A flotilla of ships packed with a thousand activists, human rights observers and more than 5,500 tons of food and medical supplies is ready to sail from Istanbul to for Gaza. To do so, they’ll need the Turkish government to let them leave the port, and then run the risk of being subjected to a deadly Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack — as their predecessors were in an infamous 2010 incident.
A number of major sites covering the activities and the plight of the persecuted canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including an official UOC resource, have been blocked in Ukraine.
The blocked sites include the UOC’s Information-Education Department (news.church.ua), the Union of Orthodox Journalists (spzh.media), Orthodox Life (pravlife.org), and Raskolam.net. This was reported by both the Union of Orthodox Journalists and Raskolam.net.
…
Last month, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided the homes and offices and arrested several members of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, who now face life in prison for a number of charges related to their reporting on the persecution of the UOC.
As Congress debates major new funding to support the Ukrainian war effort, U.S. taxpayer dollars are already flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and many others. Some of this money has come from the $44.1 billion in civilian-needs foreign aid committed to Ukraine. While the funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs; counter malign Russian influence; and modernize Ukraine’s archaic media laws, the new sites in many cases have promoted aggressive messages that stray from traditional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.
We no longer hear much about the Uyghur issue, which Arab and international media outlets often promoted as a narrative to tarnish the reputation of the Chinese government and pressure it. This issue has always been framed through the lens of “generality” implying that “China is persecuting Muslims within its borders,” which is certainly not true, since the Uyghurs are not the only Muslim ethnic group in China; there are ten Muslim ethnicities in China.
From 2004 to 2017, Brazil led the military component of the United Nations-backed peacekeeping mission to Haiti known as MINUSTAH. Since the U.N. Security Council authorized a new mission to Haiti last October, however, Brasília has been shy about supporting the operation. Brazil has offered to train Haitian police forces, but it has declined multiple requests from both the United States and United Nations to provide forces or financing for a new mission.
We are approaching the 48th commemoration of Palestine Land Day, and there is no doubt that 30 March will have very different feel about it this year, with the Palestinians in Gaza being killed and starved in defense of their land against the brutal Zionist military offensive over almost six months, during which the Gaza Strip has been systematically destroyed. Civilian infrastructure has been targeted by Israel, including homes, hospitals, schools, places of worship and governmental and non-government institutions. UNRWA buildings have also been targeted and destroyed. In every practical sense of the word, Gaza is uninhabitable.
In 2023, DR Congo’s authorities sought to hire 2,500 military contractors from Latin America to fight in North Kivu province, where a government-led coalition is pitted against the M23 rebels, a UN Group of Experts report indicates.
Led by Erik Prince, the founder of former security company Blackwater and current head of Frontier Resources Group (FSG), the plan to deploy mercenaries from Columbia, Mexico and Argentina “was reinitiated” in June and mid-July 2023, the UN report of December 2023 says.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
You must be logged in to post a comment.