Running a little late today, sorry. Tomorrow’s post will be late as well as I have an early morning Dr appt.
Globalism / Great Reset –
The White House announced plans to establish two new national monuments as part of President Joe Biden’s land conservation agenda, which it said would protect and conserve 514,000 acres of public land in the West.
Biden will sign a proclamation Tuesday at the White House Conservation in Action Summit establishing the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in El Paso, Texas. The designations will restrict development in the areas, including drilling and mining and possibly the construction of renewable energy facilities.
Related - Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo on Tuesday blasted Joe Biden for unilaterally locking up mineral rich land in his state. Karine Jean-Pierre: “This is the president that has taken an aggressive stand on climate.”
OBSERVATION – Thus the goal of the WEF. Head fake ‘renewable energy’ on one hand and then lock off the areas where those resources are found to prevent the development of said ‘renewable energy’.
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Now it appears that even insect farming is being deemed as ‘unethical’. Guess they want us to eat nothing and be happy.
Wuhan virus –
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel is set to testify before the Senate’s top healthcare committee Wednesday as the federal government generously offers to bail his company out of a patent infringement lawsuit.
The purpose of Wednesday’s Health, Labor, Education and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing is to question Bancel about drug prices after Moderna proposed quadrupling the price of its COVID-19 shot. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, HELP’s chair, and Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the committee’s ranking member, have long advocated for lower drug prices.
The Biden administration’s entanglement with ongoing litigation related to patent infringement has received less attention than issue of vaccine pricing. Moderna is currently fighting off a lawsuit from Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences, a pair of small biotechnology firms that allege Moderna stole their technology to develop its COVID-19 vaccine.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/21/moderna-lawsuit-patent-infringement-vaccine-doj-arbutus-genevant/
OBSERVATION – Not only no but HELL NO
Economy –
During an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi stated that the problems in the banking industry are the inevitable result of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve where “things are going to start to wobble and break and it’s going to feel uncomfortable.” And because inflation is “still high” “the next 12-18 months are going to be uncomfortable.”
OBSERVATION – The Fed only has one tool at this point – a hammer – and everything looks like a nail. It is poorly prepared to deal with an economy with no legs to readily absorb the rapid rate increases. Now we are looking at prolonged banking crisis – along with a housing crash and continued inflation.
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The amount of emergency cash the Fed has loaned to banks has BLOWN PAST the previous record high, which occurred during the Great Recession. Which is a harbinger of bad news if history is any indicator.
Invasion of Illegals –
Noting that illegal Chinese immigrant interceptions are reportedly up by some 900%
CW2/Domestic violence –
U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney from California has just ruled that the state’s recent ban of handguns is a total violation of the Second Amendment, according to Fox News. The law is illegal and cannot be enforced.
OBSERVATION – Many observers see the 9th circuit court upholding the judgement. Liberal heads in Sacramento are exploding.
Strategic Activity / Deployments –
THE PENTAGON – After unveiling a budget that wants to decommission 11 warships next year, Navy officials are appealing to the public to allow the service to move ahead with their proposal.
Officials last week reiterated the Navy’s divest-to-invest approach, which argues the service needs to shed older ships to invest in newer capabilities and platforms.
“One of the things we have to get real about, instead of talking about estimated service life, talking about actual service life,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said last week at the annual McAleese Conference.
“Ships need to be workable and they need to be usable. So those ships that aren’t either – usable or workable – I might be able to replace those with something that’s a little bit more agile. We may have to use them a little bit differently – get back to driving adaptability, effecting change,” he added.
OBSERVATION – Nice concept, except that such replacement ships are decades out.
POLITICAL FRONT –
Its Wednesday and Trump is still a free man. Recent events now have pushed any action into next week.
Soros backed DA Bragg is facing a lot of pressure to drop the case as well as intense pressure from “higher ups” to pursue it. He’s walking thru a minefield and to say he better watch his step is an understatement.
Attorney Robert Costello, the former legal adviser to Michael Cohen, spoke to Tucker Carlsonon Monday night after he testified to the Manhattan Grand Jury investigating President Donald Trump.
According to FOX News legal mind Gregg Jarrett, Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg HID nearly 600 pages of exculpatory evidence to the New York Grand Jury investigating President Trump.
Gregg Jarrett: I mentioned it yesterday, I think, when Bob Costello got into that Grand Jury room and told them, “Wait a minute. You don’t have the hundreds of pages I handed over to Alvin Bragg over here? You only have six cherry-picked documents?” You know, hiding from grand juries exculpatory information is reprehensible and unconscionable. And the conduct of Alvin Bragg and his henchman Mark Pomeranz, who specifically says in his book, “We’re targeting zombies because we don’t like his beliefs,” those guys should face disbarment proceedings.
OBSERVATION – Six Hundred pages of evidence knowingly withheld from the grand jury. And according to Costello they are exculpatory evidence in favor of Trump. Manhattan DA is in big doo-doo over this and may torpedo the whole process.
Jury observers note the group was sent home today and may or may not meet tomorrow. The Manhattan DA’s offices reportedly in chaos over the hiding of the documents which will most likely torpedo any trial for the prosecution.
China –
See Russia for Xi’s trip
North/South Korea –
(AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday his government will move to restore Japan’s preferential trade status as he pushes to resolve history and trade disputes with Japan despite domestic opposition.
In lengthy, televised comments during a Cabinet Council meeting, Yoon defended his moves, saying that leaving ties with Japan as fraught as they are would be neglecting his duty because greater bilateral cooperation is vital to resolve diverse challenges facing Seoul.
“I thought it would be like neglecting my duty as president if I had also incited hostile nationalism and anti-Japan sentiments to use them for domestic politics while leaving behind the current, grave international political situation,” Yoon said.
OBSERVATION – Unintended consequences grow because of NK and Chinese aggressions and desires to control the region. Nations working out old problems in the face of China.
**
N. Korea fired multiple cruise missiles, informed source says, into the sea of Japan.
Japan –
See N/S Korea above.
Russia -
WAR WATCH - into the second year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - Feb 24th, 2022
SPECIAL NOTE – This time last year the Russian invasion had essentially stalled out and Russian units were being cut to pieces being separated from their logistics train of fuel and ammo.
CURRENT ASSESSMENT
Russian forces have initiated an offensive who’s declared goals are to reach and secure the Luhansk and Donetsk oblast borders — an objective that Russian Chief of General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov had also outlined on December 22, 2022. Troop and equipment build up is being noted
This offensive action is focused on several fronts –
1) the Svatove-Kreminna front,
2) Bahkmut region,
3) Donetsk region and
4) Zaporizhizhia Oblast around the town of Vuhledar.
Russia is rapidly losing its capability to sustain offensive operations in these fronts due to the huge resource drain Bahkmut has created. Some offensive operation will continue to be attempted, however, a lot of assessment indicates they’ve lost the capability to sustain a credible offensive to try to capture the Donbas region having frittered away resources against Bahkmut.
Russia is also capable of launching more cruise/ballistic missile attacks directed against Ukrainian infrastructure -primarily its power grid, but massively reduced inventories of such missiles means these barrages will be further apart.
While Russia has nuclear capability, the probability is low that any will be used in the near future.
********
The Putin-Xi summit concluded Tuesday with a joint statement regarding the China peace proposal for Ukraine. Both nations agreed that a negotiated peace is the preferred route out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict but that the security concerns of all parties should be addressed. The statement added that both parties opposed any states and their blocs damaging the legitimate security interests of other states in order to obtain military, political, and other advantages. (FO)
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“Changes are coming that have not happened for 100 years. And we are promoting these changes together. Where we are united, now there is peace,” says Xi Jinping, saying goodbye to Putin.
**
“If UK supplies depleted uranium shells to Ukraine, Russia will be forced to react” - Putin
Logistics –
Russia went from their top line tanks to pulling older T72 series tanks out of mothballs in about 5 months. Within about another 5 months Russia was forced to drag T-62 series tanks out of mothballs. Now it is confirmed that Russia is pulling 1950 vintage T-54/55 series tanks from mothballs. Humorous commentary is that Russia will be culling museums for WW2 T-34 tanks.
Ukraine -
WEATHER FORECAST – Temperatures rising to the mid 30’s – lower 40s with rain/snow over most of the forecast period
24 HOUR ROUND UP –
Fighting continues around Bakhmut and Avdiivka with minor gains by Russian forces.
Russia found some Iranian drones and fired some at Ukranian targets, Ukraine shot down about half of them, the others hit primarily civilian targets. Russia also attacked Odesa with four Kh-59 missiles. Air defense forces managed to shoot down two missiles, two others hit the city.
Crimean front ———
In Sevastopol, reports of heavy explosions in the area of the bay where missile carriers of the Black Sea fleet are located. Russians are reporting the possibility of air and sea drone attacks.
OUTLOOK –
With Zelensky’s visit to Bakhmut to encourage the troops, Ukraine appears to intend to maintain the defense of the city.
However, Russia has altered their attack plans not only in Bahkmut, but Avdiivka and some other areas too – that is to bypass the meat grinder on the flanks where defenses are not as dense or well developed. This has caused some degree of success for Russia, but it comes too late in their offensive to be much effect. This has forced Ukraine to commit some of its forces to defend the flanks of these cities to prevent full encirclement / cut off of Ukraine forces.
Now the clock is in Ukraine’s favor and new units formed around more modern armor systems should be up and running by the end of April – about the same time Ukraine forced the initial Russian surge in the northern half of the country back to the border.
Israel –
See Syria for overnight airstrike below.
Iran –
Ballistic missile bases of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force near Tabriz (Northwest Iran) are reported to be on high alert for possible missile strike against the Capital of Azerbaijan, the city of Baku, in case if Azerbaijani Army attacks Iranian Military Peacekeepers already in Armenia (Zangezur corridor).
Azerbaijan media reports that Iran has blocked the route from Nakhchivan to Baku, causing growing fuel shortage.
Rumors circulating at the moment that Iranian military elements in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, near the border with Armenia and Azerbaijan, have gone on alert, due to tensions in the area.
Iranian reconnaissance aircraft are also reported to be flying along the Iran-Azerbaijani border.
OBSERVATION – If the Azeri’s attack Armenia, Iran may take advantage and settle some old scores against the Azeri’s. Could be looking at a significant regional war breaking out. Iran’s biggest concern is maintaining a route thru Armenia to Russia – something the Azeri’s want blocked.
See more in Armenia – Azerbaijan below.
Lebanon -
Controlled essentially by Hezbollah, Lebanon’s economy is a mess. Since 2019 The Lebanese currency has lost 98% of it’s value and inflation is 5-10% per day. On Tuesday the anger spilled over and people began closing major roads and protesting.
Syria -
Syrian state media says Israel struck the Aleppo Airport and Nairab Military Airport early this morning, causing damage.
Target most likely was Iranian/Hezbollah logistics /storage and potentially commanders.
Armenia/Azerbaijan –
WAR WATCH
Placed this region back on WAR WATCH because of the rapid escalation and movement of opposing forces to border areas.
Unconfirmed, but likely reports that Azeri Armed Forces are about to launch a military operation to cut access of Armenia to the outside world by means of capturing Zangezur corridor, the last area which connects Armenia to Iran. This would allow Baku to establish a commercial/military corridor for itself and its allies by occupying Syunik province of Armenia.
While Nagorno-Karabakh itself may also be targeted, some think a large-scale conflict there is lower in probability. This due in part to the presence of Russian forces acting as peace keepers and the Azeri desire to keep them out of any conflict as allies of Armenia.
Iran has deployed some forces in the Zangezur corridor both as a ‘peace keeper’ as well as protecting transit routes northward towards Russia as well as a deterrent to Azeri forces.
Numerous videos have been posted of convoys headed to the border regions. Other recent actions include Azerbaijan cutting off the gas supplies from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hospitals and Medical Clinics in Armenia have reportedly been ordered by the Ministry of Defense to begin stockpiling and replenishing their Blood Supplies.
OBSERVATION – The formula for a nasty regional war is growing. Armenia is backed by Russia and Iran (who’s grown closer in cooperation with Russia). Azeri’s are supported primarily by Turkey and to a degree Israel (the biggest burr in the saddle for Iran).
Misc of Note –
In California’s Central Valley, authorities issued evacuation orders for residents of communities in Tulare County, where a lake that dried up around World War II was set to reappear.
“Increasingly serious high water prospects in what is shaping up to possibly be a record Kings River runoff season have led the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Sacramento District to announce plans to begin a rare flood release into old Tulare Lakebed,” said a statement from the King’s River Conservation District (KRCD).
“Releases growing to 1,500 cubic feet per second... will begin taking the flood flows to the former lakebed in Kings County.
“They are anticipated to continue indefinitely, USACE officials said, possibly lasting until sometime in the summer.”
Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake in the western United States, fed chiefly by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada range.
But as the area was developed for agriculture and rivers were diverted for irrigation, the lake shrank, and by the middle of the 20th century, it had become farmland.
It has flooded periodically since, including in 1983 when record snowfall covered the mountains, with 2023 shaping up to rival those totals.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/california-ghost-lake-rain/2023/03/22/id/1113327/
OBSERVATION – Currently snow pack is at the 2d highest level on record – and more is on the way. My former project site to the south of this area (King River is partially controlled by the USACE Pine Flat dam) is Lake Success and dam which had its spill of record nearly double that of the previous – and is still flooding the downstream town of Porterville.
This much water is now a bane to many farmers – flooding preventing getting crops planted.
The threat continues if a very warm, wet storm hits and creates and even bigger rain-on-snow event.
NOTE – Another storm (a bomb cyclone) is hitting San Fran region and is expected to The same storm is expected to cause severe weather across 16 other states. By Thursday and Friday, it will traverse from Texas to Alabama.
I've been waiting for the green left to start campaigning for carrot's rights.
"CARROTS ARE PEOPLE, TOO!" they will shout, while trying to ban all consumption of vegetables.
Prayers for an easy happy doctor’s appointment.
Well, misread my calendar – Dr appt is next week. So here is my wrap up for today.
Sen. Malcolm Roberts says that Australia should not cede its sovereignty to the WHO due to the organization’s corruption that generates billions for its owner, Bill Gates and because Tedros is an evil “killer” tied to a terrorist organization.
OBSERVATION – The US isn’t the only country that sees the WHO treaty modifications as detrimental to their country. The vote is coming soon and right now it appears that the representatives to the WHO will approve the changes.
Wuhan virus –
Moderna CEO tells Sen. Rand Paul that they paid the NIH $400M in royalties last year.
OBSERVATION – The NIH holds the patent on the mRNA technology? So the NIH is complicit in the scam and resulting deaths/adverse reactions.
Economy –
The Federal Reserve raised their target rate (upper bound) to 5%, up 25 basis points. At the same time, Fed Reverse Repo usage soared to $2.28 trillion as banks hide from inflation.
OBSERVATION – Reports also suggest that the Fed will take a break in raising the rate at its next meeting to give bank breathing room to reestablish stability. Some worry that this will cause inflation to start rising again.
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed is prepared to “use all of our tools” to maintain safety, soundness, and efficiency in the U.S. banking system after the collapse of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank this month.
OBSERVATION – His words did little to reassure Wall Street which dropped over 500 points after his comments.
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Just starting to see the impacts of the ongoing kalifornia floods. Tulare County (second largest county in the U.S. in terms of food production), Kern County ( nation’s #1 county in agricultural production), Monterey County ( 4th largest county in the U.S. in terms of agriculture production) and Fresno County (nation’s 3rd largest producer of agriculture) have had farms flooded out completely, wiping out much of the vegetable crops for this year.
Expect higher veggie prices.
**
Despite increasing demand from China, traders’ recession fears are leading to lower oil prices. “Crude oil is reflecting something between a moderate and severe recession at these levels,” according to Matthew Portillo, head of research at TPH & Company. (FO)
OBSERVATION – Drop in oil prices normally reflects reduced economic activity associated with a recession. Just another indicator that recession is on the way.
**
Shortages of baby formula continue to persist even after one year of biden invoking the Defense Production Act and launching “Operation Fly Formula” to expedite production of key ingredients found in formula.
OBSERVATION – I recommend parents to be do what I did for my granddaughter – by early, and stock up. I noted here potential shortages even before the plant shut down, and over the course of several months stocked up on about 10 months worth of formula. The little stinker is 11 months old now and we are just opening the last two containers of formula – soon she’ll be transitioning to regular milk.
CW2/Domestic violence –
Radicals are organizing a Trans Day of Vengeance protest on April 1 (how appropriate). They claim a trans genocide is upon us, but in their own propaganda, they claim that 6 trans people have been murdered this year. Some in the radical trangender community consider actions to keep trans activitsts from grooming children as a form of genocide. Since they cannot reproduce, they have to recruit. So the act of preventing them from recruiting sparks the call of genocide.
The main protest is to be held in front of the USSC building but likely will have parallel protests at all the standard locations as well. Expect a fair Antifa presence as the hit men to attack any counter protestors or journalists that are not on their favored list.
Domestic / International Terror (modified)-
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began at sundown on Wednesday, as the faithful prepared for a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting intended to bring them closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.
For the next 30 days, Muslims will refrain from eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset.
OBSERVATION – The period also is noted for an uptick in terror activities as piety turns to activism in the name of allah.
Strategic Activity / Deployments –
Myocarditis diagnoses spiked in the military by 130.5% in 2021, according to newly released whistleblower data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED).
OBSERVATION - The jab was suppose to enhance readiness. These are the first numbers of Myocarditis for the military I’ve seen. I suspect they are just the tip of the iceberg.
POLITICAL FRONT –
The Manhattan DA is facing a firestorm of his own making.
A 2018 Letter from Michael Cohen’s lawyer states that Cohen used his own personal funds to pay $130,000 to Stormy Daniels and that the Trump Org nor Campaign was a party to the transaction did not reimburse Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly. That directly implicates Cohen lied to the grand jury. Additionally the revelation of 600 pages of evidence being withheld from the jury hasn’t helped him either.
It is uncertain that the grand jury will meet today (Thursday) with the potential to vote on an indictment.
In addition to the Manhattan inquisition, Trump is currently facing investigations from the Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney’s office, and the Justice Department’s Special Counsel Jack Smith. Each of these cases has the potential to lead to an indictment.
**
Congressional Budget Office is discussing adding a “means test” or income threshold to veterans receiving disability payments. This is just starting to spread through the veteran community.
To make matters worse, there’s a plan to wrap VA benefits into Social Security when a disabled veteran hits 67 – of course, that’s with a 30% reduction in his VA disability when he’s eligible to draw full SS. This would affect those who started to receive benefits in 2024. Veterans currently receiving benefits would see no impact.
OBSERVATION - FWIW, I am a disabled vet and receive a small disability payment. I was incensed last year when I found out that the veteran community in general had to go through a “means test” in order to get VA medical services and that the VA wanted my private medical insurance information to bill as necessary for any care they provided. That is not the agreement the govt had with me 30+ years ago when I left the service. Currently, the CBO proposal is to maintain full payments up to $125,000/year and gradually reduce to the $170,000/year mark, after which no payments will be made.
So by what I’ve read, I’m secure (for now), but the contract that America has to support its veterans has been dealt a nasty blow. We are not disposable.
Russia -
WAR WATCH - into the second year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - Feb 24th, 2022
CURRENT ASSESSMENT
Russian forces have initiated an offensive who’s declared goals are to reach and secure the Luhansk and Donetsk oblast borders — an objective that Russian Chief of General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov had also outlined on December 22, 2022. Troop and equipment build up is being noted
This offensive action is focused on several fronts –
1) the Svatove-Kreminna front,
2) Bahkmut region,
3) Donetsk region and
4) Zaporizhizhia Oblast around the town of Vuhledar.
Russia is rapidly losing its capability to sustain offensive operations in these fronts due to the huge resource drain Bahkmut has created. Some offensive operation will continue to be attempted, however, a lot of assessment indicates they’ve lost the capability to sustain a credible offensive to try to capture the Donbas region having frittered away resources against Bahkmut.
Russia is also capable of launching more cruise/ballistic missile attacks directed against Ukrainian infrastructure -primarily its power grid, but massively reduced inventories of such missiles means these barrages will be further apart.
While Russia has nuclear capability, the probability is low that any will be used in the near future.
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Russian analysts are noting that Putin didn’t get even half of what he wanted from his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, this according to Ihor Zhovkva, a deputy head of the President’s Office.
**
Calling the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin an outrageously partisan decision, Russian deputy National Security Council chief Dmitry Medvedev said any attempt to detain Putin would be a declaration of war.
Logistics –
A fire is reported on the territory of the Yaroslavl Motor Plant in Russia, before the fire there were reports of an explosion. - Russian media.
P.S: The plant manufactures engines that are used in many types of Russian military equipment.
Russian Personnel Issues –-
Some analysis and number crunching on Russia force deployments for the current offensive have been made.
Some estimate there to be around 60 000 men on each of the three fronts, Kreminna, Bakhmut and Avdiivka (Donetsk). Altogether around 180 000 men.
100 000 on the southern front. Maybe 100 000 in the rest of the eastern front. That’s 380 000 men. Then you have forces in Belarus, on/behind the Russian border and as reserves east of the front in Donbass
OBSERVATION – These numbers may be on the high side. However, assuming they are true only points to the Russian failures in the ‘three fronts’ areas. The frontage of Kreminna, Bahkmut and Avdiivka is very small and 60,000 should have been able to overwhelm by simple numbers the Ukrainian Defenders. The fact that most battles Russian units are tossed in piecemeal suggest that the reports of low morale outright refusal of orders may be in play here.
Ukraine -
WEATHER FORECAST – Temperatures rising to the mid 30’s – lower 40s with rain/snow over most of the forecast period
24 HOUR ROUND UP –
Fighting continues around Bakhmut and Avdiivka with minor gains by Russian forces. Some observers note Russia at Bakhmut is using smaller sized units to attack -with little success overall.
Ukraine had some moderately successful counter attacks in the Avdiivka region.
Scattered artillery all along the LOC in the south and east.
Zaporizhizhia Front ———
Sources close to Rybar report that Ukrainian forces have “penetrated” Russian defenses near the town of Pologovsky, Zaporizhia Oblast. This has the markings of a probable reconnaissance in force by Ukraine.
Crimean front ———
Three Ukraine drone ships attempted to penetrate into Sevastopol harbor, one failed and two others succeeded. No reports on any damage to any ships, though it is suspected that one of the drones was successful.
Russian Territory –
Local Russian media are reporting an explosion in Kursk tonight, presumably somewhere near the airport.
OUTLOOK –
No change from recent outlooks. Bahkmut and Avdiivka still appear to be the main effort now. Kreminna is a secondary threat, but Russian attacks there have not done much.
Fires at major Russian facilities continue to raise the specter of unconventional warfare on Russia proper. Not enough information to be certain, but coincidences? I think not.
Israel –
Israel told the Biden administration and several European countries that Iran would be entering dangerous territory that could trigger an Israeli military strike if it enriches uranium above the 60% level, a senior Israeli official told Axios.
Syria -
U.S. air chief: Armed Russian jets have flown over American base in Syria 25 times in March
Armenia/Azerbaijan – WAR WATCH
Two Russian servicemen came under fire from the Azerbaijani military in Syunik and were seriously injured. They are alive and currently undergoing surgery.
More reports of military build up on both sides.