DeSantis calls for ceasefire in Ukraine

The Florida governor earlier this year attracted criticism for his dismissal of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War as a "territorial dispute."

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, during a trip to Japan, called on Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, warning of possible mass casualties should the war continue.

"It’s in everybody’s interest to try to get to a place where we can have a cease-fire," he said in a Tuesday interview with Nikkei Asia. "You don’t want to end up in like a Verdun situation, where you just have mass casualties, mass expense and end up with a stalemate."

The Battle of Verdun was a lengthy engagement during the First World War that last more than nine months. With an estimated 750,000 killed or wounded on both sides, it remains one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

The Florida governor further called on European powers to play a greater role in handling the conflict, highlighting the contributions of Poland but noting that other countries had done little.

"The Europeans really need to do more [on Ukraine]," he asserted (parenthetical original). "I mean, this is their continent. The U.S. has provided security for them. And yes, Poland — there’s some that are doing stuff, and that should be appreciated. But Germany, they’re not doing anything."

DeSantis further insisted that U.S. allies, including those in the Pacific, needed to look to their own defense, even as the U.S. seeks to thwart Russian and Chinese expansion. He further contended that China stood as a comparable threat to the United States now as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War.

"If you look at where we are at this juncture in the 21st century, what the Soviet Union was to us, that's really what China represents in terms of the threat to the free world… In many respects, the Chinese Communist Party is stronger than what the Soviet Union was, certainly economically," he contended.

"If the Indo-Pacific is where most of the threats to us are, and that's going to be our focus, then the Europeans are going have to do more [on Ukraine]," the Republican concluded (parenthetical added).

The Florida governor earlier this year attracted criticism for his dismissal of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War as a "territorial dispute."

"While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," he said at the time.

DeSantis later clarified that he had been referring to fighting in the eastern region of Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have waged a war against Kyiv since 2014.

"What I'm referring to… is where the fighting is going on now, which is that eastern border region Donbas, and then Crimea, and you have a situation where Russia has had that. I don't think legitimately, but they had," he told Fox Nation in March.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/desantis-calls-ceasefire-ukraine

Well here we go, is deep state going to stop a war to make DeSantis look good?

https://gab.com/Lightntruth/posts/110262833365435168

US Waged Years-Long Shadow War Against Wagner Mercenaries In Africa

US special forces and intelligence are running a proxy war aimed at disrupting Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries in the Middle East and North Africa, recently unveiled Pentagon leaks show.

The Biden administration has long expressed concern over Wagner's role not just in Ukraine, where it has been spearheading efforts to gain Russian victory over Bakhmut, but especially its expanding presence in Africa as well.

This shadow war appears to have been going for years even before the Ukraine war, with the classified documents which first showed up on Discord confirming that the US military is actively targeting Wagner fighters in secret operations.

The Washington Post was the first to highlight the US intelligence related to Wagner, and reports the following:

One document in the trove lists nearly a dozen “kinetic” and other options that could be pursued as part of “coordinated U.S. and allied disruption efforts.” The files propose providing targeting information to help Ukraine forces kill Wagner commanders, and cite other allies’ willingness to take similar lethal measures against Wagner nodes in Africa.

But, the Post underscores, these operations have done little to degrade Wagner's presence and operations. Interestingly there's even mention of a major incident in Libya:

And yet, there is little in the trove to suggest that the CIA, Pentagon or other agencies have caused more than minor setbacks for Wagner over a six-year stretch during which the mercenary group, controlled by Putin ally Prigozhin, gained strategic footholds in at least eight African countries, among 13 nations where Prigozhin has operated in some capacity, according to one document.

The only direct military strike mentioned in the files refers to “a successful unattributed attack in Libya” that “destroyed a Wagner logistics aircraft.” The document provides no further detail about the operation or why that single plane — part of a far larger Wagner fleet — was targeted.

It remains unclear whether the Libya operation was accomplished using US proxy forces on the ground (such as US-trained Libyan militias), or if it was a direct special forces or CIA attack. Likely it was the former scenario, given the extreme risk for American commandos in Libya.

Russian state media has meanwhile also taken note of the story, with RT writing this week that "A second leaks-based story published by the Post on Monday cites a document alleging that Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the GUR, and its head, Kirill Budanov, planned an attack on Wagner officers in Mali." Russia is alleging this shows a deliberate campaign to assassination Wagner PMC commanders.

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/us-waged-years-long-shadow-war-against-wagner-mercenaries-africa

China Laments Chile Nationalizing Key Green Energy Mineral Lithium, Freezing Beijing Out

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday filed a gloomy report on Chile’s plans to nationalize its lithium industry, which would freeze Beijing out of exploiting the vital “green energy” mineral.

The editors vacillated between warning Chile that it courts disaster, and huffing that China does not really need Chile’s lithium output.

Chile’s left-wing President Gabriel Boric gave a televised address last Thursday to announce that a state-owned company would take control of all lithium production, ostensibly because it would be better able to implement revolutionary new filtration technologies.

Chile is currently the world’s second-largest producer of lithium, which is essential for producing electric vehicle batteries. Australia is the top producer, but Chile has much larger reserves waiting to be tapped.

Existing lithium production techniques rely on extracting the metal by pumping mineral-rich brine from deep underground and pouring it into huge evaporation ponds. Evaporation is slow, relatively inefficient, and creates undesirable gas byproducts.

Boric said Chile’s nationalized production company will shift to direct lithium extraction (DLE), a new and unproven technique that uses extensive filtration systems to extract lithium from brine without evaporation – effectively replacing the vast evaporation ponds with enclosed refinery complexes.

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2023/04/25/china-laments-chile-nationalizing-key-green-energy-mineral-lithium-freezing-beijing-out/

https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2023/04/25/china-laments-chile-nationalizing-key-green-energy-mineral-lithium-freezing-beijing-out/

>>18753838

narrative building for pandemic 2.0

PwC leaked secret tax data from its government work to foreign tax avoiders, potentially costing Australians billions. Like nothing ever happened, they are now picking up multimillion dollar public contracts again.

Three months on from revelations that consultancy firm PWC leaked confidential government briefings to its private clients, assisting them in creating tax avoidance structures, the global giant is back working for government agencies. Fact is, they never left. Just one partner copped a license ban and the firm agreed to – be slapped with a wet compliance lettuce – engage in an ethics program.

In January this year, it was revealed that the Tax Practitioners Board had suspended the licence of Peter John Collins, a former tax partner at PwC, for two years for integrity breaches.

The former partner had leaked confidential Treasury briefings to do with possible multinational tax changes being taken in coordination with the OECD with his colleagues despite signing confidentiality agreements.

At the time, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was “absolutely furious, absolutely ropable.” So furious was he that he asked for advice from the Treasury, the Board of Tax and the Tax Office about “any additional steps that we should be taking to protect the integrity of these processes”.

We don’t know what came of that advice, and Peter John Collins appears to be the only PWC casualty from the scandal. Everyone else involved just had to undergo training about how to handle conflicts of interest.

And now the consultancy giant has scored a contract with the Reserve Bank of Australia to help manage the underpayments of a number of current and former staff over the past seven years.

This is not the only government, or government adjacent, contract that PWC has scored since the January debacle.

https://michaelwest.com.au/pity-about-the-corporate-treason-pwc-is-back-winning-juicy-government-contracts/

Lawsuit filed against Washington’s semi-automatic rifle ban

Taking effect the moment it was signed by Inslee on April 25, HB 1240 bans more than 60 semi-automatic rifles along with other semi-automatic rifles based on either length [shorter than 30 inches] or whether it has one or more accessory or feature.

A coalition of gun rights advocacy groups and individual citizens have filed a lawsuit against a new Washington state ban on firearms deemed “assault weapons” as soon as the legislation was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The complaint filed by the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington argues that HB 1240’s ban on certain types of semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendment.

Taking effect the moment it was signed by Inslee on April 25, HB 1240 bans more than 60 semi-automatic rifles along with other semi-automatic rifles based on either length [shorter than 30 inches] or whether it has one or more accessory or feature. Certain types of semi-automatic shotguns and handguns would also be banned. The legislation was proposed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson and sponsored by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle.

The lawsuit alleges that by doing so “the State of Washington has criminalized one of the most common and important means by which its citizens can exercise their fundamental right to self-defense.”

The lawsuit cites the recent Bruen decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned a New York State law prohibiting people from carrying firearms outside their home without a license. The majority opinion stated that there were two metrics to apply to a gun law. “Whether modern and historical regulations impose a comparable burden on the right of armed self-defense, and second, whether that regulatory burden is comparably justified.” Another metric was whether the firearm is in common use.

The lawsuit asserts that HB 1240 does that, particularly regarding the AR-15, which it claims is “among the most popular firearms in the nation, and they are owned by millions of Americans.”

Speaking at an April 25 bill signing, Ferguson said that “we are a nation of laws and they [gun rights advocates] have the right to challenge that. We have defended a number of bills. Our record so far is pretty good. We plan to keep that record intact.”

Also signed by Inslee was HB 1143, which requires gun purchasers complete a background check and wait 10 business days after purchase to take ownership of a firearm. The purchaser must also show proof of taking a safety training course.

SB 5078 focuses on the firearms industry by making them legally liability for gun sales if they do not take “reasonable precautions” to ensure they’re not sold to people who are not legally allowed to own them. The bill also prohibits firearm manufacturers from marketing any gun products to minors.

Pedersen said at the April 25 bill signing that if a “manufacturer is going to target youth with a message about how cool it is to go shoot assault weapons, you may have some responsibility the next time there is a mass shooting.”

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/lawsuit-filed-against-washingtons-semi-automatic-rifle-ban

Telstra users from Sydney to Coober Pedy hit by outage

Reports are emerging of a major Telstra outage potentially impacting countless Aussie customers of the telco.

Reports are emerging of a major Telstra outage potentially impacting countless Aussie customers of the telco.

According to popular site Downdetector, there was a massive spike in reports of outages beginning shortly after noon on Wednesday afternoon.

It appears to be affecting access to internet, phone and wifi.

Frustrated users have taken to social media to slam the outage, with the company yet to respond.

It is not yet known what has caused the latest outage, or how widespread the problem is.

However, individual users from Rose Bay in Sydney’s east to Coober Pedy in South Australia have confirmed outages in their areas.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/telstra-users-hit-by-outage/news-story/0c38161350925708fd0c70e4da252459