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Julia Melnikova: World War Three is off - why NATO can't afford to have Russia as its main enemy
The world is currently changing so rapidly that the term 'new normal,' which first appeared in the business realm and later enriched diplomatic slang, has been added to the active vocabulary of not only all those who follow the news, but even those who don't. The NATO summit held in Madrid, last month, was rich in information, claiming to be one of the key political events of the summer of 2022. The gathering marked another milestone in relations between Moscow and Brussels, with the the continuing conflict between Russia and the West the main focus. First, a new Strategic Concept for the bloc was released, in which Russia was publicly declared its main security threat. Secondly, the procedure for Sweden and Finland's membership was officially launched, symbolically confirming the unity of the Euro-Atlantic camp. Thirdly, a number of measures and plans have been announced which are aimed at directly deterring Russia militarily. These are all alarming signals that create a...
https://www.sott.net/article/470086-Julia-Melnikova-World-War-Three-is-off-why-NATO-cant-afford-to-have-Russia-as-its-main-enemy

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Anti-gun zealots can't admit concealed carry saves lives
After a video of law enforcement officers acting like utter cowards at the Uvalde school shooting was released, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., claimed that the incident "puts to bed, forever, the question of whether the way to deal with bad guys with guns is to make sure there are more good guys with guns." Well, "forever" ended this weekend, when a 22-year-old fatally shot a man armed with an AR-15 who had opened fire in a mall food court in Greenwood, Indiana, killing three. We don't know all the specifics — and we'll never know how many lives the Good Samaritan saved — but it is clear Murphy's assertion was incorrect on two counts: Cops who stand around while children are being slaughtered aren't "good guys," but real good guys with guns do exist.
https://www.sott.net/article/470087-Anti-gun-zealots-cant-admit-concealed-carry-saves-lives

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The criminal focus of secret US biolabs now becomes apparent
Russia's special military operation to localize neo-fascist activities in Ukraine continues to receive more and more documentary evidence of the criminal plans and activities of the current government in Kiev, sponsored by Washington, as well in as the USA itself. This special operation has helped to publicize many secret programs for the development of biological weapons by the United States and its NATO allies in Ukraine. Documentary evidence was obtained of the research on dangerous pathogens, including the Ebola virus, the causative agent of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, as well as many others (for by no means peaceful and humane purposes) by American, British, and German military biologists in Kiev and Odessa. It became known that the American company Metabiota was going to study the Ebola virus in Ukraine. Due to such experiments being prohibited in the USA over their inherent risk, they were transferred to Ukraine and other countries - as a rule, those where the...
https://www.sott.net/article/470088-The-criminal-focus-of-secret-US-biolabs-now-becomes-apparent

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Lost royal city of Natounia possibly discovered in Iraq
The ancient stronghold is believed to be part of the lost city of Natounia. Nestled in a valley shadowed by mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan sits an ancient fortress that archeologists think may be the lost, royal city of Natounia, based on the discovery of intricately carved rock reliefs depicting an ancient leader, a new study finds. The stronghold, known as Rabana-Merquly, was once part of the Parthian Empire (also known as the Arsacid Empire), which reigned(opens in new tab) between 247 B.C. and A.D. 224. The Parthians were bitter enemies of the Roman Empire, and fought various battles against them for over 250 years(opens in new tab). Now, new research at this 2,000-year-old fortress suggests that it served as one of the empire's regional centers. During a recent expedition, an international team of archeologists discovered twin rock reliefs(opens in new tab) at the two entrances to the settlement, which is situated at the base of Mount Piramagrun in the Zagros Mountains. The...
https://www.sott.net/article/470089-Lost-royal-city-of-Natounia-possibly-discovered-in-Iraq

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Kissinger warns Biden against endless confrontation with China
Nixon's top diplomat, now 99, talks about US-China ties now, and says European leaders have lost continent's sense of direction Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said geopolitics today requires "Nixonian flexibility" to help defuse conflicts between the US and China as well as between Russia and the rest of Europe. While warning that China shouldn't become a global hegemon, the man who helped reestablish US-China ties in the 1970s said that President Joe Biden should be wary of letting domestic politics interfere with "the importance of understanding the permanence of China." "Biden and previous administrations have been too much influenced by the domestic aspects of the view of China," Kissinger, 99, said in an interview Tuesday in New York with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. "It is, of course, important to prevent Chinese or any other country's hegemony."
https://www.sott.net/article/470090-Kissinger-warns-Biden-against-endless-confrontation-with-China

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Russian-controlled nuclear power plant attacked by Ukraine, 2nd attack this month on Europe's largest plant
Europe's biggest nuclear power plant has been attacked by three 'kamikadze drones' belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian media has reported, citing local officials. According to statements, Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, located in southeastern Ukraine but under the control of Moscow's forces, has not been damaged and its reactor was not impacted by the attack. The radiation background is normal and it is constantly being monitored, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Zaporozhye Region military-civil administration, told Tass news agency.
https://www.sott.net/article/470091-Russian-controlled-nuclear-power-plant-attacked-by-Ukraine-2nd-attack-this-month-on-Europes-largest-plant

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EU urges member states to 'voluntarily' slash gas use by 15%, declaration of emergency would make it mandatory
The European Union's executive body has urged member states to slash their gas consumption by 15%, as it warned that a complete shutdown of Russian supplies was "likely". Comment: Russia has been supplying gas to Europe throughout the West's proxy war, what developments up ahead make the EU establishment think that will change? The EU has been scrambling to wean itself off Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine, but is alarmed about a potential energy crisis this winter. In response to EU support for Kyiv, the Kremlin has already stopped or reduced gas supplies to a dozen EU member states and is expected to send lower volumes of gas to Germany when the Nord Stream 1 pipeline reopens on Thursday after scheduled maintenance works. Comment: Not quite, Russia has only stopped gas to those countries that have refused to pay their bills, it also was forced to reduce supplies because Canada is, by their own admission, withholding a turbine that's critical to the pipelines function....
https://www.sott.net/article/470092-EU-urges-member-states-to-voluntarily-slash-gas-use-by-15-declaration-of-emergency-would-make-it-mandatory

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Germany weighing €8 billion bailout of energy giant Uniper, company is largest importer of Russian gas
The German government is looking at taking up to a 30% stake in utility firm Uniper, Reuters news agency and German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Wednesday. What do we know about the bailout package? Uniper is Germany's largest importer of Russian gas. The German government may intervene to save the company, amid the threat of reduced gas supplies by Russia and soaring prices, according to the reports. Sources told Reuters that the company may pass on some costs to German consumers in the framework of the rescue package. Comment: So, citizens will be paying twice. A German government spokesperson said Berlin is working on a deal to save the company, but would not provide further details.
https://www.sott.net/article/470093-Germany-weighing-8-billion-bailout-of-energy-giant-Uniper-company-is-largest-importer-of-Russian-gas

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BlackRock lost record breaking $1.7 trillion of clients money in six months
BlackRock Inc. is used to breaking records. The world's largest asset manager was the first company to exceed $10 trillion of assets under management. But the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And this year BlackRock achieved another record: the most money lost by a single company in a six-month period. In the first half of this year, it lost $1.7 billion of customer money. BlackRock management was quick to invoke the market carnage of the first half when it revealed the return on investment last week. "2022 ranks as the worst start in 50 years for both stocks and bonds," Chairman and CEO Larry Finck he said on his earnings call. While few companies can avoid what the market throws at them, some are at least trying to outdo it. BlackRock is giving up more and more: at the end of June, only about a quarter of its assets were actively managed to beat a benchmark, instead of tracking it smoothly as passive strategies are designed to do. That's less than a third when BlackRock...
https://www.sott.net/article/470094-BlackRock-lost-record-breaking-1-7-trillion-of-clients-money-in-six-months

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A view from Donbass: Ukraine has treated the people of this region as sub-humans, this made peace impossible
The military conflict in Ukraine, which began on February 24, was preceded by a long war in Donbass. Over the course of eight years, it claimed the lives of at least 14,200 people (according to the OHCHR), over 37,000 were wounded, hundreds of thousands became refugees or had their homes destroyed. A de-escalation was achieved in February 2015, as both sides realized that a bad peace was better than a good war, and attempted to find a political resolution on the basis of the Minsk agreements. That, however, failed to bring peace to Donbass, which instead faced eight long years of economic and legal blockade, compounded by chaotic shelling of areas near the frontlines. They were eight hard years, which involved rebuilding bombed schools, hospitals, and houses, a rather humiliating dependence of formerly well-to-do people on humanitarian aid, an economic slump due to the economic blockade imposed by the Ukrainian government, restricted access to pensions, and the risk of being...
https://www.sott.net/article/470095-A-view-from-Donbass-Ukraine-has-treated-the-people-of-this-region-as-sub-humans-this-made-peace-impossible

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Historic decision against mandatory vaccination by Italian court covid vaccine risk to human genome now legally established
On July 6th, 2022, the court of Florence has approved a sentence annulling the measure taken by the Order of Psychologists of Tuscany against one of its members, the reason being: 'the suspension of the exercise of the profession risks compromising primary individual rights such as the right to a livelihood and the right to work'. The judge ruled that the psychologist doesn't need to be vaccinated in order to do his job by establishing that: these substances don't prevent infection and transmission. Therefore, in front of the Italian law, there can not be an obligation. She also recognises that these substances provokes severe adverse events.Therefore, it even less legitimate to force anybody to be injected. The judge put the dignity of the human being at the centre and referred twice to the period of Nazism and Fascism. Mandatory vaccination is possible if there is informed consent. For Covid injections, she explained that an informed consent is not possible as we don't know the...
https://www.sott.net/article/470096-Historic-decision-against-mandatory-vaccination-by-Italian-court-covid-vaccine-risk-to-human-genome-now-legally-established

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Let the people pay: How EU leaders make their citizens suffer the fallout from their failed Russia policy
In a Bastille Day interview, French President Emmanuel Macron told citizens to "prepare ourselves for a scenario where we have to do without Russian gas entirely." At the same time, Macron accused Moscow of using the fuel as a "weapon of war," echoing the spin emanating from a European Union leadership that obscures the real reason the bloc is facing an energy shortage that's driving up the cost of living. This crisis is entirely self-inflicted. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of energy "blackmail" at the end of April, citing the state-owned Gazprom's announcement of a halt in gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria for failing to pay for in rubles. What von der Leyen - and now Macron - conveniently omitted was that it was the EU's own anti-Russian sanctions, adopted in a knee-jerk and ideologically-driven fashion at the outset of the Ukraine conflict, that represent the root cause of these disruptions. The West quickly adopted a strategy of...
https://www.sott.net/article/470097-Let-the-people-pay-How-EU-leaders-make-their-citizens-suffer-the-fallout-from-their-failed-Russia-policy

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If the Dutch farmers' protest was happening in Canada, it would be an 'insurrection'
There is something happening in the Netherlands that has been happening for weeks, which if anything even closely resembling it were happening in Canada, especially in Ottawa, it would surely be called an "insurrection." It might even have cabinet ministers and the prime minister calling those participating an intolerable "fringe minority." Come to think of it, it would probably have driven the government to invoke the civil-rights-denying Emergencies Act, and arrest any of its leaders, especially any of those from the rebellion hot spot of darkest and most menacing Medicine Hat. Comment: Ottawa Freedom Convoy tears down illusion of democracy in North America I am referring to the huge and continuous protest against the Dutch government. For some weeks now upwards of 40,000 farmers have been on their tractors and in their trucks crowding highways and snarling traffic in a mass protest against a green edict that would force them to halve emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia by...
https://www.sott.net/article/470098-If-the-Dutch-farmers-protest-was-happening-in-Canada-it-would-be-an-insurrection

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Russia: Wikipedia designated as lawbreaker
Russia wants its search engines to inform users that the platform promotes false information about the Ukraine conflict. Russia's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has obliged search engines to label Wikipedia as being in violation of the law, saying that the online encyclopedia promotes misleading information about the conflict in Ukraine. The watchdog said on Wednesday that it would take steps to punish Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., which hosts Wikipedia, due to its failure to delete content deemed in violation of Russian law. With this in mind, the regulator "has decided to apply a coercive measure which would see search engines inform internet users about a violation of Russian legislation by a foreign entity."
https://www.sott.net/article/470099-Russia-Wikipedia-designated-as-lawbreaker

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Legendary biologist endorses lab leak theory
Not many experts have openly endorsed the lab leak theory of Covid origins. There are the 'internet sleuths' who make up DRASTIC (several of whom remain anonymous). There's the science writer Nicholas Wade. And there's Matt Ridley and Alina Chan - co-authors of Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19. (In a recent interview, Ridley told me that both he and Chan now think a lab leak is "more likely".) Few others have been willing to come out and say that, yes, the balance of evidence favours a lab leak. This may be because they're genuinely undecided, or because they hold the opposite view (that the evidence favours a natural spillover).
https://www.sott.net/article/470100-Legendary-biologist-endorses-lab-leak-theory

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DoD announces the establishment of the 'All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office'
On July 15, 2022, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), amended her original direction to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security by renaming and expanding the scope of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group (AOIMSG) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), due to the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, which included a provision to establish an office, in coordination with DNI, with responsibilities that were broader than those originally assigned to the AOIMSG. Today, USD(I&S) Hon. Ronald S. Moultrie informed the department of the establishment of AARO within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and named Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, most recently the chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center, as the director of AARO.
https://www.sott.net/article/470101-DoD-announces-the-establishment-of-the-All-domain-Anomaly-Resolution-Office

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AOC and Ilhan Omar coordinated Supreme Court arrest stunt with Soros-funded dark money group
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and the 15 other Democratic lawmakers who were arrested Tuesday outside the Supreme Court coordinated the stunt with a progressive dark money group funded by billionaire George Soros. Getting arrested was the whole point of the stunt, Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram post on Tuesday. She said organizers of the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund asked her and her colleagues to "submit themselves for arrest in front of the Supreme Court." The New York lawmaker insisted in the post what she and her colleagues did was "very different than a 'publicity stunt.'"
https://www.sott.net/article/470102-AOC-and-Ilhan-Omar-coordinated-Supreme-Court-arrest-stunt-with-Soros-funded-dark-money-group

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China blames US for Ukraine conflict
Washington created the current crisis, top official states. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has accused the US of starting the crisis in Ukraine and fueling the conflict in the east European country. Spokeman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a regular press briefing on Tuesday that Washington should stop playing "world police" and work on creating conditions for peace talks instead.
https://www.sott.net/article/470103-China-blames-US-for-Ukraine-conflict

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Biden approval rating hits new all-time low of 31%, now 'underwater' with own party
Just when you thought President Joe Biden's approval rating couldn't get any worse, a new Quinnipac University poll released Wednesday reveals it's dropped to all-time lows, 71% of voters don't want him to run again in 2024 - including a majority of Democrats (54%). Comparatively speaking, 60% of voters don't want to see former President Donald Trump run again, though this figure includes just 27% of Republicans. Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy stated alongside the polling results, "There's scant enthusiasm for a replay of either a Trump or Biden presidency. But while Trump still holds sway on his base, President Biden is underwater when it comes to support from his own party." When asked if the election were held today which party the voters would like to see control the U.S. House of Representatives, they were torn between parties with a roughly 50-50 split. -Fox News
https://www.sott.net/article/470104-Biden-approval-rating-hits-new-all-time-low-of-31-now-underwater-with-own-party

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Police say wildfires that tore through UK on hottest day ever may have been arson
Wildfires broke out across the UK as families fled for their lives as their homes which they tried to save with buckets of water were engulfed amid blazes across the country in record 40.3C heat - and police are now probing whether some were caused intentionally. Firefighters have described blazes tearing through homes and buildings in London as 'absolute hell' - with residents evacuated after homes were destroyed, two people taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, and 1,600 calls for assistance. Elsewhere in the country hundreds of fire crews are out battling raging infernos in Wales, Scotland and the rest of England as 'tinderbox' dry conditions in the UK caused wildfires to threaten homes, animals and people and a children's nursery was destroyed along with most of a street in Yorkshire amid police fears some of the fires could have been deliberate.
https://www.sott.net/article/470105-Police-say-wildfires-that-tore-through-UK-on-hottest-day-ever-may-have-been-arson

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Lightning strike kills 1 soldier, injures 9 others at Fort Gordon Army base in Georgia
One soldier was killed and nine others injured after a lightning strike Wednesday at Fort Gordon, a U.S. Army base in eastern Georgia. "It is with a heavy heart Fort Gordon confirms one of the soldiers in the lightning strike this afternoon succumbed to their injuries," said Anne Bowman, Fort Gordon deputy public affairs officer. The soldier's identity will not be released until the next of kin is notified, Bowman said. Fort Gordon has not released the condition of the nine injured soldiers. At 11:10 a.m., Fort Gordon Range Control reported that 10 soldiers "sustained injuries associated with a lightning strike" at one of its training areas, according to a news release. Fort Gordon is located near Augusta, about 140 miles east of Atlanta. Source: Augusta Chronicle
https://www.sott.net/article/470106-Lightning-strike-kills-1-soldier-injures-9-others-at-Fort-Gordon-Army-base-in-Georgia