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breaking: Uranus’ mysterious features on display in new Webb image - CNN

The James Webb Space Telescope has snapped a glowing new portrait of Uranus that showcases the ice giant’s typically hidden rings, moons, weather and atmosphere — features that were nowhere to be seen in the planet’s first close-up more than three decades ago.

Humanity’s first good look at Uranus came when Voyager 2 flew by the seventh planet from the sun in 1986. Through the spacecraft’s camera, which viewed the solar system in visible light, Uranus appeared to be a bright blue world.

It feels like we’re on the brink. Somethings gonna happen I can feel the vibes

Also do y’all have links to the telegrams y’all are keeping a tab on?

Yemen will do the cool thing when the site is down

coalition of the chilling

Yemen:

The first batch of general mobilization courses graduates for the Al-Aqsa Flood in #Amran 12-20-2023

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watching this dreaming about Ansarallah liberating Arabia from the wretched 'House of Saud'

Nicaragua and China Agree on a Strategic Partnership

Nicaragua is ready to work with China to oppose external interference and power politics.

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he is ready to work with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to promote bilateral ties for fresh achievements with the newly announced strategic partnership between the two countries as a new starting point.

In his phone talks with Ortega, Xi pointed out that the political decision made by the Nicaraguan president two years ago to resume diplomatic ties with China has made significant contribution to bilateral relations.

The China-Nicaragua free trade agreement, which will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, is a landmark achievement of cooperation between the two countries, Xi said and encouraged Chinese enterprises to invest and start businesses in Nicaragua and carry out more cooperation projects that Nicaragua needs to help it achieve self-driven development.

China also stands ready to strengthen solidarity and coordination with Nicaragua in international affairs, and work with Nicaragua to oppose hegemonism and power politics, promote the development of a more just and rational international order, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, Xi added.

For his part, Ortega said that China's remarkable achievements have not only lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but also made significant contributions to promoting world peace.

On the occasion of the second anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Nicaragua and China, Ortega said he is honored to jointly announce with Xi the establishment of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Nicaragua is ready to work with China to continuously deepen bilateral friendly relations, strengthen multilateral coordination, oppose external interference and power politics, and jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, he noted.

I guess the USA being openly hostile to the Sandinistas for no reason really didn't work out. They pushed Nicaragua 100% towards China.

US Granted Access to Military Bases in Denmark Under New Deal

The US and Denmark signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Thursday that grants the US military access to bases in the Nordic nation and allows the storage of US weapons on Danish soil.

Denmark was one of the original 12 members of NATO when the alliance was founded in 1949 but had a long-standing policy of not allowing foreign militaries to be permanently stationed on its territory. Denmark is now breaking from that policy, as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the DCA means that “American soldiers and equipment can be permanently stationed on Danish soil.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Danish counterpart, Lars Rasmussen, signed the deal in Washington. The DCA now needs to be ratified by Denmark’s parliament. Blinken said once the deal goes into effect, the two militaries “will be able to coordinate more effectively, even more effectively than they already are.”

“Our troops will train together more seamlessly and more often. We’ll enhance NATO’s interoperability, allowing our Alliance to better safeguard peace and stability for people all across the continent,” Blinken added.

The US signed similar agreements with Sweden and Finland this month, solidifying a US military presence across the Nordic region, as it has had a similar arrangement with Norway for years.

The deal with Finland, NATO’s newest member, gives the US access to 15 bases in a country that shares an over 800-mile border with Russia. One of the facilities is a border guard base on the Russian border. Moscow has said it will respond to the expansion of NATO infrastructure in Finland by increasing its military presence in western Russia.

Angola announces withdrawal from OPEC
Angola has announced its withdrawal from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Membership is not in the national interest, said Oil Minister Diamantino Azevedo in a televised speech on Thursday. You don't play a relevant role in the energy cartel, but sooner or later you could be forced to cut production. This would contradict the country's goals. Angola joined OPEC in 2007. When the organization set Angola's output target in November at current levels, about 1.11 million barrels per day (bpd), Azevedo sent a note of protest. OPEC members produce about 28 million bpd.

WHO says only seven functioning hospitals in Gaza

We've been reporting that the UN is expected to vote later today on its latest draft resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza. Richard Peeperkorn is the World Health Organization's (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza and he has recently returned from the Gaza Strip. He tells the BBC the WHO has a real concern about hospital functionality with only a handful in the northern part of the Gaza working.

"There are only seven functioning in the south. They are the backbone of the Gaza health system. What is urgently needed on the ground is humanitarian commodities into Gaza."

- BBC

Your (very short) Saturday Briefing:

96% of Saudis think that Arab nations should cut ties with Israel, and 40% of Saudis have a positive view of Hamas, compared to 10% months before the conflict began. Not that democratic sentiment means much in a monarchy, but worth loosely keeping an eye on.

The Sudanese Armed Forces have had a pretty serious defeat lately, after a couple months of relatively little movement (though even this "little movement" puts all the territorial losses and gains in the Ukraine War since June to shame; such is non-attrition war). The opposing Rapid Support forces have seized Wad Madani and some other major towns/cities in Jezira State, which is much more agricultural and populated than the western desert regions that the RSF has had their strongholds in before. This was a pretty surprising defeat for the SAR, especially due to the seeming lack of attempt to conduct any defensive urban warfare, and it's been a real kick up the ass for the pro-SAR population and politicians and leading to a lot of arguments and controversy about the military and what the fuck it's even doing. Given that hundreds of thousands of people had fled from other attacked areas to Jezeira State due to its assumed safety, this is very much not good for the civilian populace either, who are now fleeing again. You can compare the current map on NATOpedia to how the battlefield was just two months ago. Meanwhile, the SAF is accusing the UAE of supporting the RSF (they are), and some Democrats in the US Congress are calling on the UAE to end its support for the RSF.

Japan's defense spending is increasing by over 16% next year, up to a record $56 billion, and is loosening arms export controls, including being able to sell Patriot missiles that it manufactures to the US, whose stockpiles are dwindling. You know what they say, if your air defense missiles don't work on hypersonic missiles and they don't really work on drone swarms, the two major threats to your current military hegemony, just make even more of them and confidently state that this is Fine And Good, Actually, instead of trying a different strategy!

Podoliak, senior aide to Zelensky, has said that Ukrainian men of fighting age who fled the conflict should be forced to return, and that restrictions should be put in place to limit their access to aid and services in their places of stay in order to pressure them to return to Ukraine.

Brace is live on Hasan's twitch talking about the latest Epstein news.

From sea to ocean arabia should be yemeni

How do y'all think this conflict would have played out if Iran had decided that building a nuclear weapon was actually in its best interest?

why hasn't Citations Needed done an investigation into "Supply Chain Issues"? i'm not wrong in that it emerged as a talking point during covid, right? that they somehow parlayed into a regular headline appearance to launder labor suppression and manufacture 'victories' for the political class.

don't get me wrong logistics are a real thing, i mean the media class talking about it

🇩🇪🇺🇦❗️Germany will not extradite Ukrainian refugees to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the country's Minister of Justice

Germany's AfD hits record high in poll after budget chaos

Radio CIA reports Ukraine is wasting more American taxpayer money and manpower on tearing down Soviet statues in a bold move to win the war against Russia

The authorities in Kyiv continued their policy of removing Soviet-era monuments in the capital, dismantling a memorial to the January 1918 communist uprising, “another symbol of Bolshevik tyranny,” according to the city council.

The fascist little town Schutzmannschaft ideological thought police declare victory in SMO on the grounds that ideas Triumph over material reality

"The ideological role of this pedestal was to glorify the Bolsheviks, who staged an armed rebellion against the Ukrainian Central Rada and the Ukrainian People's Republic. For decades, Soviet and imperial executioners have been imposed on us as heroes.

Village chiefs wearing schweinhund hats of their Schutzmannschaft bandit ancestors who gleefully pillaged and massacred the Ukrainian countryside says the brave men that put them down like rabid dogs and went onwards to save the world are the real monsters.

Now it's time to get rid of the hostile cultural influence forever," council member Hanna Starostenko said. On December 9, Kyiv removed a monument to Bolshevik military commander Mykola Shchors.

Heinrich Himmler enthusiast and ww2 larper Hamma StaroStenko says the correct fact that hostile cultural influences must be removed from Ukraine, doesn't realize she's talking about herself.

Hamas has infiltrated my bathroom and just clogged my toilet. Does anyone have a recommendation for a reliable precision strike plunger? I don’t like use an auger because it takes forever to clean. I saw something called a “ToiletShroom” which is basically a pseudo-auger that’s easier to clean, but it breaks easily. I’ve seen recommendations for a plunger called the Konky Beehive but i don’t know if it’s shills or actually good.

🚨 Today, a cyberattack by an Israeli hacker group targetted Iran’s gas stations, disrupting 70% of them. This is the latest in a series of cyberattacks by the group, called "Predatory Sparrow", against Iranian infrastructure.

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Player tip: 99% of neocolonial powers stop shelling insurgencies right before they're finally demoralized, surrender unconditionally and accept the puppet government. 8 more years of bombing Yemen and we'll get a second democracy in the middle east.

Israeli military campaign in Gaza is among the deadliest in history, experts say | AP News

Between 1942 and 1945, the allies attacked 51 major German cities and towns, destroying about 40-50% of their urban areas, said Robert Pape, a U.S. military historian. Pape said this amounted to 10% of buildings across Germany, compared to over 33% across Gaza, a densely populated territory of just 140 square miles (360 square kilometers).

Engineered famine. I really have no words anymore.

Australia refusing to send any battleships to participate in "Operation Prosperity Guardian". Wonder why?

Argentines March Against Milei's Economic and Security Policies

"Milei announced a declaration of war against the people's labor, social, and civil rights," stated the activists calling for the protests.

On Wednesday, human rights defenders, social activists, workers, students, teachers, and retirees will march in Buenos Aires to reject President Javier Milei's economic adjustments and security protocol.

This marks the first major mobilization against the far-right administration and coincides with the anniversary of the 2001 social upheaval that led to the resignation of then-President Fernando de la Rua.

The mobilization aims to defend the right to protest, which is under threat with the protocol announced by the Security Ministry. Among the groups participating in the march are the Worker Pole, the Left Front, Great Homeland, the Communist Party, the Railway Union, "Memory, Truth and Justice," the Peace and Justice Service, and the Teachers' Trade Union.

The march will have two columns starting at 4:30 PM local time from the Congress and the Obelisco. They will converge at Mayo Square where social activists will read a document agreed upon by various groups.

"Milei announced a declaration of war against the people's labor, social, and civil rights. It includes a mega-devaluation, the freezing of funding for popular dining facilities, and significant increases in service fees," stated the activists calling for the protests.

They also denounced a protocol that seeks to preserve the so-called "public order" because it undermines constitutional rights, including the right to protest.

Last week, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced an anti-protest protocol that includes prison sentences, charging protesters for the expenses incurred in deploying security forces, and deporting foreign demonstrators.

"The protocol establishes that any demonstration that is carried out with blockades of streets or routes constitutes the commission of a flagrant crime and enables the security forces to evict or disperse the protest," Piensa Prensa reported.

"At the same time, it contains provisions to collect information, criminalize, persecute and stigmatize participants in public demonstrations and the political, social and union organizations involved," it added.

On the eve of the first major protest against Milei, Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello announced that citizens participating in or promoting street blockades will cease to receive public support through social programs.

Hajj Qassem Soleimani is one of the legendary figures who helped in the construction of the comprehensive regional alliance we now call the "Axis of Resistance". His legacy is one worth studying for every student of revolutionary history. This excellent documentary gives a good introduction into some aspects of his life and "The School of Soleimani".

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/12/31/695492/Qassem-Documentary

Guiding questions:

-What examples of genuine internationalism do you see in the film? What characterizes these as successful internationalism?

-What is pre-conceived notions about the history of the region did this film challenge for you? What do you want to learn more about?

Milei should be made the president it the United States. He's too good for Argentina.

what ever happened to the state department wanting the IDF to stop doing genocide before christmas

Bari Weiss targeting Refaat for how his tweet on fake baked babies made her feel versus Refaat actually being killed is the perfect encapsulation of this whole feelings debate in the West when an actual genocide is being committed.

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