Mexico's $10 Billion Lawsuit Against US Gun Manufacturers To Proceed, Appeals Court Rules

A $10 billion lawsuit by Mexico against U.S. gunmakers, alleging that the companies “deliberately” enabled firearms trafficking into the country, can move forward, an appeals court has ruled.

The lawsuit, filed by the Mexican government against seven American manufacturers and a distributor in 2021, alleged that the companies “deliberately facilitate gun trafficking” into Mexico, according to the Jan. 22 ruling issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit.

The complaint was initially filed at the federal district court in Massachusetts, which dismissed the lawsuit after deciding that U.S. gun companies were protected by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) against Mexican claims.

The PLCAA prohibits certain lawsuits against gun manufacturers and sellers in U.S. federal and state courts. The appeals court agreed that “PLCAA’s limitations on the types of lawsuits that may be maintained in the United States apply to lawsuits initiated by foreign governments for harm suffered outside the United States.”

However, the appeals court observed that Mexico’s complaint potentially alleges a type of claim that could be “statutorily exempt” from PLCAA rules.

“We therefore reverse the district court’s holding that the PLCAA bars Mexico’s common law claims, and we remand for further proceedings,” the court stated.

“We conclude that the complaint adequately alleges that defendants aided and abetted the knowingly unlawful downstream trafficking of their guns into Mexico.”

The lawsuit seeks $10 billion in compensation.

Jonathan Lowy, president of Global Action on Gun Violence and co-counsel for the Mexican government in the case, welcomed the appeals court decision.

“Today’s ruling is a huge step forward in holding the gun industry accountable for its contribution to gun violence, and in stopping the flood of trafficked guns to the cartels,” he said in a Jan. 22 statement.

“Not only did the Court recognize the right of another country to sue U.S. gun companies, it also pierced the unfair legal shield that gun companies have been hiding behind since 2005.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/mexicos-10-billion-lawsuit-against-us-gun-manufacturers-proceed-appeals-court-rules

In U-Turn, Orban Backs Sweden's NATO Bid After 'Overplaying Hand' With Exasperated Allies

"I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO-membership of Sweden," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he assured NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call Wednesday. Stoltenberg responded with his own announcement of the "good" phone call, confirming that Orban clearly supported Sweden's NATO membership. "I look forward to the ratification as soon as parliament reconvenes," Stoltenberg said on X. It's being hailed as a major and significant U-turn as Orban says he'll now urge parliament to back Sweden's NATO bid.

The day prior, following nearly two years of delays, Turkey's parliament finally agreed to ratify Sweden's NATO membership bid, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance following the Ukraine war. But Orban also did something unexpected which has yet again exasperated allies.

On Tuesday he issued a last-minute invitation for Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to come to Hungary for talks on the NATO accession process, which is widely being viewed as an attempt at saving face and hanging on to what dwindled leverage he has left. One senior European diplomat has summarized the surprise and anger among allies in describing "Orbán offered ‘negotiation’ while Hungary never raised objections during the accession talks is outrageous."

Another European diplomat was cite in The Guardian as saying "The recent moves sent shock waves throughout the alliance, and a great dose of disappointment is there. After all, they had all the time in the world to consult with Sweden before."

Hungary has been under consistent and growing pressure to ratify, perhaps even more so that Turkey. Lately it was the UK and Germany piling on the pressure. Just as the Turkey announcement hit Tuesday, Germany's Foreign Office threw down the gauntlet for Budapest in this very public challenge…

"Türkiye's parliament has taken an important step today, paving the way for Sweden's accession to NATO. Sweden will make NATO stronger," the statement posted to X said. "It is now high time for Hungary to conclude the remaining steps so that we can welcome our Swedish friends to the Alliance."

Bloomberg has observed Wednesday that Orban is essentially folding after overplaying his hand:

"This is definitely a sharp turn and one that aims to prepare Hungary’s ratification of Sweden’s bid," Agoston Samuel Mraz, the head of Nezopont, a policy think-tank that advises Orban’s government, said about the invitation.

While Kristersson has yet to comment on how he intends to respond to the invitation, Orban’s suggestion in a post on X that he wanted to "negotiate" Sweden’s accession was cold-shouldered by Stockholm. Foreign minister Tobias Billstrom, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said there is "no reason to negotiate" with Budapest.

…Inviting Sweden’s premier now, unprompted, is a sign that Orban is looking for a way out of a bind. "The Swedish premier needs to just come here and have a meeting" to open the way for Hungary’s ratification, the political analyst Mraz said. "If he doesn’t, then that’s a risk he’s taking."

A number of additional controversial moves by Orban have been met with angry rebuke from other EU and NATO members in recent weeks, including the Hungarian leader blocking €50 billion ($54.4 billion) aid package for Ukraine last month. Oban is still facing immense pressure to cease the obstructionism.

Hungary’s parliament is currently on a winter recess, and is not expected to reconvene until Feb.26 - and likely by then there will be clear answers as to how all of this unfolds, or rather with Hungary folding.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/u-turn-orban-backs-swedens-nato-bid-after-overplaying-hand-exasperated-allies

Jul 25, 2022

'Tip of the Iceberg': How Foreign Sex Offenders Find Refuge in Israel

While the Interior Ministry says Rabbi Baruch Lanner will not be allowed to make aliyah, advocates’ group says about 100 rabbis, teachers and other figures who have been accused, charged or convicted of sexual abuse overseas have already found refuge in Israel

When Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced that she would not grant Israeli citizenship to convicted sex offender Rabbi Baruch Lanner two weeks ago, there was celebration and relief among the women living in Israel who say they were victims of his harassment in the United States.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-07-25/ty-article/.premium/tip-of-the-iceberg-how-foreign-sex-offenders-find-refuge-in-israel/00000182-3532-d7e9-af96-3d73c52c0000

17 Rooms: Forging Next Steps Into the SDG Second Half 2023 Flagship Synthesis Report

In 2015, world leaders agreed on a plan to build a fairer, greener, more equitable world by 2030. This amounted to the creation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). We are now entering the second half the SDG timeline with the added impacts of Covid-19, global conflict, and a worsening climate crisis.

The 17 Rooms initiative continues to build a platform and approaches to promote action, insight, and community for sustainable development outcomes. In the 2023 annual 17 Rooms flagship, 17 highly curated working groups, one per SDG, came together to craft new forms of actionable, collaborative leadership over a 12-to-18-month horizon. Their efforts tackled common priorities like the multi-dimensional challenge of climate change, the deployment of frontier technologies, elevating local approaches to global issues, and reframing debates that are stuck in outdated narratives.

https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/17-rooms-forging-next-steps-into-the-sdg-second-half-2023-flagship-synthesis-report/

https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Forging-next-steps-into-the-SDG-second-half-2023-flagship-synthesis-report-final.pdf

Obama-era Russian Uranium One deal: What to know

https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/109694/documents/HHRG-116-II06-20190625-SD004.pdf

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-10-12%20CEG%20to%20DOS%20(Uranium%20One%20Follow%20up).pdf

Memo undercuts Hillary story on controversial Russian uranium deal, Clinton Foundation

https://web.archive.org/web/20160826203947/http://circa.com/politics/election-2016/clinton-warned-in-2009-memo-that-russian-uranium-moves-were-bad-for-us-europe

Senate records show that The Podesta Group has lobbied the State Department on behalf of Uranium One — once in 2012, when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and once in 2015.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150502180356/http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=2a6bc321-f7aa-413d-bd53-3b1f96b7f6e7&filingTypeID=62

https://web.archive.org/web/20150502180401/

http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=e2f7e742-f91b-4244-a805-237a020f220f&filingTypeID=51Index of /file/podesta-emails/

https://file.wikileaks.org/file/podesta-emails/