Environmentalists Made Australia’s Bush Fires Worse

Australia is on fire, at least 17 people have been killed, hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and an estimated half-billion animals — both livestock and wildlife — have been burned alive. The area burned in the bush fires so far is considerably bigger than the area burned either in last year’s Amazon rainforest fires or the fires in California.

The stories and images that have emerged from Australia are vivid and dramatic…

But let us not allow the heartbreak and the emotion to distract us from the truth about this natural disaster: it has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘climate change’.

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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/02/greens-made-australia-bush-fires-worse/

Open threat?

Ex-CIA Deputy Director Predicts Iran Will Kill Senior American Official As Retaliation For Soleimani Death

Former CIA acting and deputy director Michael Morell predicted Friday that the Iranian government will kill a senior American government official and American civilians, perhaps within days, as retaliation for airstrikes that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force.

“The world is a better place without him. The problem is that comes at a very high cost,” Morell said on CBS News, noting that Soleimani was “an evil genius” who had “a lot of American blood on his hands.”

The Pentagon said Thursday that U.S. forces killed Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of Kata’ib Hezbollah, a terrorist group, in a strike near Baghdad’s airport. The Pentagon said that Soleimani was plotting attacks against Americans and American forces in Iraq, and that he had approved an attack Dec. 29, 2019, against the American embassy in Baghdad. In April, the State Department said Soleimani and the Quds Force was responsible for the deaths of 603 American service members in Iraq since 2003.

Soleimani’s death is certain to escalate tensions in the Middle East. President Donald Trump’s supporters praised the decision to take out Soleimani, while his detractors asserted that the airstrike amounted to an act of war against Iran.

“This sets a precedent … that senior officials are fair game in this hybrid, not-yet-at-war kind of scenario that we’re in with Iran, and that’s a dangerous precedent to set,” said Morell, who served at CIA until 2013.

“There will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this.”

“Possibly over the next few days in any place where Iran has its proxies, Iraq is the most likely place, but also Lebanon, Bahrain, other places in the Middle East,” he said.

Morell predicted Iran will not carry out a traditional military operation as part of its retaliatory push. Instead, Iran will use proxies in the Middle East to stage attacks against U.S. interests.

“At a time and place of their choosing, they’re going to conduct a terrorist strike that kills a senior American official,” Morell said. “And that could be anywhere in the world.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/03/michael-morell-soleimani-american-deaths/

US State Dept tells Americans to leave Iraq ‘immediately’ after assassination of Soleimani

The US State Department is calling on all US citizens to “depart Iraq immediately” in advice issued on Friday, in the wake of the US killing of key Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

“US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land,” the State Department advised. “Due to Iranian-backed militia attacks at the US Embassy compound [in Baghdad], all public consular operations are suspended until further notice.”

The advisory comes in the immediate aftermath of the US assassination of Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, along with senior leaders of the Iraqi Shia militia in an air strike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday morning. The Pentagon claims the strike was “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is committed to “de-escalation” following its “defensive action to eliminate Qassem Soleimani.” In a series of similarly-worded tweets, Pompeo said he had spoken with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas about the killing.

Iranian officials have vowed to exact a “vigorous revenge” on the US for the death of Soleimani, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warning that “revenge awaits the criminals who have stained their hands in his blood.”

The incident marks a serious escalation between the US and Iran, following heightened tensions over the siege of the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week. Protesters besieged the Green Zone site after a US air raid on an Iraqi Shia militia, with Washington blaming Iran for backing the assault on the embassy.

https://www.rt.com/news/477379-us-citizens-leave-iraq/

Armored Cartel Convoys with Grenade Launchers Seen in Mexican Border City near Texas

Raging cartel violence in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo led to seven murders and five injuries during a three-day span. Cartel gunmen are often seen in armored convoys with mounted machine guns, grenade launchers, and .50 caliber rifles.

The intensity of the shootouts led Texas authorities and the U.S. Consulate to issue notices to not cross into Mexico. New law enforcement information notes five innocent bystanders were shot–three fatally.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/01/03/armored-cartel-convoys-with-grenade-launchers-seen-in-mexican-border-city-near-texas/

UK child exploitation levels ‘almost back to Victorian times’ says anti-slavery czar

The UK’s anti-slavery and trafficking czar has made a damning indictment with claims that child exploitation there has now almost reached Victorian-era levels. He cites the operations of drug gangs as a major cause.

Shaun Sawyer, chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and the UK lead on slavery and human trafficking, said drug gangs exploit the space between “the school gate and the front door” which he described as a vacuum left in the wake of government cuts for child services and increased austerity measures under the Conservative government.

“More police officers will make a dent, but it won’t stop the causes. One of the solutions to the causes is the gap between the dysfunctional home and the school,” Sawyer said.

The UK has seen a 74 percent rise in exploitation of majority-British-national children, reaching some 726 people in 2019.

At least 638 children under 18 claimed to have suffered criminal exploitation in three months, mostly related to the illegal drug trade, which uses children as drug mules and debt collectors, especially in smaller rural communities far from their own homes.

There were a reported 1,739 live modern slavery operations in Britain, encompassing figures for both children and adults, compared with a reported 180 operations in January 2016.

“For these children they are almost back to Victorian times and are being criminally exploited. These kids are looking for family and security,” Sawyer added, decrying the sharp increase in the number of child grooming victims over the last five years and citing a lack of youth facilities and school exclusions.

There were approximately 18,700 suspected child grooming victims in 2018-19, up from some 3,300 just five years ago.

“For understandable reasons of austerity, state youth services have been vacated. This gap of youth provision between the school and family is the void that the exploiters are filling.”

https://www.rt.com/uk/477330-child-exploitation-victorian-levels/

Geraldo Rivera Clashes With Fox & Friends Hosts Over Iran Strike: ‘This Guy Was Our Friend’ Six Months Ago

https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/03/geraldo-rivera-fox-news-friends-iran-qasem-soleimani-kilmeade/

Presidential Election Result May Change: IECC

The Independent Electoral Complaint Commission (IECC) said on Thursday that its investigation may change the preliminary presidential election result.

Chaman Shah Etemadi, head of the secretariat of the IECC, said that IECC employees have faced problems in the course of their work in the provinces.

“Let`s come and sit together and investigate the complaints, to determine if the complaints are documented or not. If the complaints are documented, 50 complaints will affect the election result, but if the complaints are not documented, 50,000 complaints will not affect the result,” added Etemadi.

Meanwhile, some of the IECC`s provincial heads said they faced problems during their investigation of complaints.

Ahmadullah, a member of the Herat IECC, said: “We try our best to assess these complaints.”

Ashna Gul Bandawal, the Kandahar IECC`s head, said that his office registered 1,524 complaints claiming electoral crimes and 443 complaints claiming electoral violations.

“We don’t have access to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) database , and we demanded that the IEC and IECC (in Kabul) make this available to us,” Bandawal added.

Siddiqullah Tawhidi, a member of the special electoral reform committee, said, “if the IECC doesn’t have access to Dermalog`s system it means that they will not assess the complaints accurately.”

Based on the initial result of the presidential election, President Ashraf Ghani beat the competition with nearly 12,000 votes, and the chance of winning a second term election is close.

Abdullah Abdullah’s election campaign team, which has had a disagreement with the IEC over 300 thousand votes that they describe as “fraudulent,” said that the announced result is based on ‘fraudulent’ votes.

https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/presidential-election-result-may-change-iecc

A Dubious Official Story Masks the True Motives Behind the Soleimani Assassination

Behind the official yet dubious justifications for the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general on Friday lies a confluence of factors — some decades in the making, others more recent — that are pushing the U.S. towards yet another catastrophic war in the Middle East.

BAGHDAD — The recent assassination of Iran’s most popular and well-known general, Qassem Soleimani, has stoked fears that a new war pitting the U.S. and its allies against Iran could soon become a devastating and deadly reality. The airstrike that killed Soleimani, conducted by the U.S. in Baghdad, was conducted without the authorization or even prior notification of the U.S. Congress and without the approval of Iraq’s government or military, making the attack flagrantly illegal on multiple levels. The attack also killed Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was an advisor to Soleimani.

“The assassination of an Iraqi military commander who holds an official position is considered aggression on Iraq … and the liquidation of leading Iraqi figures or those from a brotherly country on Iraqi soil is a massive breach of sovereignty,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said of the attack, adding that the assassination was “a dangerous escalation that will light the fuse of a destructive war in Iraq, the region, and the world.”

Notably, the assassination of Soleimani comes just a few months after an alleged Israeli attempt to kill the Iranian general failed and amid a well-documented and decades-long push by U.S. neoconservatives and Israeli officials for a U.S.-led war with Iran.

While the illegality of the assassination has been noted by many since news of the attack first spread, less attention has been given to the oddities of the Trump administration’s official reasoning and justification for the attack that has brought with it renewed tension to the Middle East. Per administration officials, the attack was aimed at “deterring future Iranian attack plans” as well as a response to a rocket attack at the K1 military base near Kirkuk, Iraq on December 27. That attack killed one U.S. military contractor and lightly wounded several U.S. soldiers and Iraqi military personnel.

Yet, the details of that attack — even per mainstream U.S. sources that often support U.S. militarism — are incredibly murky, and the name of the American killed and the identity of the company he or she was working for have not been released. Some media reports have referred to the contractor as a “Pentagon contractor” while others have used the term “civilian contractor,” leading some to speculate that the contractor might have been a private mercenary in the employ of the Pentagon.

In addition, no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and media reports have noted that the attack could just as easily have been conducted by remnants of the Islamic State as by the Iraqi Shia militia (Kataib Hezbollah) that was officially blamed by U.S. officials. An official investigation into the incident, being conducted by the Iraqi military, has yet to be concluded. Notably, the U.S. previously claimed it had compelling evidence to blame Iran for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last June, only to have staunch U.S. allies in the region claim that alleged U.S. evidence of Iranian involvement was insufficient.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/dubious-official-story-qassem-soleimani-assassination/263869/

No War With Iran: Code Pink And Other Activists Call For Rallies Against U.S. Aggression After Assassination Of Iran General

U.S. President Donald Trump has assassinated General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, causing speculation that these actions may ultimately lead to World War Three to bring in the New Year with a “bang.” In response, CodePink, an activism organization that stands against war, has responded calling for anti-war rallies across the U.S. that show citizens do not consent to conflict with Iran.

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of starting a war with Iran, leasing to more deaths in the middle East. Which side are you on Peace or illegal, immoral bombings & war? Join us in the streets across the US on 1/4 #PeaceWithIran https://t.co/oHmMJSN8Rx https://t.co/PiaslDIK3c

— CODEPINK (@codepink) January 3, 2020

Currently, social media is flooded with the hashtags #WorldWar3, #WWIII, and #WorldWarThree, while the puppet press no matter where you look is pushing for war with Iran. Others have chosen to push the hashtag #NoWarWithIran. However, many people fear that this move is the equivalent to the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which was one of many catalysts that lead the world into World War I.

The Pentagon has admitted publicly that Trump himself ordered the drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, after accusing Iran of being behind violent protests outside of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and a missile attack on a base over the holiday in December which killed a U.S. civilian contractor and injured another. That attack has been disputed by many including The Last American Vagabond who reported the incident in great detail on YouTube, noting its suspicious timing due to the holiday. Another interesting fact to note is that the attack also occurred when Iran, Russia and China were running joint naval drills.

The protests of the embassy saw rocks being thrown, smashed windows, walls graffiti-ed, and fires set to the reception center and a security kiosk. Protests were in retaliation for another missile strike that killed 25 fighters from an alleged Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq, CBS reported. Although, there was no report of injuries or deaths at the Baghdad embassy that this writer could find.

Iran has responded to Trump’s assassination with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declaring on Twitter three days of public mourning for the deaths of the general and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis whom was with Soleimani in the car. Khamenei also vowed a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S, The Guardian reported. The Iranian leader has further tweeting about Jihad, (holy war) in the last few hours.

Iran’s current president, Hassan Rouhani, also vowed revenge on Twitter:

The flag of General Soleimani in defense of the country’s territorial integrity and the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region will be raised, and the path of resistance to US excesses will continue. The great nation of Iran will take revenge for this heinous crime.

— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 3, 2020

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/01/no-war-with-iran-code-pink-and-other-activists-call-for-rallies-against-u-s-aggression-after-assassination-of-iran-general.html

Iran names new Quds Force commander after US kills Soleimani

Ismail Qaani has been appointed as the new commander of the elite Quds Force after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani late yesterday.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Ismail Qaani today.

Qaani fought in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and was a close and trusted aide to Soleimani. He also served as an intelligence official in the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the US-funded Radio Farda.

He served as the deputy commander of the Quds Force from 1997 until 62-year-old Soleimani’s death in the US strike overnight.

“Following the martyrdom of the glorious General Haj Qasem Soleimani, I name Brigadier General Ismail Qaani as the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.

Khamenei, who has declared three days of official mourning, vowed retaliation against the US in his sermon today. “This is the time to clear the region from these insidious beasts.”

He stressed that Soleimani has fought for years “against evil” and was “an example of a person trained in Islam.”

“He spent his entire life fighting for God. His martyrdom was the reward for his tireless efforts over the years,” he added in a message posted on his Twitter.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also vowed revenge in response to the killing stating that there will be consequences.

The White House and Pentagon said the attack on Soleimani was carried out with the aim of deterring future attacks allegedly being planned by Iran. The US urged its citizens to leave Iraq “immediately.”

Al-Jazeera reported gatherings are being organised in Tehran and across the country after Friday prayers to commemorate Soleimani and denounce the US and Israel.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200103-iran-names-new-quds-force-commander-after-us-kills-soleimani/

Israel Police disguised as Palestinians attacked by Jewish settlers

Israeli police officers impersonating Palestinian technicians were attacked by two teenagers in the illegal Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion located in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

According to a right-wing NGO, the Honenu organisation, the two policemen were approached by the teens who enquired as to why they were there, after receiving no clear answer, one of the settlers struck an officer, while the other was sprayed with pepper spray. Both of the suspects have been arrested and questioned.

Haaretz has reported that the police have not issued a statement on the operation, only confirming that one policeman was lightly wounded.

Although in some parts of the West Bank it is common to employ Arabs as labourers, the settlers of Bat Ayin adhere to the discriminatory and racist principle of “Hebrew labour” whereby the community does not employ Arabs at all.

A lawyer acting on behalf of one of the accused has described the Israeli police as causing a provocation in disguising themselves as Palestinians, “as everybody knows, this is a stressful time”.

Russia Today reported that last month an unnamed security official highlighted a sharp uptick in settler violence against Palestinians near Bat Ayin over the preceding weeks and that the perpetrators were coming to the settlement from Yitzhar, another recent hotspot for ethnically-motivated violence, because of a military crackdown on the anti-Palestinian attacks in that area.

B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, has described settler violence as being backed by the state, with the authorities shirking responsibility in protecting Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank amid violence towards themselves and their property.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200103-israel-police-disguised-as-palestinians-attacked-by-jewish-settlers/

Pompeo, Lavrov discuss situation around Iran during phone call - US Department of State

Pompeo discussed Trump’s recent decision to take decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani in response to imminent threats to American lives

WASHINGTON, January 3. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have discussed the situation around Iran in the wake of the US air strike in the area of the Baghdad airport, which killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, during a phone call on Friday, the US State Department informed in a statement.

"Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Secretary Pompeo discussed [US] President [Donald] Trump’s recent decision to take decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani in response to imminent threats to American lives. The Secretary made clear that the United States remains committed to de-escalation," the statement attributable to US Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus reads.

The Pentagon earlier confirmed that a missile strike near the Baghdad airport killed the head of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani. The operation was carried out at the direction of US President Donald Trump, the statement said.

According to the Pentagon, the strike was defensive, since it was aimed at protecting US troops in Iraq and other countries. Washington blamed Soleimani for allegedly approving a rally outside the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.

https://tass.com/world/1105553

Israeli embassies, IDF raise alert levels as Iran threatens to avenge Soleimani

Mt. Hermon ski resort in Golan Heights closed to public, but military source says no new troop deployments; expert on Iran proxies warns Hezbollah could attack Israel from Syria

The Defense Ministry has put Israeli embassies and offices on “high alert” worldwide in the wake of the US killing in Iraq of Qassem Soleimani and amid Iranian threats of revenge against the US and Israel, Israeli television reported Friday.

Security has also been bolstered at Israeli missions deemed to be in locations regarded as “sensitive,” according to Channel 13 news.

The Israeli army has also raised its alert levels. The Mount Hermon ski site near the Israel-Syria border is being kept closed, but no special instructions have been issued to northern Israeli residents.

Fighters of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah, Israel’s bitter foe with which it fought a devastating war in 2006, are deployed on the other side of the border.

Hezbollah has more than 100,000 Iranian-supplied rockets aimed at Israel, while the Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza have thousands more.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-embassies-idf-raise-alert-levels-as-iran-threatens-revenge-attacks/

From War Drums to Hot War with Iran

Iran has promised some response to the United States after three days of mourning, signifying the gravity of the situation — not just for Iran, but also for the rest of the region.

On January 2nd the United States assassinated Iran Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani on the US pretext of an anti-terror strike, killing him and his entourage by drone strike at Baghdad International Airport, just subsequent to disembarking from a flight. As head of the Iranian IRGC elite Quds Force, Soleimani commanded effective operations versus ISIS and assorted Salafi terror groups in Iraq and Syria.

US Pentagon officials claimed the drone strike was authorized under section 10 U.S. Code § 127e, ‘Support for Special Operations to Combat Terrorism’. According to one source, a plan to assassinate Soleimani in Iraq was devised some time ago after Iran shot down an RQ-4 Reaper. But the ‘justification’ for Soleimani’s political assassination was of course weak, and perhaps considered Imperial overreach too far since the Trump regime had only declared the Quds Force a terror operation by April, 2019 .

With this strike the United States has aligned itself with Israel and Saudi Arabia and their National Policy of State-sponsored political assassination, allowed under any real or imagined circumstance the political will may conjure. But conflating Soleimani’s role — having stature and standing as legitimate military commander of an Elite military force of a sovereign nation – with that of a common terrorist, might perhaps be a bit of a stretch, even for the Israeli and Saudi regimes.

Throughout most of its history, the United States prohibited political assassination, considering it a violation of human decency and America’s effort to promote itself as a champion of human rights. The other concern of course was that political assassination might set a precedent whereby US politicians might be assassinated by return, commonly called Blowback in the Tradecraft sphere.

On December 4, 1981, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12333 where Section 2.11 of the order provides: “Prohibition on Assassination. No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.” Section 2.12 of the same political assassination order prohibits indirect participation in activities prohibited by the order, stating: “Indirect participation. No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this Order.”

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https://theduran.com/from-war-drums-to-hot-war-with-iran/