the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

As panic-inducing travel advisories and doomsaying media reports prophesy the fall of Mali to an Al Qaeda affiliate attacking fuel convoys, the government has re-secured supply routes and hosted Mali’s first international defense expo in a supposedly besieged capital.   by Pavan Kulkarni  Part 3 - Attacks on fuel convoys Early this September, the JNIM started attacks on drivers and their tankers carrying fuel from the Ivory Coast in the Sikasso region of southern Mali. “Due to disruptions in fuel supplies that are affecting the movement of school staff,” the Education Ministry suspended classes for two weeks on October 26. “Do Not Travel to Mali for any reason due to crime, terrorism, kidnapping, unrest, and health,” the US State Department said in a travel advisory on October 25. Three days later, the department issued a second alert, insisting that its citizens in Mali “should” leave the country “using commercial aviation, as overland routes to neighboring countries may not ...

The Wall Street Journal has revealed details of a secret plan developed by Germany in the event of war with Russia.   The plan was drawn up by around a dozen senior German officers. Work on it began about two and a half years ago. The 1,200-page document sets out in detail how 800,000 German, US and other NATO troops would be moved eastward to the front line. It maps the ports, rivers, railways and roads they would use, as well as how they would be supplied and protected along the way. German officials earlier said that they expect Russia to be ready and willing to attack NATO in 2029. But a series of espionage incidents, sabotage attacks and incursions into European airspace suggest it may be preparing to strike earlier.                                 [ Related: European imperialist warhawks imply a false flag operation to drag...

Drop Site News   Jeremy Scahill says young people are waking up to decades of lies about Palestinians: “We are told to believe these are terrorists… young and free-thinking people are recognizing the lies they have been told. This is one of the most legitimate causes of national liberation in the history of humanity.” Scahill also discusses Arab nations' complicity and the push to deploy troops following the UN Security Council vote. Scahill says “Saudi Arabia and the UAE from the very beginning really wanted Israel to crush Hamas,” and lays out why their rhetoric doesn’t match their actions. He challenges claims of regional solidarity: “Oh ‘We’re at war with the Zionist entity’… Ok, you’re at war. Have you done anything in that war? Are you going to do anything about the fact that they’re burning children alive every day… that you have Israeli terrorists known as settlers running around burning Qurans… that they’re raping prisoners?” Instead, he says, “what your action is on the g...

The visit of Syria’s interim president to Washington has once again showcased the ambivalence of US counter-terrorism policy, which changes according to temporal interests   by Aseel Saleh Part 4 - Syria joins US-led international coalition against ISIS When he was asked whether he committed to having his country join the US-led international coalition to fight ISIS in the West Asia region, Al-Sharaa answered: “We have fought many battles against ISIS over the past ten years and endured great suffering, losing a significant number of men. While there are reasons for the US military presence in Syria, this presence must now be coordinated with the Syrian government. We need to discuss these issues and reach an agreement regarding ISIS.” On Tuesday, November 11, Syria’s information minister, Hamza al-Mustafa, and a US official announced that Syria signed a “political declaration” with the coalition, confirming that it will have a role in “combating terrorism and supporting regional s...

In March 2006, the Harvard Kennedy School published a working paper, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” by influential political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. The paper, which ran in the London Review of Books and became the basis for a book published the following year, was an unflinching analysis of the impact of pro-Israel advocacy and lobbying groups on the U.S. political system, and the role of organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in shaping U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. Mearsheimer and Walt described a loose coalition of philanthropists, think tanks, advocacy groups, and Christian Zionist organizations that routinely pulled U.S. policy toward the Middle East away from America’s national interest, as the U.S. was being drawn into a military quagmire in Iraq. “Other special interest groups have managed to skew U.S. foreign policy in directions they favored,” Walt and Mearsheimer wrote, “but no lobby has mana...

The Grayzone   The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate on the UN's approval of the US-Israeli plan to re-occupy Gaza under international cover, and the abstentions of Russia and China despite their stringent objections. 

Geopolitical Economy Report   The most overvalued stock on Earth may be that of Palantir, the corporate Big Brother that is getting huge contracts from the Trump administration and helps the US government wage war and carry out mass surveillance.    Executives have been selling billions of dollars worth of shares, yet CEO Alex Karp attacks short-sellers like "Big Short" investor Michael Burry, claiming they're "crazy" for thinking the company is in a bubble. Ben Norton explains.

GVS Deep Dive  Saudi Arabia just secured two of the most powerful assets in modern geopolitics: the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter and tens of thousands of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Washington hoped this would pull Riyadh firmly back into the American orbit. But the outcome is something neither side fully expected: Mohammad bin Salman outplayed both Washington and Beijing — and used the great-power rivalry to his advantage.

The Grayzone   On Piers Morgan, The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal confronts former US ambassador to Venezuela James Story over his history of coup plotting and collaboration with violent opposition elements.  

Israel’s genocide is being powered by Microsoft. From creating a massive digital dragnet, aiding in the production of A.I.-generated kill lists, hiring hundreds of Israeli spies to run its internal affairs, and suppressing figures opposing the slaughter, the Seattle-based tech corporation has played a key role in the violence.   by Alan Macleod    Part 6 - Targeting Enemies   Company employees are far from the only target of Microsoft’s wrath, however. In May, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced that Microsoft had locked him out of his official ICC email account, just as he was formalizing charges against Netanyahu and other top Israeli leaders. For many, the timing was not a coincidence, but rather a message. The British lawyer joined a vast plethora of Palestinians who have complained that Microsoft has terminated their accounts without warning. A BBC investigation found dozens of Palestinians who, after attempting to use Mic...