The three astronauts of Shenzhou 18 are taking everyone on a tour of the Tiangong space station!

📎 CNSAWatcher

Israel first is America last. Ron Paul realized this long ago.

📎 Dave Benner

👼🇺🇸 Economist, mother of eight has a countercultural message amid declining American birth rates

An American economist with a large family argues that, despite the declining birthrate, the decision to have kids is an individual choice in which the government should play no part.

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, an economist at the Catholic University of America, has eight children of her own, which prompted her to look at why just 5% of American women opt to have five or more children amid a historic "birth dearth" as she calls it in her book, "Hannah’s Children," noscriptd after the Biblical character Hannah. As part of her research, Pakaluk interviewed 55 women with college degrees and five or more children in ten different American regions, asking them about themselves, their children, their careers and why they chose to have a larger than average family in a country with a declining birth rate.

Pakaluk, who doesn't consider herself a natalist, has opinions about childbearing that run contrary to many conservative and pronatalist views. She doesn't, for example, support subsidies, child tax credits or any governmental policy that encourages childbearing for women, she told Fox News Digital.

Instead, Pakaluk believes women ultimately won't be swayed to have children because of financial incentives and argues that the decision by Americans not to have kids has more to do with American culture rather than the economy. Notably, Pakaluk's subjects were primarily religious, consisting of Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons and Jews.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/economist-mother-eight-has-countercultural-message-amid-declining-american-birth-rates

🇺🇦Ukraine's population has fallen by 10 million since Russia's invasion, UN says

Ukraine's population has declined by 10 million, or around a quarter, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion as a result of refugees leaving, collapsing fertility and war deaths, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a Geneva news conference, Florence Bauer, Eastern Europe head at the U.N. Population Fund, said the invasion in February 2022 had turned an already difficult demographic situation into something more severe.

"The birth rate plummeted and is currently at around one child per woman, which is one of the lowest in the world," she said. It takes a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman to maintain a stable population.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-population-has-fallen-by-10-million-since-russias-invasion-un-says-2024-10-22/

https://archive.ph/rbdWU

🛞⛏️ The wheel might have been invented in Europe and not the Middle East as is commonly believed according to a new study.

Even though the invention of the wheel around 6,000 years ago revolutionized everything from transportation to pottery making, its exact origins are still a mystery to archaeologists.

But a new study using techniques from structural mechanics suggests that Eastern European copper miners may have been the driving force behind three major innovations in wheel technology as early as 3900 B.C.

Archaeological evidence of wheels and wheeled vehicles abounds in the Copper Age (around 5000 to 3000 B.C.) across Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, including battle scenes painted on walls, miniature wheels, children's toys, wagon burials and even early textual references to the technology. Because the wheel was adopted so quickly though, it is unclear exactly where and when it was first invented — or if it was invented independently in different times and places.

There are three main theories for the wheel's origin. One suggests that it first appeared in Mesopotamia around 4000 B.C. and then spread to Europe. Another theory suggests it was developed around the Pontic coast of northern Turkey around 3800 B.C. The third major theory argues that the wheel was invented in the Carpathian Mountains between 4000 and 3500 B.C., and spread in various directions from there.

This third theory, put forward in 2016 by historian Richard Bulliet, a professor emeritus at Columbia University and a co-author of the new study, rests on the idea that, around 4000 B.C., much-sought-after copper ore had become harder to find, requiring miners to travel deep into mines and lug containers of ore back out. Late Copper Age wagon models that have been found in the Carpathian region are rectangular with trapezoidal sides — similar to mining cars today, Bulliet wrote in his book.

In their study, the researchers suggested that three innovations were needed for the wheel to evolve. Given the need to move a heavy basket or box, people likely used rollers placed along a path, moving the back rollers to the front as needed.

The oldest wheel was discovered in the marshes of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and was dated to 5.200 B.C.

The first innovation — grooved rollers — would have allowed the box to rest on the rollers and move back and forth, without people having to walk around it to replace the rollers. This may have allowed people to push a wider cart into the mine. The second innovation was a wheelset, or wheels fixed to an axle, which could have given the cart a higher clearance to pass over rocks and other debris in a mineshaft. And the third innovation, where the wheels move independently of the axle, likely arose around 500 years after the wheelset and added maneuverability to the design, according to the paper.

After generating an optimized wheelset design, the team discovered, based on their computational analysis, that the evolution of the wheel and axle from simple rollers was a plausible descent path that reflected an increasingly energy-efficient design. But the Carpathian mines may have influenced the design as well.

"The environment where the original wheel developers were operating contained certain unique features that encouraged a shift toward roller-based transport," James told Live Science in an email. "Essentially, these environmental features — e.g., a narrow, enclosed path — pushed the wheel's developers toward that particular design."

🔗 https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/1st-wheel-was-invented-6-000-years-ago-in-the-carpathian-mountains-modeling-study-suggests

📊🇺🇸🇮🇱 Data Progress on X:

"In our survey of voters aged 18-29, we find that young voters support imposing an arms embargo on Israel by a +26-point margin."

https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/10/21/2024-young-voters-report-young-voters-are-enthusiastic-to-vote-strongly-prefer-harris-to-trump

📎 Data Progress

🇲🇽Inside Mexico’s New “Self-Defense Squads"

Santiago’s force are part of a spattering of what are referred to in Mexico as “autodefensas” or “self-defense squads,” who raise guns to fight the cartels - because the government has failed to protect them.

The autodefensas surged in Michoacán in 2013-14 to combat the predatory Knights Templar mob, and were headed by charismatic leaders such as doctor José Mireles and farmer Hipólito Mora, who became national figures. Yet while many squads disbanded and Mireles and Mora are both dead, other groups have kept fighting and new squads have formed.

https://www.crashoutmedia.com/p/inside-mexicos-new-self-defense-squads

✒️🇺🇸🗡 John Konrad on X:

"In elite schools, they taught us the pen is mightier than the sword, and that intellect and policy shape the world.

But they missed a critical point: the pen is only mighty when it’s backed by overwhelming American strength and stability. And that foundation has crumbled.

Publications like the New York Times and The Economist still think they can sway opinion, that a well-timed hit piece will change the course of history. But they’re living in the past. The pen can’t move mountains when the foundations are shaking.

For decades, the elites believed their words would always be enough - sadly they still do - but most Americans don’t even read these publications, and those who do can’t stop the tidal shifts in global power.

The truth? The trust we once placed in our elites is fading, because that trust isn’t safe anymore. The world has changed, it is more dangerous, and the pen alone won’t save it.

Americans trust our elite until we have clear evidence that trust is no longer safe.

Today we are no longer safe.

And a dozen Economist articles aren’t going to change that.

Rebuilding the foundation of our nation is the only thing that can…. And only one candidate offers to fix that foundation of strength and stability."

https://fxtwitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1849275662118396294

🚦🇮🇷🇮🇱 Israel delays Iran retaliation after US intelligence leak

The leak revealed Israel’s well-advanced plans to respond to a salvo of nearly 200 Iranian ballistic missiles fired against it earlier this month, which was a retaliation by Tehran for Israel’s attacks on its Middle Eastern proxy groups.

https://www.thetimes.com/world/israel-hamas-war/article/israel-iran-us-intelligence-leak-hx5mcbmlr

https://archive.is/VyMvd

🇷🇺🇰🇵Russian lawmakers ratify pact with North Korea as US confirms that Pyongyang sent troops to Russia

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, voted quickly to endorse the “comprehensive strategic partnership” treaty that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed with North Korean leader King Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang in June. The upper house is expected to follow suit soon.

The pact obliges Russia and North Korea to immediately provide military assistance using “all means” if either is attacked. It marked the strongest link between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.

The U.S. said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, calling the move very serious and warning that those forces will be “fair game” if they go into combat in Ukraine.

Asked in June whether North Korean troops could fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine under the pact, Putin said there was no need for that but he also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to Pyongyang.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/24/russia-north-korea-troops-ukraine-treaty-ratification/2155cb10-91e9-11ef-b5b1-75167840d9f3_story.html

https://archive.ph/4hneS

🇺🇸🇰🇵US must weigh 'military action against' North Korean forces if invading Ukraine: House intel chair Turner

If North Korean troops invade Ukraine, America must "seriously consider" engaging in military action against them, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chair Rep. Mike Turner said in a statement issued Wednesday.

"If North Korean troops were to invade Ukraine's sovereign territory, the United States needs to seriously consider taking direct military action against the North Korean troops," the Ohio Republican asserted.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-must-weigh-military-action-against-north-korean-forces-invading-ukraine-house-intel-chair-turner

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧 The frontline of the 3rd Lebanon War as of October 21st:

The IDF is advancing slowly but surely in south Lebanon and moved past the UN Blue Line along most of its length except a few places.

The town of Rmaich, a Maronite majority town, was surrounded and occupied without bloodshed by the IDF last week after an agreement between the mayor and Israeli commanders.

The Maronites refused to give access to Hezbollah's fighters into the town and defend that section of the border. This led to the fall of Aaita El Chaab (Ayta ash Shab) a Shia village to the north-west of Rmaich, immediately across the border from Shtula.

Two other villages close to Aaita El Chaab: Ramiya and Marwahin, are contested.

Even under constant bombardment from the Israeli Air Force, Hezbollah is putting up a fierce resistance and they have managed to slow down the IDF's advance to a crawl.

@CIG_telegram

🇲🇦 — The Moroccan government has approved a historic defense budget of nearly $14 billion for 2025, the largest defense budget in the kingdom's history.

🇬🇧🇺🇸 A bombshell report, by renowned investigative reporter Matt Taibbi and former US Senate investigator Paul Thacker, could have serious political and diplomatic ramifications for the UK.

Taibbi and Thacker allege that a whistleblower has provided them with documents which show that a charity closely linked to Sir Keir Starmer's election svengali and current Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, has written plans to "kill Elon Musk's Twitter,",

"Trigger EU and UK regulatory action," and build closer links with the Biden-Harris Administration. The charity, called Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), was co-founded by Mr McSweeney, who also founded 'Labour Together', which became known as a 'party within a party' and was the driving force behind Sir Keir Starmer's successful election as Labour leader and ultimately as Prime Minister.

Indeed, Mr McSweeney recently gained even more power by winning an internal struggle against Sue Gray to become the Prime Minster's Chief of Staff--running the political side of Number 10 as Sir Keir's right hand, while controlling access, and curating advice given, to him.

Apparently, the lustre McSweeney's Labour Together gained from their election victory in July has scored a gig helping the Harris-Walz presidential ticket in the USA. Politico has reported that Mr McSweeney has personally visited the US to advise Kamala Harris's election. campaign.

Politico even reported that Ms Harris had even followed a McSweeney/Starmer line "smash the gangs" in her response to the US Southern Border issue. These close ties have recently led to controversy, when it emerged that Sofia Patel, the head of operations CCDH appears to be part of this deepening involvement of Labour and its activists in US politics on the Democrat side.

As aforementioned, CCDH was co-founded by Mr McSweeney, and he was previously a director there. Another co-founder, and current CEO, Imran Ahmed, has personally advised the UK government on "conspiracy news sites" and social media 'disinformation' and 'misinformation'.

In Britain, CCDH has engaged in campaigns to deprive of advertising and sponsorship money those media organisations and individuals that the CCDH itself accuses of spreading disinformation or harmful content. One of the most prominent examples was The Canary, a left wing, pro-Jeremy Corbyn media outlet that was part of the group aligned against Sir Keir Starmer's Labour leadership bid and the wing of the Labour Party associated with Labour Together.

CCDH's campaign against this Starmer opposition outlet forced The Canary to cut staff. The bombshell Taibbi-Thacker report alleges that CCDH started building a similar operation in the US three years ago. This operation has seen CCDH attack outlets such as ZeroHedge and The Federalist, but it appears to have been focused on Twitter/X.

Taibbi and Thacker report that CCDH appeared in the Twitter Files, and investigation that exposed collusion between various levels and organs of the US Government and Twitter to silence certain accounts.

🔗 https://fxtwitter.com/admcollingwood/status/1849007732432548273

🇺🇸🌐⚔️🌐🇷🇺 "A full-scale [European] land war in their own territory...may need to be fought without the full firepower of the US, the indispensable ally that ensured the region’s security through the Cold War and ever since."

"Yet Trump’s provocative comments reflect a current of thinking that transcends Washington’s political divide and may prevail whoever wins the US presidential election in November: that European governments should build their own powerful militaries instead of keeping defense budgets slim, safe in the knowledge that their Soviet-era mutual defense pact with America will protect them from invaders."

"Those who argue for strengthening European defense are motivated by pragmatism as well as fairness. The rise of China...with its designs on Taiwan, has US officials wargaming a scenario in which they are forced to divert weaponry from the Atlantic to East Asia."

"NATO nations have cut back on troops and military hardware since the Cold War. But Europe has cut far deeper than the US. Defense budgets have become a pot that could be raided to fund more pressing priorities, such as treating and caring for aging populations."

"As a result, much of Europe’s military has become, in the view of some US defense experts, a “Potemkin army” that is ill-prepared to wage and win a prolonged war."

"With Russia’s efforts to absorb Ukraine again revealing the limitations of its military and resulting in heavy casualties, Putin has said he would expand the country’s armed forces to 1.5 million, which would make it the second-biggest military in the world behind China."

"Without the full might of the US armed forces by their side, NATO’s European members may struggle to confront such a powerful invader — not to mention deter it in the first place.

"European governments have begun to commit more spending to defense. A lot of that money will be needed simply to rebuild and reinforce the assets they already have."

"Even if the European members collectively reached the US level of around 3.5% of GDP, their spending would still trail that of their superpower ally because Europe’s economy has been on a path of decline."

"The war in Ukraine has shown that, even in modern warfare, the ability to supply large quantities of old-fashioned guns, ammunition and other basics remains as important as it did a century ago."

"Russia was on track to produce nearly 3 million artillery shells this year — almost three times the combined output of the US and Europe."

"Some US submarines carry more Tomahawks than the entire UK Royal Navy probably has in its stocks, according to RUSI calculations."

"The bulk of NATO’s long-range cruise and ballistic missiles, which in combat would be propelled over hundreds of miles from mobile batteries and warships, are provided by the US. And Europe doesn’t have Patriot-style anti-missile systems in numbers that would constitute an effective defense against incoming projectiles."

"Currently, only the US could carry out effective suppression and destruction of modern Russian air defenses. Specialized aircraft locate the source of radar transmissions from enemy missile defense systems."

"So far, the rebuilding of Europe’s military capabilities has been piecemeal and of limited scope. Whoever might take the lead, rebuilding Europe’s defenses would require a lot of money that may not materialize"

"Some security officials say European military spending may need to rise to as much as 4% of national budgets — levels not seen since the end of the Soviet era — to ensure NATO can deal with the emerging threats."

🔗 https://archive.ph/ze9Ny