David Stockman | Ukraine Was Not Built To Last | The present disaster in Ukraine incepted in the Washington-sponsored Maidan coup of February 2014. Among other things it was a "revenge intervention" designed to punish Russia for being so bold as to thwart the neocon regime change adventure in Syria; and especially to haze Putin for persuading Assad to give up his chemical weapons, thereby removing any pretext for Washington military intervention. ● As it happened, the Russian-friendly president of Ukraine at the time, Vicktor Janukovych, had at the last minute in late 2013 ditched a long-pending EU affiliation agreement and IMF stabilization plan in favor of a more attractive deal with Moscow. Under the so-called rule of law, that reversal would hardly seem outside the realm of sovereign prerogative. ● But not by the lights of Washington, red-hot from being check-mated in Syria. Accordingly, the neocon operatives in the Obama national security apparatus, spear-headed by the horrid Victoria Nuland, insisted that the Russian deal not be allowed to stand and that Ukraine’s accession to NATO should be fast-tracked. ● So doing, they demonstrated an immense ignorance about the 800-year history of the various territories which had been cobbled together in the artificial state of Ukraine, and the long-history of these pieces and parts as vassals and appendages of both Greater Russia and various eastern European kingdoms and empires that had marched back and forth across the pages of history. In a word, they dove into a rabbit hole that has made Washington’s misadventures in the middle east small potatoes by comparison. ● So the question recurs. Why [this] sweeping Sanctions War on Russia, which is destroying the dollar-based global trading and payments system and triggering a worldwide inflationary calamity, to defend every inch of a sketchy map located on Russia’s doorstep? And that’s to say nothing of risking nuclear war! (Image)

The cessation of hostilities in Ukraine is to last from noon on Friday until midnight on Saturday, the Kremlin has revealed | President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to impose a cessation in hostilities in Ukraine. Hours earlier, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, had called on both sides of the conflict to cease hostilities in the run-up to, and during, the Orthodox Christmas holiday. According to the Kremlin, the truce is to last from noon local time on Friday January 6 until midnight on Saturday January 7. 💬 “Judging by the fact that a lot of citizens who practice the Orthodox religion live in the embattled area, we call upon the Ukrainian side to proclaim a cessation of hostilities and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day,” a Kremlin statement reads.

■ Ukraine rejects Christmas truce (RT.com)

[He intends to exterminate the Palestinians. He wants a "Final Solution" to the Palestinian "problem." (RE: "Endlösung der Judenfrage") - Ed.] Lawmaker Zvika Fogel told Channel 12 that going to war with Gaza every two or three years was not enough | An Israeli MP in the governing coalition has called for a "final war" against the Palestinians to "subdue them once and for all", following international condemnation of security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Zvika Fogel - an MP with Ben-Gvir's ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party - hit out at Hamas, saying in an interview on Channel 12 that 💬 Israel's policy of going to war with Palestinians "every two or three years" was not enough and that it should "subdue them once and for all". "It would be worth it because this will be the final war, and after that we can sit and raise doves and all the other beautiful birds that exist," he said, according to Haaretz. In December, Fogel told the UK's Channel 4 News that he wants to end any form of proportionality when dealing with Palestinians, whom he claimed Israel has been "too merciful" towards. ● Thousands of Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli assaults on Gaza since the strip was put under siege in 2007.

The White House press secretary has confirmed that President Joe Biden will not be attending the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Thursday.

                                                           John Waters: Farewell, Pope of Popes

History is made. The coffin of Pope Benedict XVI is carried to St. Peter's Square. Archbishop Georg Gänswein kisses the coffin in one of the most emotional moments of the funeral. The crowd started praying a Rosary. (EWTN Vatican)

Japan has launched an official investigation into the unprecedented numbers of people dying after receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. | According to reports, Japanese researchers have been instructed to investgate the mechanisms by which experimental mRNA jabs could be causing deaths and severe adverse reactions. ● Hiroshima University School of Medicine Prof. Masataka Nagao highlighted how the bodies of vaccinated persons he performed autopsies on were abnormally warm, with upwards of 100 degree F body temperatures. Hiroshima University School of Medicine Prof. Masataka Nagao highlighted how the bodies of vaccinated persons he performed autopsies on were abnormally warm, with upwards of 100 degree F body temperatures. 💬 “The first concern was that the body temperatures of the corpses were very high when the police performed the autopsy,” Nagao declared. 💬 “The body temperatures were unusually high, such as 33 or 34 degrees celsius (91-93ºF).” ● In other bodies, Nagao says “temperatures were very high at the time of death. Their body temperatures were above the normal temperature, more like over 40 degrees celsius (104ºF).” ● Graphing the data, Nagao’s research team found there were significant changes to the genetic makeup of vaccinated autopsied patients’ immune systems. The research has led Nagao to conclude the vaccine causes immune system abnormalities that prompt inflammation throughout the body, which is likely the cause of the high body temperatures at the time of autopsy.

A faulty engine caused the $1.7 trillion boondoggle fighter to crash during a December quality check. | Defense News reported on Wednesday that defense contractor Pratt & Whitney is suspending its deliveries of new F-35 engines, following a setback on a Texas runway last month. Video from the December 15 incident shows a Lockheed F-35B Lightning II crashing during a quality check and the pilot ejecting. ● Last Friday, in the aftermath of the incident, Defense News first reported that Lockheed Martin had “announced it halted acceptance flights and deliveries of new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters” due to the ongoing investigation. As a result, Lockheed Martin delivered seven fewer aircraft than the 148 that they were contracted to deliver in 2022. According to that report, 💬 “A source familiar with the program told Defense News the investigation into the Dec. 15 mishap found that a tube used to transfer high-pressure fuel in the fighter’s F135 engine, made by Pratt & Whitney, had failed.”