________________________________
Wuhan virus -
Stronger RUMINT that Kalifornia Gov Newscum has acquired either Guillian-Barre syndrome or Bells Palsy. This after receiving a Modera ‘booster’ on top of a J&J primary shot. Some observers noted he wasn’t looking too good after this publicized photo shoot receiving the booster and ‘sources’ saying he did have a very negative reaction.
Thousands rallied in LA against the wuhan mandates. Protests also continue around the globe. National 8-11 protests to continue this week.
An internal report from within the US Customs and Border Protection agency suggests that more than half the border patrol workforce remains unvaccinated, and that if vaccine mandates are implemented it could leave just 8000 officers on duty.
The document, obtained by Fox News, notes that 48 percent of agents have not registered their vaccination status, and of the 52 percent who have done that, ten percent are unvaccinated.
Biden urges businesses to vaccinate workers despite the court order blocking our vaccine mandate. Strong pushback notes this is the same lawlessness for which the Biden campaign so often criticized Trump. And that suspicion is understandable. It’s not like the White House hasn’t ignored court rulings before.
British Medical Journal (BMJ) has reported on alleged data integrity issues with clinical trials that were carried out for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. The report is based largely on whistle blower statements and documentation. The BMJ has confirmed many of the allegations that have been made.
https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635
_____________________________
Globalism / Great Reset -
“I can’t predict for you today when that will be. Because as we see, we now have a situation, we’re entering the winter. The good news is we’re continuing to come down and hopefully, we’ll go further and further down, but what happens globally will impact us. So if we get more people vaccinated globally and more people vaccinated now, hopefully within a reasonable period of time, we will get to that point where it might occasionally be up and down in the background, but it won’t dominate us the way it’s doing right now,” Fauci continued according to a report by Yahoo News.
_____________________________
Economy -
U.S. gasoline prices have risen to a new seven-year high, according to new data from AAA, as elevated crude prices and an uptick in gasoline demand put upward pressure on prices at the pump.
As of Nov. 8, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States rose to a seven-year high of $3.422, up slightly from the previous day’s average of $3.421 and two cents from the week-ago average of $3.402, according to AAA.
The industry’s key index of used vehicle prices jumped another 9.2% over the span of just a month. That puts the index 38% higher than a year ago — compared to “just” 27% for the same stat in September.
The U.S. Federal Reserve warned Monday of potential spillover from China’s real estate troubles to the U.S. financial system.
Since this summer, highly indebted developer China Evergrande has rattled global investors as the company has attempted to avoid official default. Other Chinese developers have also struggled to repay debt, adding to concerns of wider fallout in the world’s second-largest economy — roughly a quarter of which is driven by real estate.
“Stresses in China’s real estate sector could strain the Chinese financial system, with possible spillovers to the United States,” the Federal Reserve said in its latest financial stability report, released twice a year.
______________________________
Invasion of Illegals -
Emboldened by news that the United States and Mexico will reopen shared land-border crossings, hundreds of migrants have arrived at Mexican border cities like Tijuana, hoping the reset will make it easier to cross and seek U.S. asylum. This is on top of the thousands working their way north from Central America.
Senior White House adviser said the Justice Department will set the amount of compensation if it deems that paying migrants separated from their families will save taxpayers money — payments that run as much as $450,000 or more.
“If the DOJ determines that it saves the taxpayers money and it rights a wrong, then they will make the determination that is necessary and I would assume if they make a determination, they’ll come up with what they think is an adequate dollar amount,” Cedric Richmond said on “Fox News Sunday.” Richmond said the Justice Department is making its decision independently of the White House.
See also wuhan mandate impact to border patrol above.
______________________________
Biden watch -
Three days after the passage of this infrastructure bill, Biden still hasn’t signed it.
Harris want NASA to track trees by race. . . . .
___________________________
CW2/Domestic violence -
Watch of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is stepped up. By most counts, the prosecution’s case continues to implode as their witnesses have ended up supporting the defense’s narrative of self defense. There is an increasing possibility that at the end of the prosecution’s presentations, the judge could grant dismissal of most if not all charges. This will most likely result in violent protests in the region as well as BLM/Antifa strongholds across the country.
Anti wuhan tyranny protests yesterday went off relatively peacefully.
_________________________________
Strategic Activity / Deployments -
Last week, the U.S. Navy conducted new missile tests in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran, proving their proficiency in operating a missile system that can target and destroy enemy speed boats, such as the ones Iran uses.
On Sunday, the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and naval forces Central Command (NAVCENT) announced that between Thursday and Saturday, U.S. patrol coastal ships conducted a live-fire exercise with the MK-60 Griffin guided-missile system in the Persian Gulf.
This particular U.S. Navy weapons test came days after speed boats from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) swarmed around the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) and a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker.
_________________________________
China -
Additional OSINT imagery show at least one of the targets - a US carrier mockup - is mounted on a track / rail system for potentially mobile target practice.
China’s Communist Party Central Committee is now holding its 6th Plenum, running from Nov.8 through Nov.11, where it’s expected that an ultra-rare so-called “historical resolution” will be written that will allow Xi Jinping to rule for life, after a prior 2018 constitutional amendment already effectively removed the two-term limit for the President.
China has resumed air incursions into the Taiwanese Air defense zone, with up to a couple dozen aircraft per day.
See Evergrand comments under ECONOMY above.
____________________________________
Russia -
Russia, which is the largest supplier of energy to Europe, had said that it would be rising gas flows to the continent on Monday. However, orders from a key Russian pipeline have shown that supplies will likely remain at their current level, prompting massive spikes in energy costs.
The Netherlands, which is used as a benchmark for European Union’s energy prices, saw increases of up to 9.7 per cent on Monday. The UK has also been impacted by the energy crunch, with British prices up by over 9 per cent, The Telegraph reported, given it imports energy from Europe.
OBSERVATION - Russia can disrupt European economy by squeezing natural gas supplies, disrupting them and causing them to focus internally while Russia maneuvers forces and other influences. Kind of a pay back for sanctions.
____________________________________
Ukraine -
Pentagon notes that movements and staging of Russian operational assets east of Ukraine are under strict OPSEC. This is unlike the earlier crisis this past spring. Also accounts for less OSINT on the activity. What OSINT has started catching is worrisome. Sentinel-1 SAR-imagery of the garrison belonging to elements of the 3rd MRD/ 20th CAA in Boguchar at 1504z today November 8th. Based on lower density in the vehicle parks, it its likely some of the units stationed here has left garrison since November 2nd. Boguchar is an important reserve depot for hardware as well. Kantemirovka railhead just 50km down the road is active. All just east of the Ukraine border.
OBSERVATION - These developments are concerning for the level of OPSEC being used. However, I don’t think the use of a Turkish drone against separatist artillery by Ukraine is enough to justify Russian to attack it. This does parallel Belarus fomenting a border crisis with Poland and the Baltic Nations and a squeeze of natural gas to Europe.
____________________________________
Israel -
Reports that IAF has hit targets in the vicinity of Tartus and Homs Syria. Most likely Iranian/Hezebollah munitions storage facilities and associated.
____________________________________
Iraq -
Iraq security forces identified three suspects behind the attempted assassination of PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
_________________________________
Lebanon -
Reports surfacing that Iran no longer trusts Hezbollah to carry out larger attacks on Israel with long range rockets because Hezbollah is distracted by growing violence in Lebanon and economic collapse there that Hezbollah has contributed to. Most Lebanese accuse Iran and Hezbollah for contributing to the current problems in Lebanon, especially those related to Hezbollah becoming an extension of the Iranian al Quds force in the 1980s. Quds supports pro-Iran Islamic terrorists in foreign countries. Al Quds considers Hezbollah their greatest success but more and more Lebanese, Syrians and other Arabs in the region see Quds and Hezbollah as a deadly curse created by Iran. Loss of public support - even to the extent of direct public opposition could turn to enhance Israeli targeting of Hezebollah assets via informants to Mossad agents if direct combat ensues.
__________________________________
Central America General -
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega clinched a fourth consecutive term, results showed on Monday, after jailing political rivals ahead of a vote that prompted threats of sanctions from the United States and international calls for free elections.
OBSERVATION - Ortega as a thorn in US policy has been struggling to maintain the balance in Nicaragua. He doesn’t have the pocket book of the former Soviet Union paying his agenda like he did in the 80’s. Still his radical agenda exfiltrates into central america.
In the 1980s, Ortega served a single term as president before being voted out. He returned to the top job in 2007.
After initially delivering solid economic growth and attracting private investment, Ortega’s government changed course in response to 2018 anti-government protests. More than 300 people were killed during the ensuing crackdown.
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have since fled the country. Many of them gathered in neighboring Costa Rica on Sunday in a show of defiance against Ortega.
NOTE - When I served in the 7th Infantry Division it was converted to a light infantry unit, Nicaragua was its primary focus for potential action.
______________________________________
Belarus -
Russian FM Lavrov accuses “The West” in the situation at Polish-Belarusian border, says “The West” triggered the crisis with actions at Middle East. Russian and Belarus FMs are reportedly meeting today on the issue.
The European Commission has accused Belarus’s authoritarian leader of luring migrants with the false promise of easy entry to the EU as part of an “inhuman, gangster-style approach”.
At least 2,000 migrants are now at the Belarus border with Poland.
“Upon arrival they are being pushed to the border and forced to make an illegal entry into the European Union,” said Commission spokesman Peter Stano.
IN RELATED There are reports of hundreds waiting for flights in Damascus organized by coordination between Belarus, Russia, and Assad. Their destination is Minsk, and from there to the Polish border. Most of them are Iraqi Kurds.
ALSO RELATED The European Commission is now looking to extend sanctions to include “third-country airlines” involved in flying migrants to Belarus. It said it was looking at flights to Minsk from a number of countries, including Syria, Iran and Qatar as well as Russia and several North African states.
EU and Nato members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have all seen a surge in the number of people trying to enter their countries illegally from Belarus in recent months. Many are young men but they include women and children, largely from the Middle East and Asia.
OBSERVATION - Continued efforts by Belarus (and Russia) to destabilize the region. The presence of military forces on both sides has increased chances for a shooting/combat incident.
________________________________________
________________________________
Wuhan virus -
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has asked health regulators in the United States to authorize booster jabs of its COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 18 and older, amid concerns that coronavirus infections could rise again in the coming winter months in the US. FDA advisers in September rejected Pfizer boosters for all, saying they were unconvinced healthy adults need extra dose.
OBSERVATIONS - According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), new coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths have been on the decline in recent weeks across the country. Combined with pushback resulting from biden mandates public support for boosters is not too great.
Missing California gov Newscum disappearance got more interesting with the reports that he and his wife were spotted at a wedding last weekend. The festivities lasted all weekend for the wedding of Getty Oil heiress Ivy Love Getty and Tobias Alexander Engel, a photographer. Of course - no photos.
_____________________________
Globalism / Great Reset -
In an appearance during the 2021 Social Wealth Seminar (SWS) in March hosted by a nonprofit called the Jain Family Institute, Biden’s nominee for Comptroller of the Currency Saule Omarova confessed that the government needs to bankrupt entire energy sectors to impose top-down climate change initiatives. Omarova, is a former Communist youth leader who grew up in Soviet Kazakhstan and has openly embraced Marxist principles.
_____________________________
Economy -
Amid a historic drought posing threats to future harvests, California farmers now say they are struggling to export the crops they do have because of a kink in the global supply chain that has left container ships lined up off the Southern California coast with nowhere to deliver their goods.
Problems with the supply chain have retailers worried their shelves — and their customers’ online shopping carts — will be empty during the crucial holiday shopping season, prompting emergency actions from state and federal leaders to clear up the logjam. Grower are attempting work arounds, but at a cost. But last month, more than 80% of scheduled shipments were canceled. Processors have resorted to paying much more to ship their products to other ports, sending pistachios and walnuts by train to Texas and Maryland and flying bales of cotton to Peru.
OBSERVATION - the impact to the US economy and food supply is huge and will drive shortages and prices higher.
Inflation at the wholesale level rose 8.6% last month from a year earlier, matching September’s record annual gain and offering more evidence that inflationary pressures are not yet easing. This is the highest annual pace in records going back nearly 11 years, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
______________________________
Invasion of Illegals -
Apprehensions of illegals at the border continue at record rates.
______________________________
CW2/Domestic violence -
The prosecution in the Rittenhouse trial closed its presentation yesterday. Some thought the defense would call for an acquittal for failure of the govt to make its case. However, it appears that the defense is moving forward with its case.
The judge also revealed that an individual(s) were caught filming the jurors entering their bus to go to the trial. This is most likely an effort to doxx the jurors in the event the trial goes forward through defense presentations and to deliberations.
_________________________________
Strategic Activity / Deployments -
The USS Nimitz steamed out of Sinclair Inlet Saturday on its first voyage following months of work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The aircraft carrier, which returned to Bremerton in March after a record-setting 11-month-long deployment, now begins the work at sea preparing for the next one.
OBSERVATION - With China getting froggy, an additional CSG in the Pacific is necessary.
_________________________________
Cyber Warfare -
A cyber attack disrupted dairy distribution in Wisconsin late last month, resulting in a big plunge in cheese prices.
A spokesman for one of the state’s largest milk processors, Schreiber Foods, told local newspaper, Wisconsin Farmer, that a five days “cyber event” halted operations as hackers demanded a rumored $2.5 million in ransom.
The ransomware attack began on Saturday (Oct. 23) and limited the company from buying 500-pound barrels of cheese, which are turned into slices and sold at supermarkets. The cyberattack on the dairy processor comes as hackers have targeted food supply chains. JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, was hit with a ransomware attack by hacker group REvil in June.
_________________________________
China -
A group of American lawmakers visited Taiwan, arriving on a U.S. military plane, in a move likely to further inflame tensions between Washington and Beijing over the status of the self-governing island. It wasn’t immediately clear which U.S. lawmakers were on the plane. Trips abroad by lawmakers during congressional breaks, like the one this week, are so common that the congressional delegations are nicknamed “codels.”
NOTE - Expect a lot of chest thumping by China over this.
OSINT Satellite images appear to show China is making significant progress developing missile silos that could eventually launch nuclear weapons. Experts from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nonpartisan national security research and advocacy organization, found that China has made significant progress on suspected silo fields in the western part of the country. The authors noted that “the missile silo fields are still many years away from becoming fully operational and it remains to be seen how China will arm and operate them.”
The suspected development of a first missile silo field was reported in late June. Following another report from FAS released in July on China’s suspected development of a second silo field, US Strategic Command tweeted, “This is the second time in two months the public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it.”
China believes it can survive its real estate bubble that is now in the process of collapsing and crippling the economy along the way. The scope of the problem is vast. The pictures of Chinese ghost towns have been appearing for years and they are real. Over-building by corrupt local officials allowed this to happen and currently some 20 percent of Chinese apartments and houses are empty. That’s 65 million housing units, most of them recent construction and never occupied. Many are concentrated in over fifty Ghost Cities that are in parts of the country that are still largely rural and not attracting much of the investments and new companies that prefer coastal regions, especially in the south near Hong Kong.
The government believes it can cope, because it must. Failure is not an option because that means another revolution or at least a radical change in the current form of government as shown by Chinese history. Paying attention to Chinese history is respected and it is still a popular tradition to base major decisions on what has happened in the past.
Some of those historical examples are casting doubt on the Chinese plan to survive the current real estate crisis. The largest problem is corruption at the provincial and local level. Over the last decade there has been a major effort to purge the false reporting from national economic statistics. The false data problem is not gone but at least it is recognized. (StrategyPage)
HOWEVER The uncertainty ahead of Wednesday’s deadline for cash-strapped China Evergrande Group to make an offshore bond coupon payment is set to add to concerns about a deepening liquidity crisis in the Chinese property sector.
Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, has been stumbling from deadline to deadline in recent weeks as it grapples with more than $300bn in liabilities, $19bn of which are international market bonds. Another overdue $148m bond payment must be made on Wednesday, and it has coupon payments totaling more than $255m on its June 2023 and 2025 bonds on December 28.
____________________________________
Iran -
Iran says it shot down two US drones over the Persian Gulf - The Iranian military on Tuesday said that they shot down two U.S. drones entering Iranian airspace. Iran said that the drones that it shot down were a model MQ-9 and RQ-4 drones. The drones were intercepted and shot down after Iran said that its military drills near the Straits of Hormuz were a ‘serious warning to our enemies
Iran’s stockpile of hard currency has skyrocketed during the Biden administration, rising from just $4 billion at the end of 2020 when sanctions were at their height, to more than $31 billion by the end of 2021, according to projections by the International Monetary Fund.
The Biden administration’s decision to pursue diplomacy with Iran and unwind the Trump administration’s sanctions has helped the country recover from its cash shortage, according to the IMF’s projections. The group says Iran’s cash reserves will top $31 billion by the end of the year and increase up to $42.9 billion by the end of 2022. This number could be even higher if the United States reenters the 2015 nuclear deal and removes all sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
__________________________________
Iraq -
Tension still high over the attempted assassination of the PM.
_________________________________
Syria -
Unidentified aircraft destroyed sites of Iranian militias near the Syrian-Iraqi border.
OBSERVATION - Can’t determine if US or IAF strike.
South Syria: more attacks past hours in Daraa province: - a soldier (5th Division) from Homs-city was shot dead near Izraa - a reconcilied Rebel who joined a group affiliated with the Military Security killed by gunmen in front of his house in Sanamayn
OBSERVATION - Daraa has quieted down since the summer by a Russian backed ceasefire agreement. Obviously pockets of resistance or elements that have ‘gone to ground’ still exist.
__________________________________
Belarus -
Poland faced “many attempts” to breach the border with Belarus overnight but now has 15,000 troops to repel them, the defense minister has said. TASS reports that Poland is moving military vehicles with heavy weapons to the Belarusian border,
Poland’s PM Morawieckim met with EUCO president Charles Michel the Belarus driven migrant problem. In a presser they say- “It’s not a migration crisis, it’s a political a crisis triggered by the special purpose of destabilization. It is a manifestation of a state terrorism”
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for new EU sanctions against Belarus on Wednesday amid an escalating migrant crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told public broadcaster PR1 that Tuesday night had seen “many attempts to breach the border.” However, he added, all those who crossed into Poland were stopped.
EU officials accuse Belarus of “weaponizing” the migrants against the 27-member bloc in retaliation for previous sanctions against Minsk. The say Belarus is flying them to the capital from abroad on special visas and taking them to the EU’s doorstep.
OBSERVATION - Situation continues to be volatile. As long as Polish and Belarus military face off chances for a significant shooting situation remain high.
Baltic states targeted as well. Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday declared a state of emergency at the country’s border with Belarus and at camps hosting migrants who arrived from there, a tally of votes showed.
The state of emergency, which begins at midnight local time (2200 GMT) in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday and is to last a month, allows border guards to use “mental coercion” and “proportional physical violence” to prevent migrants from entering Lithuania. Lithuania’s declaration bans all travel to within five kilometres (three miles) of the Belarus border, unless allowed by border guards. Mobile phones could be taken away from migrants and public gatherings near the border and in the camps could be forbidden.
“The state of emergency is needed to use ... extraordinary measures to remove the serious threat posed to society by the massive influx of foreigners,” the motion before parliament said.
________________________________________