www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/12/air-force-epa-water-pfas-tucson
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But on Friday, Kirby offered some of the sharpest and angriest criticism ever directed at a member of the Israeli government by an American official. While discussing efforts to secure a deal for the release of the hostages held in Gaza, Kirby said that Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will be responsible for the deaths of the hostages, among them American citizens.
Smotrich, a far-right extremist with an incredibly low approval rating among Israelis, has been a vocal opponent of the ongoing hostage negotiations. -
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“there seems to be this effort to create a narrative within the US administration that Iran is maybe thinking about moderating their response. Do you think there’s any truth to that?
I don’t. I think that’s wishful thinking. I think the sources of that reporting are coming from the administration.
It is the world they’d like to live in, but I don’t think that’s the world and the reality that we’re in right now.”
“Hamas, Hezbollah, and the constellation of the Houthis, the Axis of Resistance, all have different relationships with Tehran.
All of them are dependent upon Iran for material expertise, mostly funding, and certainly a broad variety of economic support. Hezbollah, though, is in its own category. It was the first, it’s the crown jewel in the Axis crown.
It, as more as than any other organization within the Axis, has the ability to act somewhat independently. It is the best resource. But at the end of the day, they are still completely dependent for their survival and sustained operations on Tehran.”
“there are no circumstances in which Hezbollah would intentionally escalate a scenario without a degree of approval from Tehran and from the leadership there.”
From The President’s Daily Brief: PDB Situation Report: Iran’s Retaliation Countdown & Ukraine Invades Russia, Aug 10, 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-presidents-daily-brief/id1617887885?i=1000664887182
This material may be protected by copyright.
From The President’s Daily Brief: PDB Situation Report: Iran’s Retaliation Countdown & Ukraine Invades Russia, Aug 10, 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-presidents-daily-brief/id1617887885?i=1000664887182
This material may be protected by copyright.
From The President’s Daily Brief: PDB Situation Report: Iran’s Retaliation Countdown & Ukraine Invades Russia, Aug 10, 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-presidents-daily-brief/id1617887885?i=1000664887182
This material may be protected by copyright -
POPSICLE PETE
Pete is our most recent feral tenant. He is a perfect gentleman. Best behaved cat in the house. We made him a safe space in the library so we can watch the news together. This is because one of the other male cats, The Pooper, pitches a fit when other cats come up to the second floor.
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NEWS NOTES
9 AUGUST 2024
Ukraine/Russia
- The Ukrainian military has made an incursion into Russia, north of Kharkiv. While the U.S. corporate press is already carping and asking questions about the efficacy of the operation, it seems to be (at least for the present) successful.
- Ukrainian forces moved deeper into Russia on Friday and if nothing else, the operation has seemed to improve the attitude of Ukrainians.
- The Ukrainians were evacuating the population near the border, perhaps fearing retaliatory strikes.
- The operation forces the Russians to move troops to counter the offensive, but the goal of the operation is unclear.
- Statements from the US have said that the incursion does not violate American guidance.
- American officials were skeptical that the Ukrainians could hold the territory long enough to force a significant shift in troops by the Russians. (Note: NATO and American military sources have carped about Ukrainian tactics since the beginning of the war.)
- The Ukrainian military also said that they had struck a Russian airfiled in the Lipetsk region, near Kursk.
- Whether the Ukrainians will move forward or consolidate their hold over this area remains to be seen.
- See https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/world/europe/ukraine-russia-kursk-lipetsk.html
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Corruption in Nigeria – Wikipedia
— Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Nigeria -
To address the gaps in Nigeria’s fight against corruption, Transparency Information Technology Initiative (TransparencIT) launched the Trial Monitoring of Corruption Cases project in 2016. The project’s objective is to foster courtroom openness and galvanize citizen participation in judicial processes to promote accountability and advance the rule of law.
— Read on worldjusticeproject.org/news-year-impact-transparencit-nigeria-corruption -
Released last month, the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) confirmed what many Nigerians know intuitively—that a steady stream of official antigraft rhetoric has hardly made a dent on what many agree is the most formidable perennial challenge to the country’s long-term stability. President Buhari’s sentiment to the effect that “if Nigeria does not kill corruption, then corruption will kill Nigeria,” is widely shared. Not only is Nigeria down five places from its 2020 ranking, its total score of twenty-four out of a maximum one hundred points represents a drop for the third successive year, making it West Africa’s second most corrupt country. Guinea-Bissau, still reeling from a failed military takeover in early February, holds the dubious honor of being the most corrupt.
— Read on www.cfr.org/article/nigerias-all-too-familiar-corruption-ranking-begs-broader-questions-around-normative
