or arrest American citizens who dare disagree with the Democrats’ radical progressive lunacy.

As Robert writes, while the DOJ continues its obsession with a right-wing terror threat that doesn’t exist, real criminals who commit Democrat-friendly crimes like firebombing pro-life pregnancy centers go unpunished.

Some Republicans in Congress have made some noise about dealing with Garland and the DOJ should they regain the majority in the House. The threats have been rather vague until now. Lincoln wrote an interesting column yesterday about some detailed ideas that are being considered:

The Washington Times reports that House Republicans have had it up to their eyebrows with misconduct by federal law enforcement and, armed with the information that has been provided to them by whistleblowers, are vowing a crackdown. GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee plan to create new laws and launch investigations into the FBI and DOJ. One of the moves that members have been spitballing includes, but is not limited to, requiring federal law enforcement officials to wear cameras when they stage a raid.

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) has suggested moving the DOJ supervision of the FBI out of D.C. and giving it to U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country. Other ideas include creating special committees to probe the FBI and DOJ and strengthening congressional referrals to the Department of Justice for criminal investigations. That last idea is backed by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who told the Washington Times that he is drafting the necessary legislation. He recalled how Congress referred Lois Lerner and Eric Holder criminally during the Obama administration, but the moves were unsuccessful. Issa believes the new legislation will prevent this problem in the future.

Of course, it would be better if the FBI started raiding the homes and offices of actual criminals, but some added transparency would be a good start. The lack of accountability right now is what is most problematic. When those charged with keeping the law aren’t subject to that law, abuse of power is inevitable.

As Lincoln wrote, these ideas are a good start. The real problem with the DOJ and the FBI is the rot at the top. As I’ve written many times, as much as I enjoyed Donald Trump’s presidency, I thought his failure to clean house at the FBI was a permanent stain on his record. I’m still surprised that he didn’t fire Christopher Wray on his way out of the door on Jan. 20, 2021.

More from Lincoln:

There may be some DOJ and FBI employees who are true believers in the progressive agenda. But the rank-and-file didn’t come up with these things on its own. The fact that there are whistleblowers at all would indicate that. No, the problem is deeper and higher than that. To address the problem effectively, the source of the infection itself needs to be removed, along with treating the symptoms.

Bingo.

The big question is whether the Republicans will have the fortitude to follow through with these plans. The party has an annoying history of talking a big game when it’s in the minority, then just behaving like grandstanding bureaucrats once it’s back in the majority. While my skepticism does remain high, I do think that the DOJ under Garland has strengthened the resolve of the Republicans.

A lot will depend on who the new speaker is. If it’s Kevin McCarthy, we could very well be in for more empty grandstanding.

Here’s hoping they elect someone who’s in the mood to go scorched Earth.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2022/10/06/the-morning-briefing-can-a-republican-majority-rein-in-the-lawless-doj-n1635064

DOJ Charges 11 Pro-Life Activists for 2021 Sit-In at Abortion Clinic — FBI Descends on Defendant’s Home ‘with Guns Drawn’

Paul Bois5 Oct 2022

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly charged 11 pro-life advocates with federal charges related to a 2021 protest at a Tennessee abortion clinic.

In a press release announcing the charges on Wednesday, the Department of Justice said that the 11 individuals violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act during a 2021 protest in which they “engaged in a conspiracy to prevent” a Nashville-area abortion clinic “from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.” Their names: Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Caroline Davis, Paul Vaughn, Dennis Green, Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place.

Identifying Chester Gallagher as the leader, the department alleges that he utilized social media to coordinate the blockade of an abortion, otherwise known as a “rescue.”

“His coconspirators and others blocked the clinic’s entry doors and prevented a patient and an employee from entering,” said the department. “The 11 individuals, aided and abetted by one another, used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services.”

Without going into specifics, the charges further allege that the activists used “physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because the clinic was providing, and the patient sought reproductive health services.”

According to Live Action, the FBI attempted to raid the home of Chester (Chet) Gallagher over what they reported was a peaceful protest that local authorities did not see fit to prosecute:

The event in March 2021 was reportedly peaceful, with participants lining the inside hallway of a shared general medical office building which, in one area, houses the Carafem abortion facility. The rescuers who were gathered that day prayed and sang, and the event was nonviolent. Some recorded the events on video. Several participants were arrested by local police that day and were later released after posting bail for misdemeanor trespass charges.

FBI agents “arrived with guns drawn” at Gallagher’s home. Since Gallagher was out of state at the time, the agents also “attempted to gain information on his whereabouts from neighbors,” according to LiveAction. LifeNews reports officers “demanded his whereabouts from Gallagher’s family.”

A majority of the defendants could receive up to eleven years in prison, according to the DOJ’s announcement:

If convicted of the offenses, the seven conspiracy defendants each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines of up to $350,000. The remaining five defendants face a year in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $10,000.

The indictment was approved by a federal grand jury after the FBI raided the home of pro-life activist Mark Houck as his “screaming” children watched in horror last month over charges related to the FACE Act stemming from an incident in which Houck shoved a 72-year-old abortion activist who was escorting women into a Planned Parenthood clinic. Houck’s family maintains that the man had been harassing his 12-year-old son.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/10/05/doj-charges-11-pro-life-advocates-allegedly-violating-face-act/

J.K. Rowling Blasts Woke Celebs for Supporting Trans Kids Charity After Ties to Pedophilia Network Revealed

Kurt Zindulka6 Oct 2022

Woke celebrities and corporations will be “panicking” over their support of a controversial children’s transgender charity that has been revealed to have connections to advocates of paedophilia, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has predicted.

Author and outspoken critic of modern transgender ideology, J.K. Rowling came out against the woke establishment that has supported the British charity Mermaids, which has been revealed to have employed a trustee who attended a pro-paedophilia event as a PhD student in 2011.

The charity, Mermaids, a member of Consortium which describes itself as “a safe place for transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse young people”, has drawn support from the likes of Prince Harry, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdof, and even Harry Potteractress Emma Watson. It has also received funding from the government as well as the National Lottery.

Speaking out against the support for the trans children organisation on social media, J.K. Rowling said: “I don’t doubt that there are some panicky phone calls being placed to PR people by certain corporations and celebrities right now, but as they remain completely insulated from the severe harm they’ve enabled, my sympathy can be measured in gnats’ thimbles.”

The Harry Potter author said that she didn’t believe that Mermaids would have been able to achieve its level of influence on British society, notably on the disgraced Tavistock gender reassignment clinic for children — which has been ordered to shut over safety concerns — were it not for the “money and public support of certain corporations and celebrities, who eagerly boosted them even though the red flags have been there for years.”

This week the Times of London revealed that in 2011, Dr Jacob Breslow, who was then a graduate student studying gender research at the London School of Economics, gave a speech at an event hosted by the B4U-ACT organisation, which claims to support “understanding about people in our communities with an attraction to children or adolescents, and to support them living in truth and dignity.”

According to the British broadsheet of record, the presentation from Dr Breslow focussed on criticising how paedophiles are viewed in society, and opted to use the newspeak “minor attracted persons” rather than paedophile.

Following the report, Breslow resigned from his trustee position at Mermaids, which he reportedly was elevated to in July of this year.

The pro-transgenderism charity said per the BBC that the views of Dr Breslow and the pro-paedophile organisation are “completely at odds with our values.”

“Once notified we took swift and decisive action to investigate. Dr Breslow tendered his notice on the same day. “We will be reviewing our processes and procedures in light of this event to make them even more robust. Safeguarding is of the utmost importance to Mermaids and the safety of the young people we support is our highest priority.”

However, this was not sufficient for J.K. Rowling who said: “When you appoint a trustee to a children’s charity, you do due diligence. A simple google search would have enabled Mermaids to read Breslow’s own words. Either they did literally no checking, or they were fine with his views. Either way, it’s a catastrophic safeguarding failure.”

In a dramatic turn of events, Mermaids is now facing a challenge to its own charitable status, after complaints alleged that the organisation sent “chest-flattening devices” to children without the consent of their parents.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/10/06/jk-rowling-blasts-woke-celebrities-for-supporting-transgender-childrens-charity-with-ties-to-paedophilia/

6 Oct, 2022 09:00

EU commissioner warns Ukraine on NATO bid

The alliance does not accept nations at war, to avoid being dragged into one, Commissioner Thierry Breton said

Ukraine’s goal of becoming a part of NATO cannot be realized as long as it is engaged in armed hostilities with Russia, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton has said.

Speaking on the French TV channel BFM on Thursday, Thierry Breton called the ongoing conflict a disqualifying condition for Kiev’s bid. Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky earlier sent a request to NATO, asking the US-led bloc to grant Ukraine candidate status and fast-track it into the alliance.

“To apply for NATO membership, you must not be a country at war,” the French businessman and EU commissioner for the internal market said. “Accessions are made when the countries are at peace” because otherwise the entire alliance would be dragged into the conflict that the new member is engaged in.

As “Ukraine is, alas, a country at war,” its demand for NATO membership is a “symbolic, political demand,” Breton argued.

Ukraine declared its strategic goal of joining NATO after the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev. In 2019, the policy choice was enshrined in the nation’s constitution.

Last Friday, Zelensky signed on camera a formal call to “accelerate” his country’s accession, arguing that Ukraine was “de facto”already part of the organization. His office heavily implied that a positive reaction would follow.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated on the same day that the bloc maintained its previous stance. While it supported Kiev’s fight against Russia and kept the door open, “NATO is not party to the conflict” and would not change its Ukraine policy, the official told journalists.

Nine central and eastern European members of the alliance have expressed support for Ukraine’s proposed swift accession, but others, including the US, either tacitly or directly rejected it. Bulgaria said Kiev and Moscow must be at peace before Ukraine can join the bloc.

When Russia sent troops into Ukraine in late February, it cited a growing threat to its national security as one of the reasons. Moscow accused NATO of a creeping expansion into Ukraine despite not formally accepting it as a member, and said it crossed Russia’s red line.

https://www.rt.com/news/564144-eu-commissioner-ukraine-nato/

NATO will never allow Ukraine to join, it would be like asking another Erdogan dictator of Turkey to join. He creates havoc in NATO, but the country is necessary for their needs. They don’t want another Erdogan.