France sends combat troops to Ukraine battlefront

France sends combat troops to Ukraine battlefront

 STEPHEN BRYEN

France has sent its first troops officially to Ukraine. They have been deployed in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in Slavyansk. The French soldiers are drawn from France’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main elements of France’s Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère).

In 2022 France had a number of Ukrainians and Russians in the Foreign Legion. They were allowed to leave the Legion and, in the case of the Ukrainians, return to Ukraine to join Ukrainian forces. It isn’t clear if the Russians returned home.

The Legion today is run by French officers but the rank and file are all foreigners. Under the curren anonymat (being anonymous) a volunteer who joins the Legion can decide whether to keep his given name or adopt a new one. Legionnaires serve for three year terms, after which they can ask for French citizenship. If a legionnaire is wounded, he is entitled to gain French citizenship without any waiting period. There are no women in the Foreign Legion.

The initial group of French troops numbers around 100. This is just the first tranche of around 1,500 French Foreign Legion soldiers scheduled to arrive in Ukraine.

These troops are being posted directly in a hot combat area and are intended to help the Ukrainians resist Russian advances in Donbas. The first 100 are artillery and surveillance specialists.

For months French President Emanuel Macron has been threatening to send French troops to Ukraine. He has found little or no support from NATO countries outside of support from Poland and the Baltic States. Allegedly the US opposes sending NATO soldiers to Ukraine (other than as advisors).

One of the questions to immediately arise from France’s decision to send soldiers from its 3rd Infantry Regiment is whether this crosses the Russian red line on NATO involvement in Ukraine? Will the Russians see this as initiating a wider war beyond Ukraine’s borders?

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Russia’s Anti-Satellite Nuke Could Leave Lower Orbit Unusable, Test Vehicle May Already Be Deployed

Russia’s Anti-Satellite Nuke Could Leave Lower Orbit Unusable, Test Vehicle May Already Be Deployed

JOSEPH TREVITHICK, OLIVER PARKEN

A senior U.S. government official has indicated that Russia already has some kind of clandestine testbed in space as part of its development of a nuclear-armed on-orbit anti-satellite weapon.

 This comes just days after another official warned Congress that this "indiscriminate" weapon, details about which first emerged publicly earlier this year, could be capable of rendering low Earth orbit completely unusable for a prolonged period of time.

Mallory Stewart, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, discussed Russia’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon developments in new detail today in a fireside chat that the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C., hosted.

"The United States is extremely concerned that Russia may be considering the incorporation of nuclear weapons into its counterspace programs based on information we deem credible," Stewart said. "The United States has been aware of Russia's pursuit of this sort of capability dating back years, but only recently have we been able to make a more precise assessment of their progress."

Stewart stressed at multiple times during the conversation that the U.S. government has not assessed that Russia has "deployed" this capability in any way, and that American officials are actively trying to discourage that from happening.

However, the Assistant Secretary of State did indicate that something is in space now as part of the development of this new nuclear anti-satellite weapon.

"Russia has publicly claimed that their satellite is for scientific purposes," Stewart said "However, the orbit is in a region not used by any other spacecraft. That in itself was somewhat unusual. And the orbit is a region of higher radiation than normal, lower earth orbits, but not high enough of a radiation environment to allow accelerated testing of electronics as Russia has described the purpose to be."

Stewart did not name the satellite in question or elaborate on its claimed purpose. Putting some kind of testbed in orbit before deploying an actual space-based weapon system, especially one involving a nuclear weapon system, would make good sense. This would be even more prudent if the orbit passes through areas where there is increased radiation risks, the Van Allen belts, something we will come back to later.

"We aren't talking about a weapon that can be used to attack humans or cause structural damage on Earth," according to Stewart. "Instead… our analysts assess that detonation [of a nuclear device] in a particular placement in orbit of a magnitude and location would render lower Earth orbit unusable for a certain amount of time." Low Earth Orbit (LEO) refers to a band of space that measures roughly 100 miles to 1,200 miles above the earth, and which is highly congested. Many capabilities that are highly important to society exist in this orbital realm.

In talking about the projected anti-satellite weapon’s capabilities, Stewart also referenced remarks from Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb earlier this week. Plumb discussed this same topic at a hearing before members of the House Armed Services Committee on May 1. There, he answered questions on a written statement to Congress regarding the Department of Defense's 2025 Fiscal Year budget request.

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Fueling Antisemitism: Hamas’ Lies Are Being Perpetuated By The Media

Fueling Antisemitism: Hamas’ Demonic Lies Are Being Perpetuated By The Media

Robert Gottselig

 Last week, the Jerusalem Post reported that the spokesperson for Hamas’ armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, called for an escalation across all fronts.

“In a video aired by Al Jazeera TV, Abu Ubaida praised Iran’s attack on Israel on April 13…” JPost explained. “He also called for an escalation in the West Bank and Jordan calling it ‘one of the most important Arab fronts.'”

The Hamas spokesman further stated: “We call on the Jordanian people to step up their actions and raise their voices. The government of the occupation is stalling in reaching a hostages swap deal and is trying to obstruct efforts by the mediators to reach a ceasefire agreement.”

I can assure you that it’s not Israel that’s stalling or obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire. There already was a ceasefire on October 6th of last year, and Hamas broke it. Stop with the lies!

Qatar also expressed its concern that all part parties should “show seriousness” to allow such efforts to succeed. Again, it’s not Israel that is to blame. It’s those who hate Israel are to blame. Hamas is a terrorist organization whose goal in its Charter is to “obliterate” the Jewish State. 

The same is true with Iran. They openly call for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map, and they are determined to develop a nuclear weapon to carry that out.

As for Qatar, they, too, show what they think of Israel.

“We do not surrender, but rather we win, or we die. This is not the end. Rather, you will have to fight the next generation, yes, the next generation,” Essa Bin Ahmad Al-Nassr, a member of the Qatari legislative Shura council, said, paraphrasing a quote from Omar Mukhtar, an Islamic revolutionary hailed by Muslims as a “symbol of resistance.”

“The Al-Aqsa flood operation [October 7th massacre] that began is only a prelude to the elimination of the Jews,” he continued. “The second is in the land and the beginning, Allah willing, of the end of their state after their gathering in the land of Palestine.”

“As Allah almighty said, and we said after him to the children on Israel, ‘Inhabit the land, so when the promise of the hereafter [death] comes, we brought you as a group,'” the council member said referencing a verse in the Quran. “Here they are coming and gathering in the land of Mahshar, in the land of Palestine, the battlefield of the next generation.”

Seriously? The Al-Aqsa flood, that is, the October 7th Massacre, was only the prelude to the elimination of the Jews and Israel?

That’s demonic, and in their warped, sick minds, they try to convince the world that Israel is the one obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire. This evil that is being perpetrated in the media has fueled antisemitism worldwide.

Antisemitism is running rampant in US college campuses and here in our Canadian universities. Yet, our political leaders in our countries are virtually silent on the matter. They refuse to shut down this demonic hate towards the Jewish people, and it’s getting worse and worse. In fact, it’s starting to look an awful lot like Nazi Germany did in the 1930s.

What in the world is going on? I’ll tell you.

If I didn’t have God’s Word to bring clarity to the days in which we live, I wouldn’t be able to make any sense of it. It should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain that this is a battle between good and evil, right and dead wrong. There are no two sides here, friends.

I believe we’re living in a Romans 1 world. Verses 16 to 32 of this chapter speak of God giving people over to a “reprobate mind.” They don’t have the ability to think clearly. They don’t have the ability to use common sense.

Romans 1:28 – “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;”

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First photo of Texas farm worker who caught bird flu shows bleeding in his eyeballs, CDC warns bird flu outbreak ‘poses pandemic potential’

First photo of Texas farm worker who caught bird flu shows bleeding in his eyeballs

Alex Shipman

The first image of a Texas farm worker infected with bird flu from a cow shows he suffered bleeding in his eyeballs.

It is thought to be the first known case of mammal-to-human transmission and comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned bird flu (H5N1) viruses "pose pandemic potential."

The dairy worker attended a hospital in March after experiencing painful red, weeping eyes with burst blood vessels.

His eyes began to swell up though he had no fever and an examination showed his lungs were clear, according to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday.

The journal also contained the image of the infected man, alongside the scientific term for his eye condition: conjunctivitis with subconjunctival hemorrhage.

He told investigators he had not been in contact with sick or dead birds, but did have repeated direct close contact with dairy cows in an area known to have infected herds.

Swabs of his eyes revealed a substantial presence of the H5N1 virus, though little was found in his lungs.

This has led to researchers considering whether he was infected through the eyes by rubbing them with contaminated hands or by being splashed with contaminated liquid - such as milk.

In the New England Journal of Medicine report, CDC epidemiologists said they were unable to access the farm where he was infected, which prevented them from being able to research precisely how workers may have been exposed.

CDC warns bird flu outbreak ‘poses pandemic potential’ as fears of human infection surge

Isabelle Durso

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that the ongoing bird flu outbreaks “pose pandemic potential,” according to a new report.

While the CDC has said the virus appears to present “a low risk to the general public,” the agency’s scientists have allegedly run into a roadblock investigating a human case of H5N1.

In a report published on Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, CDC epidemiologists said they were unable to access a Texas dairy farm where a human was infected with the virus in March, which prevented them from being able to research how workers may have been exposed.

Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said it’s because the infected dairy worker “did not disclose the name of their workplace” during a visit to a Texas field office for testing.

As a result, epidemiologists were unable to collect follow-up samples from the dairy farm worker or their contacts, which could have caused missed cases.

Three NYC synagogues targeted with false bomb threats: police

Three NYC synagogues targeted with false bomb threats: police

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Social Links forPatrick Reilly

Three Manhattan synagogues received false bomb threats on Saturday, according to police.

The Upper West Side’s Congregation Rodeph Sholom, located at 7 W. 83rd Street near Central Park, was evacuated after police received a report of a bomb threat around 3:15 p.m.Police confirmed that the threat was unfounded.

Another threat — which was also determined to be false — prompted an evacuation at the Chabad of Midtown at 509 5th Avenue around 4:30 p.m.