Russia’s Arctic Sea Lane to Become Major Trade Route between Europe and Asia
The Northern Sea Route is expected to become a major trade route for goods shipped between Europe and Asia. It stretches the entire length of Russia’s Arctic and Far East regions.
Ships under the Russian flag could get the exclusive right to transport oil and gas along the Northern Sea Route, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin who proposed the measure to boost the country’s shipbuilding industry.
The corresponding bill is currently being considered in the State Duma. to be adopted soon.
It will increase the volume of shipping, strengthen the position of the domestic shipping companies. The Christophe de Margerie is the first LNG tanker and icebreaker in the world.
The Russian tanker has completed its first commercial voyage, delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Northern Sea Route from Norway to South Korea.
The entire voyage from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea via the Russian Northern Sea Route took 19 days, which is about 30% shorter than the traditional southern route through the Suez Canal.
The route runs the length of Russia’s Arctic and was completed in a record six and a half days. The tanker had an average speed of more than 14 knots (about 28 km/ph) despite the fact that the vessel was forced to go through ice fields 1.2 meters thick.
The amount of cargo transported via the Northern Sea Route exceeded the Soviet record last year, at 7.5 million tons. By 2030 the volume is expected to skyrocket to 70 million tons.
Ships will mainly transport liquefied natural gas (LNG),oil, and coal. The Arctic route from Southeast Asia to Europe cuts the transportation time in half compared to traditional routes through the Suez and Panama canals.
In Soviet times, it was used mainly to supply goods to isolated settlements in the Arctic.
RT.com / ABC Flash Point Shipping News 2018.
When was Jesus Christ born?
The birth of Jesus Christ is commemorated by millions of people around the world with Christmas celebrations on Dec. 25. Yet, most scholars agree that he wasn’t born on that day, or even in the year A.D. 1.
Researchers have speculated that the Roman Catholic Church chose Dec. 25 because it ties in with the winter solstice and Saturnalia, a festival dedicated to the Roman deity Saturn.
The church could also co-opt this popular pagan festival, as well as the winter celebration of other pagan religions, by choosing this day to celebrate Jesus’ birthday, according to scholar Ignacio L. Götz in his book Jesus the Jew: Reality, Politics, and Myth-A Personal Encounter (Christian Faith Publishing, 2019).
However, nobody really knows exactly when Jesus was born.
Some scholars believe that he was born between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C., based partly on the biblical story of King Herod the Great.
In an attempt to kill Jesus, the king allegedly ordered the death of all male infants under the age of 2 who lived in the vicinity of Bethlehem, an event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.
This occurred shortly before Herod’s own demise, a date which is still disputed. However, most scholars, including Peter Richardson and Amy Marie Fisher in their book Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans: Second edition (Routledge, 2018), follow the date used by Roman historians, who believed that Herod died in 4 B.C.
But historians disagree about Herod’s actual year of death, and many have argued that the mass infanticide is nothing more than a legend.
In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (Random House, 2013), biblical scholar and author Reza Aslan wrote that Herod’s massacre was an event for which there exists not a shred of corroborating evidence in any chronicle or history of the time whether Jewish, Christian, or Roman.
Other scholars have attempted to correlate the Star of Bethlehem, which supposedly heralded Jesus’ birth, with actual astronomical events to pinpoint his birth year.
For example, in a 1991 article in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomer Colin Humphreys proposed that the fabled star was actually a slow-moving comet, which Chinese observers recorded in 5 B.C.
However, Humphreys’ theory has since been debunked. Computer calculations of the previous stars in those days point at the planet Jupiter.
The month of Jesus’ birth has also been a point of debate, with one theory suggesting that the Star of Bethlehem may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a bright light in the sky, a rare event that occurred in June of 2 B.C.
Another possibility is a similar conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which occurred in October of 7 B.C. There has also been speculation that Jesus was a spring baby.
Götz suggests that Jesus could have been born in the late spring of the year because pregnancies began in the fall after the harvests were in and there was enough money for a wedding feast.
Live Science / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
France Castles # 5 : Château de Commarque, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Mysterious Château de Commarque was abandoned for centuries, and even today, much of the château is in ruins. The original castle was built in the 12th century.
During the Hundred Years’ War (1337—1453), the master of the castle, the Count of Commarque, was fighting with his neighbor, the Baron of Beynac.
In a Romeo and Juliet-esque scenario, the Count’s daughter fell in love with the Baron’s son, and the story doesn’t have a happy ending in Shakespearean style.
The Count imprisoned the Baron’s son for several months before finally executing him.
It’s not the hapless man’s ghost that wanders the ruins now, but that of his horse, faithfully searching for his master like a kind of hooved Greyfriars Bobby.
But naturally, the horse only appears when the moon is full.
Fodors Travel / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
France Castles # 6 : Château de Trécesson, Campénéac, Brittany
You know when you launch into a Monopoly game that drags on for so long that you feel it will never end? That’s the case for the spectral card players at Château de Trécesson, doomed to play Cheat for all eternity.
Well, we don’t know exactly which card game they’re playing, but several guests at the château have reported seeing a group of ghostly figures playing cards.
They’re not the only paranormal presence at Trécesson, though. Remember that it’s a truth universally acknowledged that all decent châteaux should have a resident White Lady.
Trécesson’s White Lady wears a floral crown and a silky white gown and is believed to be a young woman who was buried alive by a jealous rival before her wedding night.
Fodors Travel / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
France Castles # 7 : Château d’Olhain, Pas-de-Calais, Grand-Est
The French are renowned for their cuisine, so is it any wonder that there’s a castle with a haunted banquet hall?
On a wet and windy autumn night (as tends to be the setting for ghost stories), the Lord of d’Olhain was enjoying a feast with his pals, the wine free-flowing, when there was a knock at the door.
An elderly pilgrim stood outside and begged for food and lodging. Far from merely turning him away, the Lord plunged his dagger into the old man’s heart and threw his body in the moat.
The following day, the Lord threw another banquet (we’ll bet he had gout). His dinner guests were joined at the table by a host of faceless monks, who raised daggers above their heads in unison and emitted a bloodcurdling scream.
Unsurprisingly, the guests left in a hurry. The pilgrim’s ghost still occasionally appears in the banquet hall.
Fodors Travel / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Hotel, Cruise & Tourist Taxes to Combat Mass Country Invasions
Considering a trip to Europe, Asia, or the Caribbean this year? Well, be ready to budget beyond flights and hotels, as many popular international destinations are implementing or increasing tourist taxes to combat over-tourism and manage the strain on local resources.
From Bali’s crackdown on unruly tourists to Venice’s battle against mass tourism, governments are turning to visitor levies to control crowds, protect historic sites, and offset the ecological damage caused by over-tourism.
In Amsterdam, where frustrated locals protested against excessive tourism, the city responded by raising hotel taxes to 12.5%, making it one of the highest in Europe.
In Mexico, authorities plan to charge cruise passengers $42 per person, making ports like Cozumel and Cancun significantly more expensive for visitors.
Greece is implementing a €20 ($22 USD) per-person cruise arrival fee to limit the overwhelming influx of tourists in Santorini and Mykonos.
In some countries, what started as a modest fee has evolved into steep, unavoidable costs in many places. While some fees go unnoticed, others—like Bhutan’s staggering $100 per-day charge for visitors—can make or break your vacation budget.
Mexico: VISITAX & Cruise Passenger Tax
In Quintana Roo, which includes destinations like Cancun and Tulum, requires foreign tourists to pay a fee known as VISITAX.
Approximately $17 USD per person, this tax is mandatory and must be paid by all international visitors, including children, before departing the state.
Mexico also plans to impose a $42 immigration tax for each cruise ship passenger docking in the country this year.
Japan: Departure & Lodging Tax
Japan enforces an International Tourist Tax, commonly called the “Sayonara Tax,” which costs 1,000 yen (approximately $9) and applies to all travelers leaving the country.
In 2026, Kyoto is set to increase its lodging tax, with rates potentially reaching up to 10,000 yen (approximately $70) per night, a significant rise from the previous 1,000 yen cap.
Italy (Venice): Day-Tripper Fee
Starting April 18, 2025, Venice will implement a €5-€10 ($5.50-$11 USD) Access Fee for day-trippers visiting the historic city center on select dates, primarily weekends and holidays, until July 27, 2025.
Vacationers must register and pay online in advance, receiving a QR code for inspection, while overnight guests, residents, students, and children under 14 are exempt. Non-compliance can result in fines between €50-€300 ($55-$330 USD).
Spain: Hotel, Cruise, and Tourist Tax
Barcelona has both a regional tourist tax and a city tax. The city tax is a flat rate of €4 (approximately $4.35) per person per night. Additionally, cruise ship passengers staying in Barcelona for over 12 hours must pay €6.25 (roughly $6.80).
The Balearic Islands, encompassing Ibiza, Mallorca, and Menorca, have announced plans to raise their tourist tax by up to 200%.
This means that overnight charges could increase from €4 to €6 per person per night, particularly impacting those staying in four and five-star hotels during the summer months.
Cruise ship passengers might also see charges rise from €2 to €6 per night.
France (Paris): Hotel Tourist Tax
Paris charges a tourist tax per person per night, with the rate varying by the hotel’s star rating.
For instance, 5-star rated accommodations have a nightly charge of €3.30 (approximately $3.60), and 2-star rated accommodations have a nightly charge of €0.99 (roughly $1.10).
United Kingdom (Edinburgh): Tourist Levy
Edinburgh is set to introduce a £2 (approximately $2.70 USD) per night tourist levy per person, which will apply to visitors staying in hotels, Airbnbs, and other short-term rentals.
Germany (Berlin): City Tax on Hotels
Berlin’s City Tax is 5% of the net room rate (excluding VAT and service fees). The tax is capped at 21 successive days. Business travelers are exempt from the tax but must prove the purpose of their trip.
Thailand: Tourist Entry Fee
Thailand plans to reintroduce a tourist entry fee of approximately 300 Thai Baht (roughly $9) for international travelers arriving by air.
Portugal: Hotel Tax
Around 40 Portuguese municipalities have implemented a tourist tax on overnight stays, with nine additional municipalities planning to introduce such fees later this year.
In Lisbon, the city tax increased to €4 per guest per night, applicable for up to seven consecutive nights, with exemptions for children under 13. Porto’s tourist tax is €3 per night.
In the Algarve region, seven municipalities, including Faro, have implemented a tourist tax, charging €2 per person per night during the high season (March to September) and €1 during the low season (October to February).
The Azores introduced a €2 per person per night tax for up to three nights.
Greece: Accommodation & Cruise Tax
Greece vacationers are subject to a daily tourist tax that varies depending on the type and classification of the accommodation.
This year, Greece will implement a €20 (approximately $22) per-person arrival fee for cruise passengers visiting Santorini and Mykonos during the summer.
Netherlands (Amsterdam): Hotel Tax
Amsterdam has a tourist tax of 12.5% of the accommodation cost.
Indonesia (Bali): Tourist Entry Fee
In 2024, Bali has a tourist tax of 150,000 Indonesian rupiah (approximately $10) per traveler.
New Zealand: International Visitor Levy (IVL)
New Zealand enforces an International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) of NZD 100 (approximately $65) when applying for an eTA (Electronic Travel Authority) or visa.
Austria (Vienna): Hotel Tourist Tax
Vienna has a local tourist tax of approximately 3% of the accommodation cost.
Switzerland: Hotel Tax (Varies by Region)
Switzerland imposes a tourist tax that varies by canton and municipality. The average cost is around CHF 2.20 (approximately $2.40) per person per night.
Malaysia: Tourist Tax on Hotel Stays
Malaysia requires international guests to pay a tourist tax of RM 10 (approximately $2.40) per room per night at registered accommodations.
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands): Entry Tax
To protect the unique ecosystem of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador has an entry tax of $200 for international visitors.
Bhutan: Sustainable Development Fee (SDF)
Since 1991, Bhutan has charged visitors a daily Sustainable Development Fee (SDF). Currently that fee is $100 per person to ensure high-value, low-impact tourism.
Countries With Tourist Taxes
In Amsterdam, where frustrated locals protested against excessive tourism, the city responded by raising hotel taxes to 12.5%, making it one of the highest in Europe.
In Mexico, authorities plan to charge cruise passengers $42 per person, making ports like Cozumel and Cancun significantly more expensive for visitors.
Greece is implementing a €20 ($22 USD) per-person cruise arrival fee to limit the overwhelming influx of tourists in Santorini and Mykonos.
In some countries, what started as a modest fee has evolved into steep, unavoidable costs in many places. While some fees go unnoticed, others—like Bhutan’s staggering $100 per-day charge for visitors—can make or break your vacation budget.
Mexico: VISITAX & Cruise Passenger Tax
In Quintana Roo, which includes destinations like Cancun and Tulum, requires foreign tourists to pay a fee known as VISITAX.
Approximately $17 USD per person, this tax is mandatory and must be paid by all international visitors, including children, before departing the state.
Mexico also plans to impose a $42 immigration tax for each cruise ship passenger docking in the country this year.
Japan: Departure & Lodging Tax
Japan enforces an International Tourist Tax, commonly called the “Sayonara Tax,” which costs 1,000 yen (approximately $9) and applies to all travelers leaving the country.
In 2026, Kyoto is set to increase its lodging tax, with rates potentially reaching up to 10,000 yen (approximately $70) per night, a significant rise from the previous 1,000 yen cap.
Italy (Venice): Day-Tripper Fee
Starting April 18, 2025, Venice will implement a €5-€10 ($5.50-$11 USD) Access Fee for day-trippers visiting the historic city center on select dates, primarily weekends and holidays, until July 27, 2025.
Vacationers must register and pay online in advance, receiving a QR code for inspection, while overnight guests, residents, students, and children under 14 are exempt. Non-compliance can result in fines between €50-€300 ($55-$330 USD).
Spain: Hotel, Cruise, and Tourist Tax
Barcelona has both a regional tourist tax and a city tax. The city tax is a flat rate of €4 (approximately $4.35) per person per night. Additionally, cruise ship passengers staying in Barcelona for over 12 hours must pay €6.25 (roughly $6.80).
The Balearic Islands, encompassing Ibiza, Mallorca, and Menorca, have announced plans to raise their tourist tax by up to 200%.
This means that overnight charges could increase from €4 to €6 per person per night, particularly impacting those staying in four and five-star hotels during the summer months.
Cruise ship passengers might also see charges rise from €2 to €6 per night.
France (Paris): Hotel Tourist Tax
Paris charges a tourist tax per person per night, with the rate varying by the hotel’s star rating.
For instance, 5-star rated accommodations have a nightly charge of €3.30 (approximately $3.60), and 2-star rated accommodations have a nightly charge of €0.99 (roughly $1.10).
United Kingdom (Edinburgh): Tourist Levy
Edinburgh is set to introduce a £2 (approximately $2.70 USD) per night tourist levy per person, which will apply to visitors staying in hotels, Airbnbs, and other short-term rentals.
Germany (Berlin): City Tax on Hotels
Berlin’s City Tax is 5% of the net room rate (excluding VAT and service fees). The tax is capped at 21 successive days. Business travelers are exempt from the tax but must prove the purpose of their trip.
Thailand: Tourist Entry Fee
Thailand plans to reintroduce a tourist entry fee of approximately 300 Thai Baht (roughly $9) for international travelers arriving by air.
Portugal: Hotel Tax
Around 40 Portuguese municipalities have implemented a tourist tax on overnight stays, with nine additional municipalities planning to introduce such fees later this year.
In Lisbon, the city tax increased to €4 per guest per night, applicable for up to seven consecutive nights, with exemptions for children under 13. Porto’s tourist tax is €3 per night.
In the Algarve region, seven municipalities, including Faro, have implemented a tourist tax, charging €2 per person per night during the high season (March to September) and €1 during the low season (October to February).
The Azores introduced a €2 per person per night tax for up to three nights.
Greece: Accommodation & Cruise Tax
Greece vacationers are subject to a daily tourist tax that varies depending on the type and classification of the accommodation.
This year, Greece will implement a €20 (approximately $22) per-person arrival fee for cruise passengers visiting Santorini and Mykonos during the summer.
Netherlands (Amsterdam): Hotel Tax
Amsterdam has a tourist tax of 12.5% of the accommodation cost.
Indonesia (Bali): Tourist Entry Fee
In 2024, Bali has a tourist tax of 150,000 Indonesian rupiah (approximately $10) per traveler.
New Zealand: International Visitor Levy (IVL)
New Zealand enforces an International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) of NZD 100 (approximately $65) when applying for an eTA (Electronic Travel Authority) or visa.
Austria (Vienna): Hotel Tourist Tax
Vienna has a local tourist tax of approximately 3% of the accommodation cost.
Switzerland: Hotel Tax (Varies by Region)
Switzerland imposes a tourist tax that varies by canton and municipality. The average cost is around CHF 2.20 (approximately $2.40) per person per night.
Malaysia: Tourist Tax on Hotel Stays
Malaysia requires international guests to pay a tourist tax of RM 10 (approximately $2.40) per room per night at registered accommodations.
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands): Entry Tax
To protect the unique ecosystem of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador has an entry tax of $200 for international visitors.
Bhutan: Sustainable Development Fee (SDF)
Since 1991, Bhutan has charged visitors a daily Sustainable Development Fee (SDF). Currently that fee is $100 per person to ensure high-value, low-impact tourism.
Countries With Tourist Taxes
Before traveling, it’s always best to check the official government websites of your destination to stay updated on tourist taxes that could affect the cost of your vacation.
Before traveling, it’s always best to check the official government websites of your destination to stay updated on tourist taxes that could affect the cost of your vacation.
ABC Flash Point Reality News 2024.
Israeli Real Estate companies targeting buyers in Israel, Britain and the USA
Facebook has platformed more than 100 paid advertisements promoting illegal Israeli settlements and far-right settler activity in the occupied West Bank, an Al Jazeera investigation has revealed, raising serious questions over the social media giant’s complicity in potential breaches of international law.
The ads, many of which remain live, include listings for luxury properties in settlements such as Ariel — located 20 km east of the Green Line and well within the occupied West Bank — as well as calls for the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools and playgrounds.
Other posts solicited donations for occupation military units operating in Gaza.
Among the most prominent advertisers is a Facebook page called Ramat Aderet, promoting a $300 million development described as penthouses for a perfect quality of life, boasting amenities like saunas, jacuzzis and cold plunges.
At least 52 of the ads identified were posted by Israeli real estate companies targeting buyers in Israel, Britain and the USA.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has previously courted controversy over censorship of pro-Palestinian voices and failing to remove far-right hate speech. The company told Al Jazeera that all ads are reviewed through a combination of automated systems and human moderation.
It admitted that some ads had been removed for violating policies on social issues, elections and politics, but did not specify whether the promotion of settlements built on occupied land constituted a breach.
Legal experts argue that Meta may be profiting from content that facilitates violations of international law. Professor Aoife O’Donoghue of Queen’s University Belfast was quoted as saying: Whether they have the legal title to sell that land at all would be highly questionable.
If the Israeli government is facilitating it, and they are settlements, then they would be in violation of the Third Geneva Convention.
British Member of Parliament Brian Leishman described the findings as extremely concerning, as pressure mounts on Meta to explain its role in amplifying controversial and potentially unlawful content.
All of Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law.
Yet, at the same time, BBC has uncovered evidence suggesting that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has restricted the reach of Palestinian news outlets since October 2023.
Middle East Monitor / Magnum Blog News 2025
How Lawyers wrecked America and ruined the World
How the Lawyers destroyed American Society and Corporate Attorneys devastated the Planet. The Legal Profession has enabled the destruction of the American Republic from within.
Bad lawyers and unscrupulous attorneys-at-law have infested every business and industry, every government and non-profit, every field of endeavor and walk of life to the final detriment of them all.
Did you know that BAR-registered attorneys-at-law were once barred from running for political office in the USA? The Missing 13th Amendment: No Lawyers Allowed In Public Office
Nevertheless, the legal profession eventually overran Washington and took over virtually every powerful office and influential position in sight.
Truly, the legal profession has undermined American society like none other. In fact the vast majority of elective offices at the national level are held by current BAR-registered lawyers or previously practicing attorneys.
Hence, it is important to bear in mind that most members of Congress are BAR-registered lawyers just as the highest level positions within the Executive Branch are held by lawyers. Of course, the entire Supreme Court is constituted with ex-judges who were BAR-registered lawyers.
Now many will say that surely there are other professional groups which have inflicted more damage on the USA.
For instance, look at how the doctors have ruined healthcare. Others might point to the way that real estate developers are looking to tear up every square inch of the country.
Almost everyone agrees that the scientists have really wrecked the world by creating the efficient means to do so.
Then there is the religious clergy — priests and ministers, rabbis and imams — who are often accused of corrupting the major monotheistic faiths of the world. Many even assert that this is where the original problems really started.
With the profound cracks in the religious and philosophical foundations of society, the legal profession (via the political class) would then feel empowered to legislate immoral laws and unethical statutes, self-serving rules and frivolous regulations.
Certainly corporations like Monsanto and Dow Chemical, BP and Halliburton, Walmart and Coca Cola have done far more harm to the health of individuals and families, businesses and communities alike.
Who would disagree with the extent to which Corporate America has done damage to the nation? The BP Gulf oil spill is just one example of how a single super major oil company can destroy an entire body of water.
In other words the highfalutin outcomes that often make the front page of the newspapers are actually the product of pressure being applied by those who have the most sensitive and/or damaging information.
Legislation that is passed and laws that are made, therefore, frequently have nothing to do the foundational documents like the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights. Nor do they have connection to common law, natural law or scriptural law.
Because of this vast disconnect, America has become a lawless nation. The USA has literally descended into such a chaotic condition of legal anarchy that the very republic is under extreme threat.
At the end of the day it will be the lawyers and attorneys, politicians and lobbyists who have contributed to the greatest degree to America’s demise. Because of how easily compromised they have become over several decades, the current state of affairs could not be avoided.
The American people made their first major mistakes by investing so much power in the town lawyer … in the local attorney.
They made an even bigger error by elevating them into all the positions of power throughout the land.
Truly, there is no greater disaster that the United States of America is now facing than the treason lawyers and traitorous attorneys who pretend to be advocates of We the People.
The Millennium Report / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
USA sanctions targeting Medical Program in Cuba & Venezuela
Mexico City, Mexico, February 26, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday a further hardening of sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela with an expansion of an existing visa restriction policy relating to Cuba’s overseas medical missions.
In a statement, Rubio—the Zionist child of Cuban immigrants who left before the 1959 Cuban Revolution—described Cuba’s medical missions throughout the world as forced labor and abusive and coercive labor practices.
For more than six decades, Havana has engaged in cooperation programs with Global South countries to provide healthcare to marginalized and under served communities. Condemnation of the move to undermine the Cuban initiative was swift.
The US State Department should explain to Americans and the international community how the attack on Cuban medical services, on which the health of millions of people in dozens of countries depends, enhances their country.
The expanded US visa-restriction policy will apply to current or former Cuban government officials involved with the medical brigade program.
However, the communique further specified that it would also include foreign government officials connected with the program, which raises the possibility that the measure could ensnare dozens of leaders from other countries, with Venezuelans mentioned explicitly in the statement.
According to official figures, Cuban doctors in Venezuela numbered as many as 30,000, with approximately 255,000 serving in the country since the start of the program following a deal signed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Cuban President Fidel Castro in the year 2000, primarily working in low-income barrios.
Havana’s support was key during the Covid-19 pandemic, supplying vaccines that Caracas found hard to secure due to wide-reaching US sanctions.
Throughout the history of its medical cooperation initiative, Cuba has sent over 600,000 doctors throughout the world, the vast majority to Global South countries but also to wealthy countries following natural disasters.
The effort to undermine Cuba’s medical brigades has been a priority for Rubio since his time as a Florida senator.
In 2020, Rubio—then the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere presented alongside former Senator and convicted felon Bob Menendez legislation aimed at undermining the program.
The expansion of sanctions on Cuban and Venezuelan officials is the latest move as part of Rubio’s hard-line hostile capitalist policy toward the allied Latin American nations.
Venezuela Analysis / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
London sets up Kangaroo Court to Sabotage the China Silk Road Project
As the Zionist West has historically dominated the global shipping routes, the Chinese Belt and Road initiative (revival Silk Road), bankrupts the previously established trade and insurance corporations that still control the global financial chess board.
By building this alternative land route, the British controlled maritime shipping lane profits literally go up in flames. This must be stopped more or less in the same way the former Yugoslavia was dismantled and dissolved.
Now, the fabricated Uighur crisis in Xinjiang is seen in a pivotal strategic role on the Great Chessboard. That most certainly is not because of possible human rights abuses that might be occurring there, if indeed they are, but for entirely different, hard-nosed geopolitical reasons.
An impudent farce vaguely shrouded in pseudo legal garb is due to be staged on 4th – 7th June 2021 at Church House, in London.
A so-called “Uighur Tribunal” will be convened there to deliberate on the danger of imminent extinction allegedly threatening the Uighur Muslim minority ethnic group in China’s Xinjiang province.
For the geographically challenged, Xinjiang (or Sinkiang in more common transcription) is the westernmost region of China.
That is important, and relevant to this topic, because Xinjiang happens to be the most convenient land route corridor which China’s Belt and Road Initiative must inevitably employ if it is to be viable.
Accordingly, make Xinjiang a sufficiently hazardous place and for all practical purposes B&R trade goes up in smoke. Chinese products cannot reach their foreign destinations, and neither can the products of foreign partners be reliably delivered to the Chinese market.
Indeed, Xinjiang plays a far more strategically prominent role today than could have been contemplated even by Brzezinski in 1997, when his famous book was published.
The way it works was explained by Russian geopolitical analyst K. Gadzhiev of the Primakov National Research Institute who cogently argues that “the revival of Russia as a strong military and political power capable to defend its national interests, the emergence of powerful new actors such as China.
This emboldens the weakening of geopolitical positions of the West in general and the USA in particular, their defeat in aggressive real estate wars and other failures have led to deep cracks in the conventional Grand Chessboard, which have brought about changes in both the line-up of the leading players and the rules of the game on it.
Gadziev further argues that even though combined Western power has seriously frayed, it would be unreasonable to expect it to simply … give up the protection of their semi-colonial interests in Eurasia as a whole, and particularly in Central Asia.
Thwarting any projection of Chinese power and influence that could be deemed threatening and retaining and enhancing the power and influence of the Western coalition, viewed as a zero-sum-game, is therefore the context in which the intensification of efforts to destabilize China should be viewed.
The sudden obsession with human rights issues, specifically in the strategically positioned region of Xinjiang, is either completely coincidental or it is an important element of that very destabilization campaign.
But to return to the “Uyghur Tribunal,” which is a very important facet of the just described picture. It was set up in 2020 in the United Kingdom, on the cusp of the publicity campaign designed to enhance a public perception of the allegedly grave human rights situation in Xinjiang.
The “Tribunal’s” task now is to make the transition in the public mind from routine charges of “human rights violation,” always useful for exerting diplomatic pressure on the targeted government, to the substantively new level of “genocide,” with more serious legal, political, and moral implications.
According to information available on the Tribunal website, the initial step toward Uighur Tribunal’s formation was taken in June 2020 by Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uighur Congress, an organization of faux Uighur émigrés with close ties to the Western, primarily U.S., political and security establishment.
The official account has it that Isa turned to Geoffrey Nice QC, Hague Tribunal (ICTY) prosecutor in the case of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, with a request to establish and chair an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible Genocide’ against the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslim Populations.
Accordingly, the Uighur Tribunal was launched on 3 September 2020 with assistance from a non-governmental organization (NGO), the Coalition for Genocide Response.
The engagement of Geoffrey Nice to supervise this operation is of considerable symbolic significance because of his close association with the Yugoslav Tribunal in the Hague.
That in turn triggers associations with that Tribunal’s principal task, which was to legally validate the alleged Srebrenica Genocide (which happened under the watchful eye of the UN) and personally inculpate the head of the Yugoslav state at the time in that and numerous other imputed serious violations of international law.
It should be borne in mind that one of the specific named targets of the consortium of organizations, all masquerading as NGO’s, which are advocating legal proceedings against China over the Uighur Question, is President Xi himself, in a clear analogy to Milošević.
There are numerous oddities about the Uighur Tribunal, of which it suffices to mention just the following two.
First, the entity described, using deliberately misleading legal terminology, as a „Tribunal“ was in fact „constituted as a UK Private Company Limited by Guarantee – under the name ‘Uyghur Administration Ltd’“.
That means that it is a private citizens’ association without any official standing whatsoever within the judicial system of the United Kingdom. The juridical status of the „Uighur Tribunal“ is therefore null. The conclusions it draws and „verdicts“ it issues are completely non-binding and technically unenforceable.
Since it misrepresents itself as a „Tribunal,“ not being a proper court it lacks the requisite authority to make its judgements heeded, except to the extent that through manipulative political and media-tic mechanisms a perception should have been created that they ought to be.
The second significant anomaly of the „Uyghur Tribunal“ is that it apparently lacks a governing document (known as the Statute in the case of the Hague Tribunal) as well as, even more importantly, Rules of procedure and evidence.
These are practical roadmaps without which no actual or pretended „tribunal“ is even conceivable. The lack of procedure and evidence rules means that there are no set guidelines for the conduct of UT’s essential business.
Since the conclusions the panel will ultimately draw supposedly will have been based on the “evidence” put before it, the lack of rules governing admission and assessment of evidence seriously impairs the integrity of the entire process.
This year’s G7 meeting is scheduled to take place in Cornwall, UK, from 11-13 June. The first hearing of the “Uyghur Tribunal,” as already noted, will take place on 4th – 7th June 2021 at Church House, London.
That is neither a chronological nor a geographical coincidence. By generating a human rights violation frenzy at precisely the right moment, the forthcoming “Uyghur Tribunal” should be viewed in this similar light.
By feeding the media and the Western political class selected disinformation about the situation in Xinjiang its mission is to set the stage for whatever restrictive or punitive measures against China are contemplated to follow.
The “Uyghur Tribunal” verdict undoubtedly will be useful to increase political pressure on China, as well as to attempt to get Western public opinion on board in favor of exacerbating tensions and approving whatever further hostile measures are in store.
The Act Party today plans to ask Parliament to debate a motion to declare China’s oppression of the Uighur ethnic minority an act of ‘genocide’.
Its motion would ask MP’s to vote on whether human rights abuses in the Chinese region of Xinjiang amount to genocide, a move that could compel the Government to take stronger action in condemning the nation”. Significantly, the report goes on that “similar motions have passed in other Five Eyes countries such as the UK and Canada.
One wishes that Chinese representatives would boldly march into Church House (piously located at Westminster Abbey, Dean’s Yard, London) on June 4 to teach Geoffrey Nice, and his fellow panelists who simulate judges, a memorable “rule of law” lesson.
Their task, not at all difficult of execution, should be to demonstrate to all present that “Uyghur Tribunal” proceedings are a sham because they do not satisfy even minimal judicial standards, whether in the UK or any other civilized country.
They should vigorously challenge any and all evidence admitted by a forum operating without any evidentiary rules whatsoever. They should insist on cross-examining all witnesses and “experts” brought to testify.
And they must bring along their own audio and video equipment to record the judicial buffoonery and show to the global audience how in London, United Kingdom, the fount of a once impressive legal tradition, an illegitimate, private, and self-appointed court now sits and hands down its farcical verdict.
Strategic Culture / ABC Flash Point News 2021.
Dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt
Just outside of Neptune’s orbit is a ring of icy bodies. This is called the Kuiper Belt. Pluto is the most famous Kuiper Belt Object.
The Sun is at the center of our solar system. It is orbited by eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But what’s past Neptune? Just outside of Neptune’s orbit is a ring of icy bodies.
This is where you’ll find dwarf planet Pluto. It’s the most famous of the objects floating in the Kuiper Belt, which are also called Kuiper Belt Objects, or KBO’s.
Pluto and other dwarf planets are a lot like regular planets. So what’s the big difference? The International Astronomical Union (IAU), a world organization of astronomers, came up with the definition of a planet in 2006. According to the IAU, a planet must do three things:
Dwarf planets like Pluto were defined as objects that orbit the Sun, and are nearly round, but have not been able to clear their orbit of debris.
So far, the IAU has only recognized five dwarf planets. In order of distance from the Sun they are: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. But the IAU says there may be many more dwarf planets – perhaps more than a hundred – waiting to be discovered.
Pluto is by far the most famous dwarf planet. Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto was long considered our solar system’s ninth planet.
But after other astronomers found similar intriguing worlds deeper in the distant Kuiper Belt – the IAU reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006.
There was widespread outrage on behalf of the demoted planet. Textbooks were updated, and the internet spawned memes with Pluto going through a range of emotions, from anger to loneliness.
On July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made its historic flight through the Pluto system – providing the first close-up images of Pluto and its moons and collecting other data that has transformed our understanding of these mysterious worlds on the solar system’s outer frontier.
Dwarf planet Ceres is closer to home. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it’s the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system.
Like Pluto, Ceres also was once classified as a planet. Ceres was the first dwarf planet to be visited by a spacecraft – NASA’s Dawn mission.
An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system. Most of them orbit other stars, but some free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, are untethered to any star. We’ve confirmed more than 5,800 exoplanets out of the billions that we believe exist.
Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our galaxy, the Milky Way. (“Small” meaning within thousands of light-years of our solar system; one light-year equals 5.88 trillion miles, or 9.46 trillion kilometers.)
Even the closest known exoplanet to Earth, Proxima Centauri b, is still about 4 light-years away. We know there are more planets than stars in the galaxy.
By measuring exoplanets’ sizes (diameters) and masses (weights), we can see compositions ranging from rocky (like Earth and Venus) to gas-rich (like Jupiter and Saturn).
Some planets may be dominated by water or ice, while others are dominated by iron or carbon. We’ve identified lava worlds covered in molten seas, puffy planets the density of Styrofoam and dense cores of planets still orbiting their stars.
The Target Star Catalog is a guide to intriguing nearby stars that astronomers want to study with future missions, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be built specifically to find and observe Earth-like exoplanets, to search for signs of life.
So far scientists have categorized exoplanets into the following types: Gas giant, Neptunian, super-Earth, and terrestrial with subcategories like mini-Neptunes within those groups.
NASA welcomes the public to assist with projects and sift through data. Collaborating with NASA scientists, volunteers known as citizen scientists have contributed to thousands of important discoveries.
NASA / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Vaccinated People will show off Massive Starvation by the end of 2025
Researchers at prestigious organizations are admitting the truth about vaccine acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
And whistleblowers within Pfizer are coming forward with a chilling revelation: VAIDS was never just a side effect—it was designed to be contagious. That’s right. Even the unvaccinated are not safe.
According to Pfizer insiders, the VAIDS epidemic was engineered to peak in late 2025, and when it does, the world will witness an unprecedented wave of deaths—billions gone in a matter of months.
They planned this. They counted on you never finding out. But now, thanks to brave researchers and whistle blowers, you know. And once you know, there’s no going back.
Have you noticed something different about the vaccinated? The pale, almost grayish complexion… the lingering brain fog… the sudden mood swings… the constant fatigue… and the way even the mildest cold or flu seems to knock them down for weeks?
You’re not alone—these disturbing observations are being reported worldwide and the people are waking up to the truth. No wonder the Covid-19 cabal are in panic mode, like former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who is hiding out in Germany.
The crowd at the White House on Thursday made their feelings loud and clear, erupting in boos as Trump acknowledged Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. Big Pharma has been exposed, and their reputation has never been worse.
If Bourla thought his day couldn’t get any worse, he was in for a rude awakening.
An insider from deep within Bourla’s corrupt empire has stepped forward, blowing the whistle on a chilling truth—VAIDS isn’t a side effect of the vaccine; it was the endgame all along.
Even more disturbing, the entire pandemic and vaccine rollout were meticulously planned to trigger a mass die-off beginning in 2025. And it gets worse.
The whistleblower directly implicates Bourla in this conspiracy against humanity—and they have the receipts. But before we get into that, it’s worth noting that even the academic institutions that once gaslit the public about the jabs are finally starting to admit the truth.
Research scientists connected to a groundbreaking Yale study have uncovered some shocking findings:
- Free spike protein detected in subjects up to 700 days after receiving a COVID shot
- A sustained drop in CD4 cells, pointing to serious long-term immune system devastation.
In simple terms, Yale has proven the existence of vaccine induced AIDS. That’s right, VAIDS—the same condition that the mainstream media and fact checkers have been so determined to suppress since the vaccine rollout in 2021.
The Yale research scientists who risked their careers to defy Big Pharma, have a message for those who still refuse to accept the truth and use the term vaccine-induced AIDS.
As lead resarcher Dr. Akiko Iwasaki said, it’s time to speak plainly and accurately and use the acronym VAID’s with confidence.
After all, the elite openly admitted early in the pandemic that they fused the spike protein with a small amount of HIV. As if fetal cells, aluminum, and graphene oxide weren’t reason enough to avoid the jabs, they went a step further—they put HIV in them.
Predating the Yale study, scientists at Britain’s prestigious Cambridge University found that more than a quarter of people injected with mRNA Covid jabs suffered what they very diplomatically referred to as an unintended immune response created by a glitch.
Huh?! A glitch caused an unintended immune response in 25% of the vaccinated?
Megyn Kelly divulged that she was one of the unlucky ones, being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease shortly after she took what she describes as “the damn booster.”
When will people finally address the elephant in the room?
The spike protein, engineered in a Wuhan lab, contains GP120-GAG sequences from HIV.
If you’ve had COVID or taken the vaccine designed to generate spike protein antibodies, you may have triggered an immune response eerily similar to HIV—raising serious concerns about VAIDS.
We have been trying to warn the world for years, while suffering heavy social media censorship for our troubles.
We tried to warn the Australian people that their government’s vaccine mandates must be defied at all costs. Unfortunately, heavily vaccinated Australia is now suffering the consequences and the country’s most senior health officials are breaking down.
So what is VAIDS and why does it cause people to test positive for AIDS?
According to a high-level whistleblower from within Pfizer, VAIDS was deliberately engineered to be contagious, systematically dismantling immune systems on a preset timeline. And for the heavily vaccinated, that clock is about to reach zero.
Remember when Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla went on mainstream TV during the vaccine roll out and had the audacity to call those warning about the shots “criminals”?
Given the devastating consequences of the jabs and the blatant collusion of the elite, there can be no forgiveness—no amnesty—only justice for these crimes against humanity.
Bourla has a serious problem on his hands when it comes to staying out of prison—his own employees can’t stand him. One after another, they keep coming forward to blow the whistle.
First we had a Pfizer whistleblower who released the internal documents that Pfizer wanted to remain under lock and key for 75 years.
There is a heavy viral load of AIDS lurking in every vial of Covid vaccine and the truth has been staring us in the face for years.
Unfortunately, according to a Pfizer whistleblower, those who failed to heed the warnings are going to pay the highest of all prices and later in 2025 we are going to see deaths like never before.
News Punch / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Artificial Intelligence to become Judge, Jury and Executioner
Artificial intelligence is being weaponized across all facets of life, and Google’s recent change of principles is a sign of things to come.
Last week, Google revised its artificial intelligence principles, removing the company’s stance against using AI to develop weapons or technologies or directly facilitate injury to people, or for surveillance that violates internationally accepted norms.
Google’s AI head Demis Hassabis said the guidelines were being overhauled in a changing world and that AI should protect national security.
Furthermore, Big Tech platforms have been extensively used for data and intelligence-gathering activities worldwide. This is a reason why China has banned many US Big Tech software and apps. A nation cannot be sovereign if it is beholden to Big Tech!
As for Google changing its guidelines on AI, this should not come as a surprise.
Big Tech was actively promoting universal AI governance models through various high-profile institutional shills, United Nations agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), think tanks and national governments.
The same playbook was deployed to push Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) schemes worldwide – imposing heavy costs on developing nations and corporations alike. Now, the USA and Big Capital are ditching the very ESG schemes they had devised.
Unfortunately, many nations fell for these ploys, investing significant money and resources into building fanciful ESG and AI frameworks. These nations risk becoming permanently dependent on Big Tech under what I call AI Neo-colonialism.
Alphabet’s Google and YouTube, Microsoft’s Bing and Elon Musk’s X have long weaponized their platforms before this recent change in AI policy.
Big Tech’s search algorithms have been weaponized to erase dissenters and contrarian platforms from the digital landscape, effectively imposing a modern-day damnatio memoriae.
I have to use the Russian search engine Yandex in order to retrieve my old articles.
It must be noted that one of the most profitable and future-proof sectors, with guaranteed returns on investments, is the Military-Industrial Complex. Weaponizing AI and making AI-powered weapons is just a natural course of action for Big Tech.
It is also quite telling that the leaders of the two AI superpowers — the United States and China — skipped the recent Paris AI Summit. The event devolved into a scripted talk shop orchestrated by Big Tech.
Alongside the United Kingdom, the United States also refused to sign the declaration on making AI safe for all. Clearly, this event was staged to suppress AI innovation in developing nations while legitimizing the weaponization of AI by major powers.
An entity like Google cannot conduct any kind of AI research as its activities have to conform to the diktats of its primary stakeholders. Google formalized its new weaponization policy because the public’s stake in its ownership pie is virtually nonexistent.
There are other vexing issues to consider here: How does one define AI war crime within an international legal framework? Is it even possible to come up with a universal consensus.
The operator of an armed drone responsible for wiping out scores of civilians might pin the disaster on an AI glitch. The software running the drone itself may have algorithms sourced from various private entities across the world.
Who should shoulder the blame in the event of a war crime? The operator, the vendor responsible for software integration or the entity whose algorithm was used or adapted for targeting?
Realistically, it should be the antagonist nation but never bet the farm on restitution if the culprit happens to be the United States or a close ally like Israel.
Last but not least, governments worldwide acted as co-conspirators in Google’s use of AI to censor dissenting scientific viewpoints and contrarian research findings during the so-called COVID-19 pandemic.
In doing so, they have effectively handed Big Tech permanent leverage to blackmail them.
If Google provided AI tools to the IDF, it would have done so under directives from the US deep state. A nominally civilian entity cannot unilaterally supply sensitive AI tools for wartime use to any foreign power, allied or otherwise.
Logically speaking, Google’s participation in the Gazan carnage should result in a massive boycott by member states of the Organization of Islamic States (OIC).
But this will never happen as too many politicians, technocrats and academics in the OIC are beholden to US patronage.
The ongoing USAID scandal is just the tip of the iceberg, revealing the extent of international subversion at play. The rail guards of merit, bias and non-discrimination are also virtually non-existent in the OIC bloc, although they form the pillars of AI governance.
The bigger question however is this: Why did the IDF’s AI-coordinated border security system fail to detect Hamas’ military activities in the lead-up to the October 7 2024, cross-border attacks?
The system is equipped with multiple sensors and detection tools across land, sea, air, and underground — making the failure even more perplexing, or was it an inside job?
In the final analysis, AI is being weaponized across all facets of human life, including religion, and US Big Tech is leading the way.
Ultimately, under certain circumstances in the future, AI may be used to act as the judge, jury and executioner. It may decide who is worthy to live, and who is not.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Crickey Amigu di Natura 