Taiwan has a general election on Saturday. The international media has highlighted the election as an important geopolitical pivot – namely, if the current incumbent government party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), wins the presidency and legislature and continues its call for formal (not just de facto) independence from mainland China, that will mean intensified attacks on Taiwan by Beijing, perhaps leading to military conflict.
BREAKING Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Iranian-backed militants fired a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones at a U.S. flagged ship manned by US Merchant Marine sailors who were “providing support” to Israel. No update yet from the head of the US Merchant Marine, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
What is clear is that the US military has repeatedly warned ship owners and officers against sharing information with journalists, Wall Street analysts, and supply chain experts. While journalists and supply chains may be under-reporting the issue, ship owners are sharing more alarming stories among themselves. This information asymmetry could lead to more ships avoiding the region, while freight forwarders, cargo brokers, and other professionals further down the supply chain may be unprepared for the full extent of the delays.
In the weeks to come, we will see the situation between the Houthi, international shipping, and the world’s navies further develop. The goal of Operation Prosperity Guardian is to ensure the prosperity of the world by ensuring the free flow of goods and ships through the international waterways off the coast of Yemen. If the main beneficiary of the operation is one of the largest shipping corporations in the world, then there is a question of whose prosperity is Operation Prosperity Guardian truly guarding?
In the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) annual report on journalists killed in the course of their work in 2023, the deaths of two Russian journalists killed in the area of the special military operation were simply erased from the count, as if their deaths did not count. But after all, this is hardly surprising coming from an organisation that in 2022 was already calling for censorship of the Russian media on the pretext of protecting freedom of speech.
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52% of RWB’s funding comes from governments, including the French Development Agency, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the UK Foreign Office, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Commission, the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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But if we look at the non-governmental players, RWB’s Russophobic bias can be fully explained. Its partners include the Open Society foundations of George Soros, who has never hidden the fact that he wants to see Russia collapse, and who supports colour revolutions around the world in order to install pro-Western governments in key countries such as Ukraine.
The Ford Foundation is also a donor to Reporters Without Borders. This foundation is literally infiltrated by the CIA (one of its former presidents is none other than the architect of what later became the CIA, and he hired American intelligence agents to work for the foundation)!
And to top it all off, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is one of RWB’s supporters. The NED is an American organisation funded by the US Congress, which has taken on some of the tasks previously carried out by the CIA! Don’t waste any more time, we’ve got the trifecta!
The disclosure that steps were being taken to boost the military capacity of the GDF came after President Ali, Vice President Jagdeo and GDF Chief-0f-Staff Brigadier Omar Khan met with former Retired Four Star US General Wesley K. Clark at State House ion December 19.l. Mr Jagdeo said no “formal” decision has been taken to hire him. “We had a good meeting with General Clark. There has been no formal decision as to whether he will be hired or not but he is a solid person,” Mr Jagdeo said, noting that he was head of the United States Southern Command and ex NATO Commander.
Thiele’s number of 800 Ukrainian soldiers being lost per day appears to be higher than the one announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu at the expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry’s Board on Tuesday. According to Shoigu, some 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded since the start of the fighting in late February 2022. This means that, according to Russian figures, Kiev’s daily losses stand at around 600 servicemen.
Western weapon systems are not miracle weapons and are worn out. On average, there are daily losses of around 800 soldiers. This means that more than 20,000 soldiers have to be recruited every month to replace the dead and wounded.
In addition, there is an additional need for personnel for rotation so that exhausted soldiers can recover and units and formations can also be replenished materially.
Faced with a dangerous shortfall in Ukraine’s air defenses and no easy resolution to the funding impasse in Congress, Washington has increasingly leaned on allies to provide urgent weapons support.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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