news

https://www.passblue.com/2023/11/28/is-the-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-fit-for-purpose/

So icc won't do jack shit, quelle surprise

Guyana seems to also have a border dispute with Suriname...

The borders of Suriname consist of land borders with three countries: Guyana, Brazil, and France (via French Guiana). The borders with Guyana and France are in dispute, but the border with Brazil has been uncontroversial since 1906.

On 26 May 1966, the date of the independence of Guyana, the relation with the then Dutch colony of Suriname was normal, however it quickly deteriorated. In 1967, the Tigri Area conflict about a disputed area started.

There is an ongoing unresolved territorial dispute between Guyana and Suriname regarding the Tigri Area.

didn't think vuvuzela would become the 3rd front

:

🇱🇧🇵🇸 All public administrations, institutions and municipalities will be closed tomorrow, Monday, in Lebanon, in response to the global call for Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Lebanese border villages. #StrikeForGaza

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Wondering whats gonna happen with this Guyana thing.

https://archive.is/3tfBD

Canadian miners seek to evade Ottawa’s crackdown on Chinese investment in critical minerals

If the SRG (SRG is the Canadian mining company) transaction with C-ONE (Chinese energy company) goes ahead, China’s position in graphite, an essential component in electric vehicle batteries, will become even stronger. SRG said the investment will put the company’s graphite project in West Africa on the fast track.

A Chinese company investing in a resource project in Africa - imagine the "isn't there someone you forgot to ask" meme here with

The irony of Canada's critical minerals strategy is that people throw fits about Chinese investment in domestic exploration (projects that are a long way off that may never come to fruition) but the only operating lithium mine in Canada was sold to a Chinese battery manufacturer 3.5 years ago

Here's a Financial Times article about how Israel is attacking the tunnels. I only read the last bit where the author finally got to the point. He's a ghoul: "thermobaric weapons... are controversial because of the broader impact of the explosions, especially in populated areas." He also ignores the fact that using sea water to flood the tunnels is literally salting the earth - Israel will probably literally salt the earth in Gaza. - Hexbear

archive.today • Military briefing: How Israel is attacking Hamas’s vast tunnel network

The next step is to destroy the tunnels. Localised explosions cause only limited fall-ins, which can be cleared away or bypassed by surviving fighters. To fully demolish a tunnel, engineers and military experts said, required explosives set down along long portions of the underground passageways.

Kfir said one method was to use liquid explosives that fill the tunnel space and then detonate. Another possibility, he said, was thermobaric weapons, which suck in oxygen to generate a high-temperature explosion that flows around obstacles. But these are controversial because of the broader impact of the explosions, especially in populated areas.

Pumping in seawater from the Mediterranean at high pressure is a third option, and one that Israel has reportedly already started to use. Richemond-Barak said this technique had the advantage of already being used in the oil and gas industry. But, she added, the problem with flooding is "that you don't know how much you have achieved".

The amount of water required depends on the size of the tunnels and ground absorption, she said: "In the past, using water has not produced a 'hard kill'."

Another possibility, which would pose less risk to the hostages than flooding or explosions, is for the IDF to dig tunnels that intercept Hamas's network and burst into its control nodes.

"Israel should... get to the heart of the Hamas system not from above, but from below," Kfir said. "You would need something like automated excavating machines . . . that would dig towards the target."

Such science fiction-like approaches highlight the difficulties and time needed to destroy Hamas's underground realm. They also explain why some officials regret that Israel did not complete the task years earlier.

"We should have destroyed it all when it [Hamas's tunnel network] was smaller. We had all the intelligence," said the former senior security official.

🚨BREAKING: Al-Qassam (Hamas) announced:

Detonation of a large barrel bomb, targeting dozens of occupation soldiers and causing all of them either dead or wounded in the Ma'arri area, northeast of Khan Yunis.

After some time, Hamas advanced towards that force that was hit by a large barrel bomb in the Ma'arri area, the force consisted of 15 IOF soldiers. Hamas found them dead, except for 2, whom they eliminated afterwards, and the fighters returned to their bases safely.

https://nitter.net/AryJeay/status/1733874744569508210

ABSOLUTE MAD LADS DO IT AGAIN

I shared the Rich Nephew story with my partner and they responded with Robin Mahfood, ex-CEO of the charity 'Food for the Poor'

By accident I turned Hamas into an adorable anime character who fights the worst monsters when I saved an html file and I misspelled their name as Hamasa.

Fuck. No Vermin Supreme on the U.S. "Libertarian" Party primary ballot this time around?!

Your Friday Briefing

If the German election was held today, Scholz' party would receive only 14% of the vote - the lowest since June 2021. 17% of eligible voters say that they are satisfied with the SPD-led government, the lowest approval rating of a German chancellor since polls began in 1997 - though there have been worse German chancellors.

Slovakia's opposition is warning that Fico's government is working to gain absolute control of the arms industry, which... uh, yeah? That's how... war typically works...?

Armenia and Azerbaijan have reportedly had a breakthrough, and are exchanging prisoners and working towards normalization. Meanwhile, a US diplomat visited Azerbaijan and was received positively, although it doesn't seem like the hunt for US spies will be curtailed. And Aliyev warned that India and France arming Armenia will increase the chances of more war.

Putin has announced that he is indeed running for re-election in March 2024. Putin has also said that tech-sharing with China has no limits, not even military limits.

Burkina Faso's government has revised the constitution to ban French as an official language, demoting it to the role of "working language".

China is banning new steel plants in order to cut atmospheric pollution, and is working on converting factories creating blast furnace-produced steel into factories creating electric furnace-produced steel, which involves the import of scrap steel from abroad and has lower emissions (69% of US steel production uses this method). In Hebei, the top steel producing province, the number of iron and steel companies have been cut by 70% over the years to meet local targets, which has dramatically cut particulate emissions.

China has granted tariff-free access to Angola, Gambia, DRC, Madagascar, Mali, and Mauritania, in order to boost agricultural imports from Africa. They join 21 other African countries with similar tariff cuts. Xi says that he plans to import products worth $300 billion from Africa by 2024; in 2023 so far, total trade was $234 billion and imports to China a "mere" $91 billion. Meanwhile, Chinese global exports have edged up for the first time in seven months, increasing by 0.5% year-on-year to $291 billion, probably due to exporters cutting prices.

Thousands of protestors have rallied against the new far-right government of New Zealand, organized by the Maori Party, due to the anti-Maori policies that they are proposing. The co-leader of the Maori Party has said that the laws would take New Zealand "back to the 1800s."

Most Americans have depleted their excess savings accumulated during the pandemic, and 99% of Americans will be financially worse off than pre-pandemic by mid-2024. I'm still not entirely sure whether this whole "excess savings" thing is even an actual thing that has existed, because most Americans seem exceptionally unhappy about the economy and going into major debt to continue survival and have been for many months, which contradicts the idea that they had much savings at all.

Famous penis owner, Hunter Biden, has been indicted on new federal tax evasion charges, following previous charges of tax evasion and unlawfully owning a gun.

Zelensky is going to attend Milei's inauguration, which is so freaking epic. It's like that scene in Endgame where Captain America (more like Captain Ukraine!) is like, standing there, and then the dude comes flying out of the portal behind him, and they're like, about to fight Thanos's army, but Putin is Thanos and the army is worldwide communism. Thanks for the gold, kind stranger!

Jair Bolsonaro tried to sneak in to take photos with Heads of State and Javier Milei at the inauguration of the new Argentine president, but ended up being BARRED by South American leaders.

Present at the event, Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay), Santiago Peña (Paraguay), Gabriel Boric (Chile) and Daniel Noboa (Ecuador) expressed their opposition to the ceremonial inauguration, saying that it would be inappropriate for a former head of state to be in the picture.

Venezuelans in Near-Consensus on Essequibo Referendum

The full results are expected to be announced some time on Monday.

Venezuela's National Election Council President Elvis Amoroso appeared on television tonight to announce the preliminary results of today's referendum on the fate of the nation's long-standing territorial claim over Essequibo. Addressing the public shortly after 10 PM, he cited preliminary numbers, based on 10.5 million votes counted, demonstrating an overwhelming level of unity within the Venezuelan electorate.

97.83% of referendum participants counted voted yes to question 1: "Do you agree to reject, through all legal means, the fraudulent imposition of the Paris Arbitral Award of 1899 that seeks to deprive us of our Guayana Esequiba?"

98.11% voted yes to question 2: "Do you support the Geneva Agreement of 1966 as the only valid legal instrument to achieve a practical and satisfactory solution for Venezuela and Guyana regarding the controversy over the territory of Guayana Esequiba?"

95.4% voted yes to 3: "Do you agree with Venezuela's historical position of not recognizing the jurisdiction of the International Court of Territorial Justice to resolve the territorial dispute over Guayana Esequiba?"

95.94% voted yes to question 4: "Do you agree to oppose, through all legal means, Guyana's attempt to unilaterally assert control over the ocean pending delimitation, illegally and in violation of International Law?"

95.93% voted yes to question 5: "Do you agree with the creation of the state of Guayana Esequiba and the implementation of an accelerated plan for the comprehensive care of the current and future population of that territory, including, among other things, granting citizenship and Venezuelan identity cards, in accordance with the Geneva Agreement and International Law, thereby incorporating said state into the map of Venezuelan territory?"

According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), more than 20 million Venezuelans were eligible to cast their votes today in 15,857 polling centers in 23 states, 335 counties and 1,141 parishes in a process that started at 06:00 (10:00 GMT) and was initially scheduled to end at 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT), but was extended by two hours due to higher than expected turnout and long lines at the polling centers.

The full results are expected to be announced some time on Monday.

🚨 Mujahideen Brigades:

Our Anti-Air Defense Unit, at 12:50 PM, targeted a Zionist helicopter with a SAM-7 missile and hit it directly, and the operation was documented.

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ExxonMobil Shares Fall for the Third Day in a Row

The fall took place after Venezuelan announcements on the defense of the Guayana Esequiba territory.

On Friday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez drew attention to the three consecutive days of decline in the value of ExxonMobil shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

At the close of trading on Wall Street, the shares of this oil multinational were trading at US$100,44 on Tuesday, at US$99.11 on Wednesday, and at US$98.42 on Thursday.

Currently, ExxonMobil is attempting to illegally exploit oil and gas fields in a maritime area pending delimitation near the Guayana Esequiba, a territory that the United States and the United Kingdom stripped from Venezuela through the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award.

Despite being an area pending delimitation, the Government of Guyana granted oil concessions to the U.S.-based transnational company and other energy multinationals.

On Dec. 3, in a message of unity and determination to defend the Venezuelan sovereignty, over 10 million citizens voted in favor of the YES in the Essequibo consultative referendum.

After this democratic process, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro presented a bill for the defense of the Guayana Esequiba to the National Assembly. Approved in the first discussion, this bill includes measures to advance the peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute.

"Respect international law, respect law, respect good neighborliness, and respect coexistence," the Bolivarian leader said, giving energy companies three months to leave the area pending delimitation.

Maduro also reminded Guyanese authorities that the resolution of the dispute must be carried out through political-diplomatic means as stipulated in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

"We are willing to negotiate. Peacefully, everything. With force, nothing," he stated, reaffirming the Venezuelan foreign policy that has been based on the "Peace Diplomacy" principle.

According to economist Alejandro Moncada, the value of ExxonMobil shares is falling because international markets have recognized Venezuela's firm stance regarding the defense of the Guayana Esequiba.

"I think they will think it over very carefully," he said, referring to international investors trading with shares of energy companies.

"Venezuela has not only the legitimate right but also the support of major countries like China, Russia, Turkey, or Belarus... Venezuela is not alone; it has people to defend it," Moncada emphasized to explain recent stock market behavior.

Lula please prevent this impending total PR disaster

Thoughts on the Venezuelan Communist Party's position on the Guyana situation?

France taking yet another L in the Sahel: France Left Alone With G5 Sahel Alliance as Mauritania, Chad Follow Burkina, Niger, Mali

Data from Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority cited by Hebrew newspaper The Times of Israel shows that nearly half a million Israelis have fled Israel since 7 October.

About 470,000 Israelis have left since the beginning of the war, and it is unclear if they will return or not, the report says.

The data also indicates a significant decline, around 70 percent, in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel.

In November, 2,000 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel compared to the 4,500 coming each month since the start of the year.

https://new.thecradle.co/articles/nearly-500000-fled-israel-since-7-october

Straight up Looney Tunes

I find it amazing that in 30 countries of europe only one politican managed to arrive in their office with a human brain. The rest has empathy of chatbots