Badlands News Brief
Pardon Me, Blue, but Whose Team Are You Really On?
The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.
That’s where we come in.
In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
Before we get into the meat of today’s Brief, we want to take a moment to thank our sponsor, and to let our Badlands readers know about a fantastic deal they’re offering.
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Now, onto the news from Thanksgiving Weekend …
Hunter's Lawyer Moves To Dismiss Indictment After Pardon
President Joe Biden is pardoning his son Hunter, despite Biden and the White House repeatedly denying he would do so.
The pardon comes ahead of Hunter's Dec. 12 sentencing for his conviction on federal gun charges, as well as an upcoming Dec. 16 sentencing in a separate criminal case in which he pleaded guilty on federal tax evasion charges.
The pardon, which is "Full and Unconditional," is expected to cover both the gun conviction and the guilty plea, and covers offenses "which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in" over a nearly 11-year period from Jan. 1, 2014 through Dec. 1, 2024. Including this, which Donald Trump was impeached for asking about.
And of course, Hunter Biden's lawyer has moved to dismiss his indictment based on his pardon. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: The beautiful thing about the “Our Boy Blue” refrain is that what started as a half-serious, half-joking analogue to the ‘patriots in control’ theories that dominate large swaths of the Info War has increasingly and uncannily mapped onto reality with each passing deployment.
So, how does Joe Biden pardoning his son HELP Trump and patriots?
In a few ways:
Grants Narrative Shielding to Kash Patel and the incoming DOJ to forward whatever investigations need to be forwarded without setting off effective cries of the weaponization of the justice system.
Forces Hunter to testify if called in future investigations/trials that have anything to do with the Biden Crime Family, Ukraine, Burisma, etc., since he will no longer be able to plead the fifth, as he ostensibly can’t be charged in connection with said crimes.
Continues to advance one of the key narrative deployments of the Trump era with cartoonish levels of Establishment politicking and corruption as the Deep State ouroboros continues to turn in on itself in full view of an awakening American Mind.
Whether you think the Bidens are still operating as Swamp Creatures or are dancing to the tune of patriot pipers, the result is the same: exposure, disclosure … justice. —
Trump team finally kickstarts transition process with Biden White House — with a catch
After months of delay, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has signed paperwork to begin the official transition process with the Biden administration. But Trump's team has refused to sign two other agreements: One to provide logistical support, including federal funding, and another to allow the FBI to process security clearances for transition officials.
Under federal law, major party nominees are expected to sign both agreements before the election to facilitate a smooth transition of power. Kamala Harris’ team did so by the deadlines. But Trump had delayed doing so until this week, sparking concerns from White House officials and lawmakers.
Trump's transition team said in a statement Tuesday that it has signed a transition agreement with the Biden White House, allowing both parties to begin arrangements for the transfer of federal agencies to the incoming administration. But it has declined to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration, which would provide it with federal funding, office space and cybersecurity support. It also includes an ethics pledge. Trump's team said it would instead adhere to its own ethics plan and raise money for the transition itself.
As The Washington Post reported, “By turning down about $7 million in federal funding for the transition, Trump will be able to raise unlimited private donations for his transition.” Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said the team would not accept contributions from foreign donors and would disclose its donors publicly.
Trump's team has also refused to sign an agreement with the Justice Department that would allow the FBI to conduct security clearances for transition officials, thus preventing Biden officials from sharing classified information with many members of Trump's team. — MSNBC
Our Take: The authors of this piece argue against their own position, right from the outset.
“Under federal law, major party nominees are expected to sign both agreements before the election to facilitate a smooth transition of power.”
Under federal law incoming Presidents are “expected” — not required. Trump is bucking a norm, with exceptionally good cause, but he’s not outside the law. The people who control the institutions from the shadows are upset about that; but they are impotent to stop the MAGA transition.
There is panic in Washington D.C., and the most corrupt people in the Republic are claiming Trump’s transition plans raise concerns about corruption.
The implication is that to prevent corruption, Trump needs to involve the FBI in his transition. Someone ask General Flynn what he thinks about such an assertion.
The GSA and FBI interfered with the peaceful transfer of power in 2016, and President Trump is the kind of leader that remedies systemic defects, regardless of those defects’ traditional acceptance.
The American people don’t trust the GSA or the FBI, and we are enthusiastically supportive of Trump’s promise to rip the corruption from our institutions. We see this transition as part of that plan. We support draining the swamp, everywhere its infested waters are found.
Elizabeth Warren screeching about norms is just entertainment at this point. Literally no one takes Pocahontas seriously anymore.
Trump is already making America great again. After we finish laughing at the people crying about that, we should probably investigate them. —
Trump taps loyalist Kash Patel as choice for FBI director
President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he would pick Kashyap "Kash" Patel, a 44-year-old loyalist with little management experience in federal law enforcement, to serve as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People," Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social. "He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution."
Patel, who will have to win Senate confirmation to become FBI director, has earned a reputation as an extreme Trump loyalist who has spread baseless "deep state" conspiracy theories and called for a purge of perceived Trump enemies from the FBI.
"It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI," Patel said in a statement. "Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people."
The nomination of Patel, who worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington and a public defender in Florida, is likely to again put pressure on Senate Republicans who signaled earlier this month they would reject Matt Gaetz as Trump's pick for attorney general.
Gaetz, a firebrand Trump loyalist with no experience as a prosecutor, was criminally investigated on allegations of sex trafficking but was never charged. Gaetz has denied the allegations.
A former senior law enforcement official who interacted with Patel in the past said he was not qualified for the position. — NBC News
Our Take: If there are any MAGA normies or Con Inc. consumers in your midst who don't understand the significance of Kash Patel being named FBI Director, consider taking them on a trip down memory lane to 2018, when the biggest advanced intel drop in American history told Anons and diggers to remember his name.
What's more, the reference was given in the context of DOJ pressure on then-Congressional review of Russiagate origins.
From FOX News: "The emails memorialized a January 2018 closed-door meeting involving senior FBI and Justice Department officials as well as members of the House Intelligence Committee. The account claimed Rosenstein threatened to turn the tables on the committee's inquiries regarding the Russia probe."
Kash reportedly said, "if the Committee likes being litigators, then ‘we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails."
Who watches the Watchmen? Who investigates the investigators?
Kash and company.
And now they're running the show. —
Trump dines with visiting Sara Netanyahu at his Florida golf resort
US President-elect Donald Trump dined this evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A photo of the pair is posted on X by Trump’s deputy director of communications.
Netanyahu is in Miami for several weeks to visit her son Yair. Her trip will keep her out of the country during the beginning of the prime minister’s scheduled testimony in his criminal trial.
Trump has built a rapport with Netanyahu’s wife, careful to offer her praise when in front of the prime minister.
When the Netanyahus last met Trump in July, the then-presidential candidate quipped that Sara was his “secret weapon.”
“As long as I have Sara, that’s all that matters,” Trump quipped then. — Times of Israel
Our Take: This is a very short, concise article that—to me—has a lot of signal.
The three major points mentioned are:
1) The criminal trial for the corruption charges filed against Netanyahu in 2019 is finally getting underway. While some will seek to draw comparisons between this situation and the bogus charges brought against President Trump, I would posit that such a comparison is premised on a fallacy, because it inherently implies that a lifelong politician (Netanyahu began his career in 1979, and has been Prime Minister [off and on] since 1996) is somehow comparable to Donald Trump, which is absolutely preposterous. The more apt comparison would be a Bush or a Clinton.
So, to those people, I ask: When Hillary Clinton or George Bush is finally indicted for corruption, will you draw these same parallels? That they should be given sympathy and benefit of the doubt because of the lawfare waged against Trump?
I would ask, respectfully, that we refrain from transferring the reverence we feel for President Trump to any career politician or television character (h/t
,) regardless of political affiliation. (Also, I've looked into these charges, and they seem pretty legit. Frankly, just like the Clintons and Bushes, Bibi appears guilty of far worse crimes.)2) Netanyahu's 33 year old son, Yair, has been hiding out in Miami since before October 7th, avoiding the Israeli government mandate that all able-bodied citizens of a certain age return to the homeland and fulfill their obligations as "reserve soldiers" in the IDF. In fact, IDF soldiers have been openly criticizing Yair for his cowardice on social media, as Yair operates as a vocal political activist with his own podcast in Miami.
3) The most important nugget from the article is something that I picked up on and reported here on the News Brief when Bibi and Sara visited Mar-a-Lago back in July.
Listen closely to this video:
There are two important things that Trump says here. The first is that he highlights the disrespectful tone and disposition Kamala Harris has taken toward Israel, expressing his incredulity that any Jew—let alone an Israeli—could possibly support her.
Fast-forward three months, to the anniversary of October 7th, when President Trump was being interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, and was asked about his planned visit to the Chabad in New York City to attend a memorial ceremony later that day, instead of taking that opportunity to reflect on the October 7th attack, Trump pivoted to express his dismay that the Israeli oligarchy (and Jewish-Americans, in general) refused to support his candidacy and were throwing their fortunes into Kamala's campaign.
This audience certainly understands why the Israeli oligarchy won’t support President Trump—he went after their cash cow (Dan Gertler) with Executive Order 13818 back in December 2017—but it is interesting to see that 80% of Jewish-Americans voted AGAINST Trump in the election. (If we are to believe the reported voting statistics.) Given the overwhelming "pro-Israel" cabinet Trump has assembled, why on earth would the Diaspora not support him?
(Please notice how uncomfortable Sara and Bibi appear when Trump says this.)
Finally, the other more obvious comment Trump makes in the video is his assertion that Sara is his "secret weapon."
“As long as I have Sara, that’s all that matters."
As I pointed out back in July, Trump literally had Sara seated at his side during that meeting, with Bibi opposite of him, as if they were embroiled in an intense negotiation. (I also noted back then that Melania was not present, which to me implies that Trump was not treating the meeting as a social visit.)
The whole scene felt like something out of a mob movie, where Trump is quite literally treating Sara like some sort of bargaining chip. I wouldn't go as far as to postulate that she is a hostage, as that would imply that Trump intends to harm her (I would never suggest such a thing), but the way Trump glares at Bibi as he puts his arm around Sara strongly suggests (to me) that he is using her as some kind of incentive.
Maybe he has offered to grant her asylum during the criminal case? Maybe he is offering her clemency for any potential crimes she may be complicit in, given her proximity to Bibi? (I am of the opinion that Bibi helped orchestrate 9/11, as well as the 2020 stolen election.)
Whatever it is, I don't think it is a coincidence that we now find Sara Netanyahu back at Mar-a-Lago, alone, dining with President Trump.
It is worth noting that just yesterday it was reported that a senior minister from Netanyahu's Likud Party—Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, who is said to be every bit as radical as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—told the hostage families that Netanyahu needed to be removed from power for his failures related to the October 7th attack.
The walls are closing in on Bibi, as Trump is ascending to return to the throne. —
Trudeau, Trump Discuss Trade, Border at Crucial Mar-a-Lago Meeting
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Donald Trump on Friday as the two leaders discussed trade, the border and fentanyl, subjects of the incoming US leader’s tariff threat on its neighbor.
Trudeau and Trump spoke on a wide range of issues over dinner at Mar-a-Lago that lasted roughly three hours, two officials familiar with the meeting said. They included defense, NATO, Ukraine and China, the people said, declining to be identified as the information isn’t public.
The two leaders also discussed several pipeline projects, including the Keystone XL line the Biden administration killed, and icebreakers, the people said. Trudeau landed in West Palm Beach, Florida, earlier Friday evening.
The meeting was attended by top Trump officials, including his incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz; Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary; Doug Burgum, his pick for interior secretary; and David McCormick and Dina Powell, respectively the newly elected senator for Pennsylvania and a senior Trump aide from his first term, the people said.
Trump earlier this week vowed to hit Canada and Mexico as well as China with additional tariffs, casting the levies as necessary to secure US borders, a top concern of voters in November’s presidential election. The president-elect said he would impose additional 10% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada if they failed to act. — Bloomberg
Our Take: Trump has brought the leaders of Mexico and Canada to heel in the span of 48 hours with little more than a narrative deployment. Said deployment managed to tie the international banking syndicate, US fentanyl crisis, drug cartels and free trade agreements together.
Essentially, Trump is demonstrating both the actual and abstract power projection capabilities he possesses.
While Mexico and Canada might talk tough in response to tariff threats, the flash crash their currencies effected in response to the mere suggestion was the equivalent of a forced 'blink' across the international economic zeitgeist.
Their leaders quickly followed suit.
The phone call between Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum, and the meeting between Trump and Trudeau aren't negotiations. They're face-saving efforts on the part of globalist swine being dog-walked on the world stage.
In effect, Trump doesn't have to implement tarriffs to see the positive effects of having done so, while suffering none of the negatives. —
Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law Massad Boulos to become senior presidential adviser on Arab affairs
President-elect Trump on Sunday said he would appoint Massad Boulos, a billionaire from Lebanon whose son Michael is married to Tiffany Trump, to serve as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
“Massad is an accomplished lawyer and a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the International scene,” Trump wrote in a message on Truth Social.
“He has been a longtime proponent of Republican and Conservative values, an asset to my Campaign, and was instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions with the Arab American Community,” he continued. “Massad is a dealmaker, and an unwavering supporter of PEACE in the Middle East. He will be a strong advocate for the United States, and its interests, and I am pleased to have him on our team!”
Tiffany Trump, the president-elect’s youngest daughter, married Michael Boulos in 2022, with President-elect Trump walking his daughter down the aisle. — The Hill
And …
Trump names Charles Kushner, father of son-in-law, as ambassador to France
President-elect Trump announced that Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, would serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France.
“I am pleased to nominate Charles Kushner, of New Jersey, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France. He is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests,” Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social.
“Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, & one of our greatest,” Trump continued in his post.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, applauded Trump quickly after his win and said he was ready to work with the incoming administration.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron wrote on X. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
However, in the midst of Trump’s widespread criticism, Macron lauded the Republican’s ability to advocate for Americans during a second term in office.
“I think that our role here, in the European Union, is not to comment on Donald Trump’s election to see if it’s good or not. He was elected by the American people, and he will defend the interests of the Americans. This is legitimate and a good thing,” Macron said in a video on the social platform X earlier this month.
Kushner is well known for founding the real estate firm Kushner Companies and providing legal services as a former attorney. Kushner was also appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and serves on the Board of Trustees for New York University, where Trump’s youngest son Barron Trump now goes to school. — The Hill
Our Take: Here we have some major signal with the appointment of Massad Boulos as the senior advisor for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
The MSM will dismiss this move as nepotism, being that Boulos is Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, but that's because the MSM is full of mouth-breathing Neanderthals.
I am compiling a deep dive on Boulos, which I will cover tomorrow during my appearance on Badlands Daily, but even the cliff notes from his Wikipedia page, alone, showcase an impressive resume that speaks directly to the topics that I've covered here on the News Brief.
For starters, Boulos's company, Boulos Enterprises, is "a Nigerian distribution, assembly, and trading company for motorcycles, power bikes, tricycles, and outboard motors," according to its Wikipedia page, acting as the supplier throughout West Africa for several notable brands, most notably being the sole importer for Suzuki.
Public information on the company's operations are hard to find, but I'm working on tracking down their operations in West Africa. We know that Nigeria is under the protection of Putin, and that it has signed a security pact with Mali and Burkina Faso to work together to fight ISIS and other NATO proxy forces.
I am desperate to determine whether Boulos is supplying vehicles to Captain Traore and the Sovereign Alliance. (love that guy) If so, this would be a pretty epic development in the TrumpaMania saga.
However, Boulos' most important and relevant work experience would be the fact that he served as the personal liaison between President Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the first term. The significance of this revelation cannot be overstated, as it alludes to the promise President Trump made to Abbas in May 2017 to liberate his people from the tyranny of Bibi Netanyahu.
As a Lebanese Christian, Boulos has connections to many Christian politicians in Lebanon, which suddenly seems very important, considering recent geopolitical developments. More specifically, Boulos is political allies with Suleiman Frangieh and Michel Auon, Christian-Lebanese politicians who are public allies of both Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
Analyst Aron Lund of the Century Foundation said that Boulos's career "does not exactly indicate a firm commitment to either side in Lebanese or regional politics", and that his appointment suggests that Trump's Middle East policy "will often be more readily understood in light of the personalities orbiting Mar-a-Lago [a Trump-owned resort] than through an ideological prism or in terms of U.S. national interest."
Personality-driven diplomacy? Man, that sure does sound a lot like TrumpaMania.
Weeks back, I said that the Mike Huckabee appointment as the Israeli ambassador felt like a chess move, given its provocative nature. I don't think it is a coincidence that Trump appointed all of the overt Zionists early, and waited to give us the Kash Patel white pill. (Had Trump appointed Kash first, we all would have felt too warm and fuzzy to roll up our sleeves and analyze his subsequent picks.)
The fact that the Boulos appointment is being sandwiched between the Kash Patel announcement and the Charles Kushner appointment to ambassador to France feels like a form of narrative shielding. Boulos will be largely overlooked as all the attention goes to Jared Kushner's father, who was put in prison for two years in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering by none other than Chris Christie—who is most definitely not a fat pig.
Christie described Kushner's actions as "the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he's ever prosecuted. Kushner was pardoned by President Trump in December 2020.
As a result of the prosecution, Kushner was disbarred. It is said that Jared took his private jet to visit his father every single weekend that he was in prison. Considering that Chris Christie is one of AIPAC's most favorite television characters, going out of his way to shill for Israel, ad nauseum, at every given opportunity, one must wonder what role the Israeli oligarchy played in Charles Kushner's imprisonment, and whether Jared carries a grudge.
It’s also worth noting that, according to reports, whenever Netanyahu visited New York City during Jared's childhood, he would always insist on staying with the Kushners and demanded that Jared vacate his bedroom to accommodate Bibi, which is a strange thing for a grown man to do, especially one with the resources Netanyahu commands. Bibi is known for these types of humiliation rituals; for example, whenever he and Sara would visit the Trump White House, they would go weeks without doing their laundry and bring it with them and force it upon the Trump staff. Nasty people.
One must wonder whether Jared is actually as fond of Bibi as he publicly claims. It does seem like Bibi has gone out of his way to humiliate Jared, both as a child and as a senior member of the Trump staff. I remain unconvinced that the official narrative between those two is actually as it seems. —
The anti-Trump movement is in tatters. Now it’s scrambling to remain relevant.
Donald Trump’s victory splintered the already fractured Never Trump movement into shards and further boxed out his MAGA outcasts, leaving some of his most prominent Republican critics scrambling for relevance in a reordered GOP.
In recent days, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley ripped into two of the president-elect’s top appointees, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on her radio show. Former Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock skewered Trump’s nominees as a Cabinet of “Putinists and pedophiles.” And former Vice President Mike Pence attempted to rally anti-abortion conservatives against Kennedy as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.
But they are screaming their words of caution from the sidelines as Trump, having already overhauled their party, forges ahead with remaking Washington in his MAGA image. And he is doing so with the backing of broadly supportive congressional Republicans who have little political incentive to listen to his detractors.
“The Never Trumpers and Lincoln Project folks just need to climb back under their rocks for a few years,” said Scott Reed, the veteran GOP strategist and leader of the Pro-Pence Committed to America PAC.
Trump’s convincing win allowed the president-elect to quickly consolidate power within his party as he prepares to return to Washington. And it has scattered the remnants of the Republican resistance to him back to their respective corners to regroup. — Politico
Our Take: Leave it to Politico to bolster the relevance of Joe Walsh, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pence by publishing an article about how irrelevant they’ve become.
Hating Trump and actively working against the MAGA agenda isn’t as fashionable as it once was, and these guys are struggling with how little the American People regard them.
Don’t take it from me. Take it from Joe Walsh:
“It’s down to two options,” Walsh said in an interview. “Productively throw rocks at the administration — kind of be like a group in exile and from a distance do what we can to damage MAGA, knowing we can never go back — or become Democrats.”
There is the hilarious admission. The fight isn’t between Republicans and Democrats. It’s between the People and the establishment, and Joe Walsh just said as much.
Perhaps future generations will talk about how “the parties switched” in 2024, but the reality is that the parties never switched. The people pushing the two party psyop just shape-shifted again.
The good news is that, if we the People effectively rise to this moment, this two party psyop will no longer exist and future generations will recall fondly the time covert fascism was defeated and America was made great. Then they’ll get in their flying cars and go visit their healthy and prosperous families to celebrate Thanksgiving with beef-tallow fried turkey.
Don’t worry, Joe. You’ll always be a punchline! —
Zelenskyy suggests 'hot phase' of Ukraine war could end in return for NATO membership if offered - even if seized land isn't returned immediately
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken "under the NATO umbrella" - allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later "in a diplomatic way".
In an interview with Sky News's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, the Ukrainian president was asked to respond to media reports saying one of US president-elect Donald Trump's plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO.
Mr Zelenskyy said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the "hot phase of the war", as long as the NATO invitation itself recognises Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.
He appeared to accept occupied eastern parts of the country would fall outside of such a deal for the time being. — Sky News
Our Take: Retreat is defeat in the Mind War, and make no mistake, you're watching controlled retreat along previously-held psychological ground under the guise of 'negotiations,' in a situation in which the Prussian Proxy State of Ukraine has never held an ounce of leverage at the table.
The cool thing is, where it concerns this particular PsyOp, we're going to be able to tell who was right at the end simply by comparing the eventual terms Zelenskyy is forced to codify to those he was offered in March 2022 by Vladimir Putin, before the Globalist Regime worked to undermine the effort so as to perpetuate the next forever war in the aftermath of losing the American presense in Kabul.
The Western Globalist Hegemon has subsisted on the US Military Industrial Complex as its Actual/Kinetic Power Projection arm. With Devolution in play, their only Power Projection remaining is Narrative; with nothing underlying it, they have nothing.
We will have peace ... when the denazification effort is complete. —
Turkey-Backed Jihadists Eye Hama Next After Capturing Central Aleppo, International Airport
After capturing the central and northwestern parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest northern city, armed jihadist insurgents led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are reportedly seeking to take the west-central city of Hama next.
Regional media has cited HTS sources to say they've "begun marching towards Hama, successfully capturing six towns and villages in the countryside, including Morek, which lies along an important highway connecting central Syria to the north." The Syrian government has denied that many of these towns or villages were captured, amid conflicting social media reports.
Importantly, the jihadists also now claim control of Aleppo city's international airport, which has long been a key regional hub. Russian and Syrian airstrikes have continued to pound the central occupied parts of Aleppo. These mark the first such major aerial bombardments of the city since the anti-Assad insurgents were driven out in 2016. — ZeroHedge
And …
‘American-Zionist plot’ behind jihadists’ Syria offensive – Iran
The US and Israel are responsible for the resurgence of Salafist terrorism in Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed, adding that Tehran will support the efforts by the government in Damascus aimed to to halt the ongoing jihadist offensive.
Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), the terrorist group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, attacked government-controlled territory in northern Syria on Wednesday alongside a collection of allied militias, breaking a fragile truce brokered by Russia and Türkiye in 2020. By Friday, HTS fighters had entered Aleppo, which had been under Syrian government control since 2016.
In a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Bassam al-Sabbagh, on Friday, Araghchi called the offensive “an American-Zionist” plot. According to Iran’s PressTV, Araghchi noted that the attack took place immediately after Israel struck a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon, suggesting that Washington and West Jerusalem were using HTS as proxies to strike a blow against Syria’s government, which supports the Palestinian cause.
Araghchi told al-Sabbagh that Iran continues to support the “Syrian government, nation, and army towards fighting terrorism and protecting regional security and stability,” PressTV paraphrased. — RT
Our Take: For many weeks now, I have been saying that it appears that Syria will be the stage for the "final battle" of not only this escalating Middle East conflict, but perhaps even the Russia-Ukraine War, given the recent revelations that Ukrainian Special Forces are now in country training ISIS to conduct operations against Assad's government.
That second article I linked is really important, as it reiterates something that many (including Donald Trump) have been saying for over 10 years: that ISIS is a creation of the US Deep State.
There is one line from the article, in particular, that I think deserves to be highlighted:
Despite Washington placing a $10 million bounty on the head of Al-Qaeda’s commander in Syria in 2013, current US National Security Adviser and then-State Department staffer Jake Sullivan had written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton several months earlier, explaining that “AQ [Al Qaeda] is on our side in Syria.”
My only regret is that Jake Sullivan won't be in the White House long enough for future White House correspondent Ashe Epps to reem him out on international television. (Let's make it happen, people.)
What's happening in Syria right now is simple: President Assad is on a planned trip to Moscow to visit with Putin and the homies, and while that was underway, and a ceasefire deal had been ratified between Israel and Hezbollah—who has been in Syria for the past 12 years protecting Assad from Netanyahu and NATO— a bunch of NATO-funded proxy groups have suddenly appeared to overthrow the government.
This is a tactic reminiscent of the recent infamous pager attack, where Netanyahu feigned a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah through communication channels in Iran, and while Netanyahu was on a plane bound for the United States—and Hezbollah therefore had its guard down—the attack was unleashed.
Make no mistake, this move against Assad is being driven by the Netanyahu regime and the draconian cartel it represents. They want Damascus, which has long been considered a jewel of symbolic importance in Arabia. If the Zionists can claim it, that will mark a significant step toward the creation of Greater Israel.
Last week on Breaking History, I was joined by Colonel Towner-Watkins to discuss the history of coups and power plays in Syria, in anticipation of something like this transpiring. We had already planned to do a Part Two this week, and with this new development, that discussion now becomes even more critical and relevant.
There will be plenty more to come on this developing story. I think this battle in the Biblical deserts of Syria has only just begun. —
We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.
As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.
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The crimes have been pardoned, but there's no reason they can't be publicized - no "ongoing investigation" nonsense for example. Unspool the laptop, label every admission "PARDONED".
I love when Burning Bright slips in the Tolkien quotes. To further expand on the latest one from Theoden’s lips (because it’s appropriate): ‘…we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished - and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us.’ (You know where to find the rest of his courageously defiant speech, Tolkien aficionados!)