Morning
Iran-
Relatively quiet. The ayatollah’s speech yesterday definitely appears to try to patch up relations between the ruling mullah and IGRC.
Israel -
IED balloon attacks appear to have tapered off. Friday is a typical day of protesting and ied balloons are more common then.
N Korea -
An economic outlook for nw is slight improvement from’19 but not by much. Sanctions still will keep a lot of what Kim does on a short leash.
North Korea’n envoys reportedly met with Chinease and the United Nations diplomats. Sources to Yonhap say this trip was “abrupt” but no info on context.
CW2 Richmond VA
In a strange turn of events I noted yesterday, Antifa is announcing they will march along side 2d amendment supporters on the right. In an interview to “Vice” a spokesman stated “I think it’s been pretty important for us to focus on the fact that gun control in America has a legacy of racist enforcement,” an Antifa Seven Hills spokesperson called James, a self-identified anarchist who withheld his real name for fear of getting doxxed, told Vice. “Like taking guns away from black people, because black people were perceived as a threat to property and the sanctity of the state.” Virginians should be careful of the scorpion and the frog tale.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not only issued temporary flight restrictions for Richmond, Virginia for Monday, but has designated the airspaces are “National Defense Airspace” until after Lobby Day. This includes drones. In related it has been reported that a USAF U-28A aircraft Has been circling the Capitol.
Many believe that a false flag will be initiated to discredit 2d amendment supporters in the state (and country). The governor makes repeated references to Charlottesville protests and accuses 2d amendment supporters of being racists among other insults.
I can’t say one way or another what will happen. Passions are high on all sides and it may not take much to trigger an incident.
Happy New Year! Thank you for the new thread and ongoing updates. I read them all, just rarely able to post these days.
Morning, Middle East dominates again.
Israel-
Overnight more IED balloons being launched. Faction in Gaza reportedly state they will act in unison to respond to any Israeli attack (presumably in response to ied balloons). Analysis of balloons indicate they have morphed from flying Molotov cocktails to more advanced explosives.
Iran -
Indicators of more antigovernment protests but few details.
Iraq -
Clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Tayran square, Baghdad. Protests continue to focus on corruption of Iraqi govt by Iran and its supported militias and politicians
Lebanon -
Saturday protests against govt corruption and associated Hezbollah (Iran) influence intensified. Protests started last October when Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned and Hezbollah started trying to put more favorable politicians in place. Govt corruption has caused a huge economic crisis as well. With no one in charge and nothing being done the population keeps getting worse off.
N Korea-
Ri Son Gwon has replaced Ri Yong Ho. Ri Son Gwon will be the new North Korean foreign minister. He is reported to have a fiery temper. Be interesting to see how long he lasts. Also a reputed hardliners.
CW2 -
VCDL calling for 10,000 volunteers to enter the “gun free zone” at the Capitol Monday to potentially “take one for the teams”. If turnout is the 50k+ expected they want armed Virginians surrounding the ‘cage’.
Wild cards are the Antifa affiliated gun groups and out of stare VCDL groups.
Natural disasters -
Taal volcano appears to be building to a major eruption- potentially of the scale of Pinetubo or larger. No direct threat to the US however an eruption of that magnitude is likely to generate significant global cooling. Combined with a Maunder Minimum sunspot cycle impacts to agriculture over the next few years could be significant.
China -
News of a new SARS virus spreading in China is gaining concern. China has been tight on information. This is of concern since the 2002 and 2003, SARS infected more than 8,000 people worldwide, and more than 700 of them ended up dying. This outbreak is still very new, they have never seen this virus before, and they are still trying to figure out exactly how dangerous it is. Concern has increased at US airports with screening of Chinese passengers given two events - one in japan and a second in Thailand where Chinese passengers came down with the virus.