Random thoughts on a December day
For decades, members of Opus Dei, a powerful Catholic organization with a global presence, allegedly trafficked dozens of girls in Argentina into domestic servitude. Survivors were recruited with promises of education and training, then forced into unpaid 12-hour workdays under strict control.
Survivors describe lives of control and unpaid labor
Claudia Carrero was just 13 years old in 1979 when Opus Dei took her to one of its schools, promising training in hotel management. Instead, the organization put her to work. She said:
“They did not take me there to study, but to work, … I had no control over anything in my life. I had to ask for permission to call my parents, all our mail was read, we were not allowed to go out alone.”
Carrero’s experience reflects those of 42 other women in Argentina. Opus Dei recruited them as minors from poor, rural families and forced them to work long days of domestic labor for elite male members. (Daily Kos)
Women who say they were tricked into servitude for Opus Dei to meet in Argentina
Pope said to have urged organisers to hold conference after 43 women alleged they were exploited as minors by Catholic group (The Guardian)
Remigration
The Trump administration is seeking contractors to help it overhaul the United States’ immigrant detention system in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees at a time, according to a draft solicitation reviewed by The Washington Post.
Rather than shuttling detainees around the country to wherever detention space is available, as happens now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to speed up deportations by establishing a deliberate feeder system, the document says. Newly arrested detainees would be booked into processing sites for a few weeks before being funneled into one of seven large-scale warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people each, where they would be staged for deportation.
The large warehouses would be located close to major logistics hubs in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. Sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each.
The draft solicitation is not final and is subject to changes
For decades, European governments treated American protection as entitlement, not partnership. While U.S. taxpayers financed deterrence, many European capitals prioritized expansive social programs, early retirements and permissive immigration policies over defense spending. Political comfort was chosen over strategic responsibility on the assumption that America would always make up the difference.
Wie die Spannungen zwischen Merz und Macron Europa schaden. Der französische Präsident sucht Kontakt zu Putin, der deutsche Kanzler verrennt sich beim EU-Gipfel
Spiegel
:Herr Merz sollte M. Macron den Vortritt lassen Im Zweifel ist die franzoesische Diplomatie der deutschen vorzuziehen.
editor
Thierry Breton und vier weitere europaeische Politiker duerfen nicht in die USA einreisen, ebenso zwei deutsche Damen, Chefinnen einer Organisation namens Hate Aid, hat Washington verkuendet. Erstaunlicherweise regen sich Praesident Macron und zwei deutsche Minister darueber auf Warum? Es gibt ueber hundert Staaten, in die die Herrschaften einreisen koennen, es muessen nicht die USA sein. Man kann bestens ohne USA_Reisen leben
editor
C’est une mauvaise blague pour la Belgique. Le pays se rêvait en puissance aérienne européenne, grâce à une commande de 34 avions de chasse F-35 aux États-Unis, datant de 2018, pour 5,6 milliards d’euros. Des avions de cinquième génération, fabriqués aux États-Unis également. Les avions ont commencé à être livrés, et jusqu’ici tout va bien. Malheureusement, la Belgique s’est rendu compte, selon des informations du Parisien, que ces avions, une fois livrés, ne pourront pas voler, faute de place dans l’espace aérien
US-Geheimdienstchefin bezeichnet Reuters-Bericht zu Putins Kriegszielen als "Lüge"
Die Direktorin der Nachrichtendienste der USA, Tulsi Gabbard, hat einen Reuters-Bericht zurückgewiesen, demzufolge US-Geheimdienste davon ausgegangen seien, dass Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin die gesamte Ukraine erobern wolle. Gabbard schrieb auf X, dies sei "eine Lüge und Propaganda". Reuters setze sich "bereitwillig für Kriegstreiber" ein, die Friedensbemühungen von US-Präsident Donald Trump zur Beendigung des Ukraine-Kriegs untergraben. Die Wahrheit sei, "dass die US-Geheimdienste einschätzen, dass Russland einen größeren Krieg mit der Nato vermeiden will". Zudem würden Russlands Leistungen auf dem Gefechtsfeld darauf hindeuten, "dass es derzeit nicht in der Lage ist, die ganze Ukraine zu erobern und zu besetzen, geschweige denn Europa". (Quellen: X, Reuters)
editor'sComment: all evidence indicatesReuters is right, Gabbard wrong
Ukraine does pose a threat, but it’s not to Russia, and it’s not military. The threat is to Putin’s regime. It is economic, political, and cultural. Modern economies thrive on innovation, which can only happen through free interaction and competition. Russia’s population is declining. 25% of Russian households have no indoor plumbing.
In contrast, Ukraine was progressing to become a democratic state ruled by law. Living next door to that kind of neighbor scares the daylights out of Putin and his oily garchs.
The situation inside Russia today has not improved. Mikhail Doliyev, an expat now living in Germany, says that the war will continue because Putin dares not stop it. Russians believe “they are ‘liberating the whole world from Nazism.’ But “take away the war from them, and they will notice the devastation they now live in.”
was no way that Ukrainians would willingly join his authoritarian regime.
Ukraine does pose a threat, but it’s not to Russia, and it’s not military. The threat is to Putin’s regime. It is economic, political, and cultural. Modern economies thrive on innovation, which can only happen through free interaction and competition. Russia’s population is declining. 25% of Russian households have no indoor plumbing.
In contrast, Ukraine was progressing to become a democratic state ruled by law. Living next door to that kind of neighbor scares the daylights out of Putin and his oily garchs.
The situation inside Russia today has not improved. Mikhail Doliyev, an expat now living in Germany, says that the war will continue because Putin dares not stop it. Russians believe “they are ‘liberating the whole world from Nazism.’ But “take away the war from them, and they will notice the devastation they now live in.”
Putin will never willingly allow free elections anywhere near Russia.
Ukrainians will never quit.
Ukraine will not, indeed CANNOT, allow Russia to conquer Ukraine. Ukrainians remember the Holodomor, where five to eight million Ukrainians were starved to death by Stalin so that he could export grain. 17k Ukrainian children are being held captive in Russia. They have seen in Bucha what a Russian conquest looks like.
Europe cannot allow Ukraine to lose.
If Ukraine loses, Europe’s refugee problem will turn into a crisis, nuclear proliferation will go exponential, plus countless other problems. Unfortunately, the 90B euro loan that they just approved only provides a lifeboat for Ukraine by covering 2/3 of their budget shortfall. It does not allow the war to end with security for Ukraine.
In summary:
Putin cannot stop the war and maintain his regime without conquering all of Ukraine. There is no way he will accept this proposal.
Ukraine cannot allow Russia to win.
Europe cannot allow Russia to win, but it will ante up neither the will nor the resources to allow Ukraine to win.
Despite claims of readiness for negotiations, Moscow has not abandoned its plans for the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood. The Kremlin views any 'ceasefire' merely as a lull before a new attack.
This information is outlined in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Trap of 'Temporary Compromise'
Experts do not rule out the possibility that Putin may agree to certain concessions that he views as temporary. Analysts warn that the dictator may sign a peace agreement, but his relentless attachment to initial goals suggests that he will not be satisfied with such an outcome.
Most likely, Moscow will use the 'ceasefire' to regroup its forces, later violating the agreements and continuing aggression with the aim of full occupation of Ukraine.
Dänischer Geheimdienst schlägt Alarm: Russland intensiviert Vorbereitungen für möglichen NATO-Angriff. Ein neuer Bericht dokumentiert die wachsende Bedrohung.
Kopenhagen – Der dänische Auslandsnachrichtendienst Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE)
Laut dem am Mittwoch veröffentlichten FE-Bericht könnte Russland bereits 2027 für einen lokalen Krieg bereit sein, gefolgt von der Fähigkeit zu einem regionalen Krieg im Jahr 2028 und einem großangelegten Krieg bis 2031. Der dänische Geheimdienst betont: https://www.merkur.de/politik/gegen-die-nato-polnischer-general-russland-im-vorbereitungsmodus-fuer-krieg-zr-94044409.html","storyElementPosition":11,"storyElementCount":25}}" data-id-em="1">„Russland bereitet sich auf einen Krieg gegen die NATO vor. Das bedeutet nicht, dass eine Entscheidung getroffen wurde, einen solchen Krieg zu beginnen, aber Russland rüstet auf und baut die Kapazitäten auf, um diese Entscheidung treffen zu können.“
wir sollten den USA danken
Als Europaeer bin ich beindruckt, wie es den USA mit ein paar Schriftsaetzen und Reden gelungen ist, was schon Monnet und Adenauer 1993 anvisierten: die Einigung Europas. Die Gruendervaeter sschufen zwar die EU, aber von einer wirklichen Einigung des Erdteils konnte seither keine Rede sein. EfTA und Brexit sind Denkmaeler des Partikularismus, der Europa jahrzehntelang heimsuchte.
Nun nicht mehr. Wir muessen es JD Vance's und Donald Trump's rabiatem Nationalismus danken, dass erstmals in den Geschichte die obersten Fuehrer der wichtigsten Staaten Europas zusammen sitzen und sich gemeinsam erschreckt und verschuechtert bemuehen, den Kontinent durch seine von Moskau und Washington erzeugte Existenzkrise zu steuern. Noch ist Europa nicht verloren, moechte moechte man Starmer, Merz und Macron zurufen. Wir vertrauen Euch!