What's Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz infamous for?

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate triggered a storm of criticism from Republicans.

Sputnik delved into Walz's record to find out whether the criticism is justified.

▪️As Minnesota governor, Walz introduced strict lockdowns and mask mandates during COVID-19, but loosely treated the elderly. Almost half (45%) of Minnesota’s COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes and residential care communities.

▪️Walz is criticized for failing to prevent what is now called the largest pandemic-related fraud in the US: a whopping $250 million from a federal food program was stolen under his watch.

▪️While commanding the Minnesota National Guard 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005 he hastily quit, leaving his subordinates without leadership after learning that his unit would be sent to Iraq. Then he "embellished and selectively omitted facts" from his military career to look good, as per Minnesota National Guard veterans.

▪️He is accused of being slow to call the National Guard to stop violent Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots in 2020 which left many businesses in Minneapolis in ruins and put the lives of police officials in jeopardy.

▪️In April 2023, Walz signed a bill making Minnesota a "sanctuary" for child sex-change operations, including the provision puberty blockers, genital surgery, and hormone therapy including for minors coming from other states.

▪️In April and May 2023, he signed bills de facto making it legal to coerce women into having abortions. The laws also repeal Minnesota’s informed-consent provisions and legal protection for infants who survived abortions.

▪️As a cherry on top, on Sept. 23, 1995, the would-be governor was arrested for drunken driving in his home state of Nebraska. "A strong odor of alcoholic beverage" emitting from Walz was detected by the police.

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▪️What's the strategic importance of Toretsk and why is the Ukrainian military losing ground there?

▪️Ukraine’s botched attack on Russia’s Kursk region: here is what you need to know

▪️What's Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz infamous for?

▪️How the US expands its military presence in the Middle East

▪️Why has Ukraine started talking of peace?

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Overwhelming missile attack from Iran and allies could punch through Israel's Iron Dome

The Iranian missile attack in April pushed Israel’s air defenses to their limits, despite the fact that Iran did not use its best missiles and Israel being assisted by the US and other allies, Russian military analyst Yuri Lyamin tells Sputnik.

“A coordinated and more massive simultaneous attack from Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon can break through the Israeli air and missile defense,” says Lyamin, a senior researcher at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “I don’t think that Israel could seriously boost its capabilities in this field by now since so little time has passed [since the April attack].”

It is no coincidence, he adds, that the United States seek to bolster Israel’s missile defense capabilities by deploying additional US military assets in the region.

Regarding the capabilities of Israel’s famous Iron Dome air defense system, Lyamin notes that it, just like any air defense system in existence, “does not guarantee 100% protection.”

“On one hand, it can be overwhelmed by a massed rocket launch,” he explains. “On the other hand, drones can be hard to detect and the Israeli air defense sometimes lets some of them slip through.”

Lyamin also observes that Israel’s relatively small acreage allowed Tel Aviv to create a multi-layered air defense capable of repelling serious attacks.

“The downside of this is that various important military, government and industrial installations are located relatively close to each other, which makes them vulnerable if the air/missile defenses get overwhelmed,” he adds.

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❗️FBI and state police have raided Scott Ritter’s home in New York state, according to local media reports.

Ritter is a regular Sputnik contributor. Sputnik is attempting to contact Ritter about the incident.

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FBI confirmed to Sputnik that it is conducting activities related to a “federal investigation” at Scott Ritter’s home.

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🇮🇷⚔️🇮🇱Economic consequences if war breaks out between Iran and Israel

The recent spike in tensions between Israel and Iran can backfire on the global economy, Marc Ayoub, a Lebanese energy policy researcher, and Rodney Shakespeare, a professor of binary economics, told Sputnik.

🔺The oil market may see the increase in crude prices up to $150 per barrel, especially if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Oil tankers carry around 17 million barrels of oil each day through the Strait.

🔺Yemen’s Houthi-led government, part of Iran's Axis of Resistance, are likely to be part of this "closing" the Red sea and creating further logistics problems for global trade.

🔺The potential conflict is likely to rock the economies of regional players and beyond hitting highly indebted nations of the Global South. A Minsky moment – a sudden, major collapse of asset values – may affect huge areas of the global economy due to high levels of debt – personal, corporation, governmental.

🔺The price of gold may double.

🔺Governments are likely to resort to money-printing in order to stabilize the situation thus fanning inflation. The spike in prices and slowing demand could exacerbate matters further.

International foreign affairs experts are split on what kind of response Iran will resort to: some say that Tehran will respond asymmetrically; others insist that Iran may be forced to retaliate in order to deter Tel Aviv from further provocations.

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Russian war correspondent Evgeny Poddubny has been injured as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack on the Kursk region. He has been admitted to the Kursk regional hospital, he is alive, the hospital emergency room told Sputnik.

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‘This is a police state’ - ex-CIA officer on FBI and state police raiding Scott Ritter’s home

“I know that he was supposed to do [a] video interview with Nima Alkhorshid at 11:30 and did not show up for that interview. Tried to leave him a voice message, his phone has failed and he's not answering voice messages and so far has not responded to a text message. It's very possible that the FBI has seized his phones,“ Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official told Sputnik.

“That's outrageous, I mean, this is no longer America where your rights are protected. This is a police state,“ he emphasized, adding that for Ritter “not to show up means they took his computers, they might take his phones. Probably accusing him of being involved with espionage or some bulls**t charge.“

Earlier Wednesday, the FBI and state police raided Scott Ritter’s home in New York state, according to local media reports.

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📹 Russia's Ministry of Defense showed footage of Ka-52 helicopter strikes with S-8 missiles on Ukrainian equipment on the border with the Kursk region.

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❗️Russian war correspondent Evgeny Poddubny has regained consciousness following the Ukrainian drone attack. He is now receiving all the necessary medical treatment in one of the hospitals of Kursk, regional acting governor said.

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Many in the US establishment hate Ritter because ‘his predictions have come true’ - US State Department analyst

Scott Ritter has long been a voice of truth and balance in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, which is something that is hated by the Biden administration and many in the Republican ranks who are giving money and endless weaponry to Ukraine and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Russia, Scott Bennett, former US Army psychological warfare officer and US state department counterterrorism analyst, told Sputnik.

“I know Scott Ritter personally. I've interviewed him several times. He and I share the same viewpoints, the same philosophy in general, and we both were military officers and I can say Scott Ritter is a man of the highest integrity, the highest intellectual extraordinarily gifted in his understanding of war and the dynamics of war and the dynamics of the human element in war,“ he pointed out.

Bennett thinks all of Ritter’s predictions have come true. For that reason alone, he is drastically disliked by many in the establishment. This explains why the State Department, under the Biden administration's direction, confiscated Ritter's passport when he attempted to go to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia.

“And this, again, was the beginning of a persecution that I think is going to eventually culminate in some kind of charge against Scott Ritter for some sort of participation in Russian circles, Russian dialogue, communications, media work. But, inevitably, these charges will fail because Scott Ritter once again is a man of the highest integrity that has dedicated himself to broadcasting the truth on all levels and advancing an agenda of peace in the United States, not war,“ the analyst underscored.

Another reason for Ritter's persecution is his longstanding position exposing Israel's war crimes and crimes against humanity and its recent genocide in Gaza. He has been exceptional in his analytics of the Gaza situation, the war crimes that Israel has committed, the International Court of Justice and its activities prosecuting Israel, Bennett concluded.

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Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kursk stated that Ukrainian drones purposely bombed the Gornalsky monastery in the targeted attack on the region.

"The main Nikolaevsky temple of the monastery was severely damaged, its dome was destroyed, all doors and windows were knocked out," he said. "A follow-up massive attack destroyed and burned down the second temple with good oak iconostasis and beautiful painting."

The metropolitan noted that there are rooms prepared for the monks of the Gornalsky monastery in Kursk.

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🤔Who is Kamala calling?

US presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, made a call to her vice-presidential pick. Who answered the phone?

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Biden is ‘not confident at all’ that peaceful power transfer will happen if Trump loses

"If Trump loses, I'm not confident at all," Biden told a reporter.

The response came after the POTUS was asked if he thought a peaceful transfer of power would happen if Donald Trump lost the presidential election. Initially, Biden misspoke and said that he wouldn't be confident about a peaceful power transfer if Trump won the election - but immediately corrected himself.

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‘I am not intimidated and I will continue to speak out’ - Scott Ritter on FBI searching his home

The search warrant is related to concerns the US government has about violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, Ritter told reporters, commenting on the situation.

“I will tell you right now, I am not in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act,“ he said.

Ritter added that there is no doubt that he’s being targeted because of statements he’s made about US policy in Ukraine, as well as his effort to try and improve relations between the United Sates and Russia, to try to bring about arms control and peace.

This has a chilling impact on free speech, he underscored.

“I am not intimidated and I will continue to speak out and I will continue to do what I do, because that’s my responsibility as American citizen and I will continue to operate in that manner,“ Ritter concluded.

Earlier, the FBI and state police raided Scott Ritter’s home in New York state, according to local media reports.

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