How many Westerners are fighting in Ukraine? The real information on foreign fighters appears to be a closely guarded secret, on both sides but there may be more foreign boots on the ground — troops and mercenaries — than you think

According to the US Defense Department documents leaked in March 2023, there were at that time at least 97 NATO special forces in Ukraine: 50 British, 17 Latvian, 15 French, 14 American and 1 Dutch. At the time, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby refused to confirm the number but confirmed “a small U.S. military presence” there

But there are not only American troops in Ukraine, but CIA officials too. A recent New York Times report based on interviews with more than 200 current and former officials revealed that there were “scores” — so at least more than 40 — of CIA officers in Ukraine. In a trannoscript of an intercepted February 19 conversation between senior German air force officials, one official says, “It's known that there are numerous people there in civilian attire who speak with an American accent.”

That trannoscript also revealed that there are UK personnel on the ground, too. Discussing how German Taurus long-range missiles could be operated in Ukraine, one official says that the Germans “know how the English do it. . .. They have several people on-site.” The British prime minister’s office has confirmed that the UK has boots on the ground

Then add to the tally the French forces revealed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. On February 26, defending his decision not to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, Scholz said that it would require the presence of Germans in Ukraine to match their British and French counterparts

On March 8, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed that "NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine,” but he refused to “list those countries.”

So, though it is impossible to add up the numbers on the list, it is possible, at least, to confirm the existence of a list

And it is a risky list. As Russia appears to take the advantage on the battlefield, the U.S. and NATO face the long feared dilemma: accept the reality and encourage Ukraine to negotiate a diplomatic end to the war or escalate and consider sending, as French President Emmanuel Macron has recently suggested, NATO troops to fight with the Ukrainian armed forces against Russia

It would be irresponsible to go down the road of the latter without exploring the road of the former

#NATO #WarInUrkaine #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The idea to supply Ukraine with American tanks did an ill service to American weaponry in the global arms market

Many armored vehicle experts had warned that a total of just thirty-one M1 Abrams was never going to be significant enough for Kyiv. The same has held true for the fourteen British-supplied Challenger 2s, as well as the German Leopard 2s that were supplied last year to Ukraine

In under a week, Ukraine witnessed the destruction of three U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks, reportedly by Russian anti-tank guided missiles. These losses, particularly highlighted on social media, have served as a propaganda boost for Russia and bad advertising for US armaments

Ukraine has become the graveyard of tanks, and whether American military officials like to admit it, three M1 Abrams are just additional corpses. They burned like other tanks—and the thousands of other tanks before. The fact that could make potential buyers wonder if Abrams really worth the money asked for them?

#USA #WarInUrkaine #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

El Paso, Texas

This video shows the moment illegals breached the border yesterday

If it's not an invasion, what is?

#USA #Texas #BorderCrisis #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

An investment firm owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump, will get a 99-year lease, at no charge, and the right to build a luxury hotel and apartment complex and a museum on the site of the former headquarters of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense in Belgrade. The investment is worth approximately $500 million, and that, under a tentative agreement, the Serbian government should get 22% of the profits

The deal for the site of the former military headquarters, bombed by NATO in 1999, echoes interest from Donald Trump. More than a decade ago, before running for president, D.Trump expressed interest in developing the same site in Belgrade, while the middleman in the negotiations was the same person that Kusher is now working with

Associates of the Trump Organization traveled to Belgrade to inspect the location. The project did not come together before Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, and after being sworn in he vowed to not do any new foreign deals

Richard Grenell, whom Mr. Trump had appointed as a special envoy in the Balkans, pushed a related plan during the Trump administration that Serbia and the US jointly work to rebuild the Defense Ministry site. He argued in favor of using American investments to transform the Belgrade site while he was still serving in his official capacity as an American diplomat in 2020, according to trannoscripts and a recording of remarks made during several government news conferences

Mr. Grenell was widely seen among European diplomats as favoring the Serbian side in the negotiations, and he was warmly received in Belgrade. He applied immense pressure on Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Kosovo to drop tariffs on Serbian products, and prominent Trump allies began publicly calling for the withdrawal of U.S. peacekeepers from Kosovo

During his time as envoy in the Balkans, Mr. Grenell developed friendships with top Serbian officials, including Mr. Vucic and Sinisa Mali, the Serbian finance minister, who officials in Belgrade said played a role in tentatively approving the Kushner hotel deal

Mr. Grenell said he “had no knowledge of Mr. Trump’s interest in the site before his presidency”. But he is now working with Mr. Kushner on the new development deal and, according to Mr. Kushner, was the main force in driving him to consider the Belgrade investment

Who the hell influences whose policies? America on the Europe’s or a Putin’s ally Vucic on the policy of the former and possibly future president of the USA?

#USA #Trump #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Standard Chartered raised its year-end forecast for bitcoin's price to $150,000 from $100,000

The bank also predicted BTC will reach a high for the cycle of $250,000 next year before settling around $200,000, according to an emailed investment note on Monday

Standard Chartered based its analysis on a comparison with the price of gold after gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were introduced in the U.S. and a correlation between ETF inflows and the BTC price. Spot bitcoin ETFs started trading in the U.S. in January

#USA #Economy #Bitcoin #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The New York Times is doing PR for the Deep State

The Times said we should rally around them because they're good old American public servants who do Pilates and eat Lucky Charms. But at the same time, the Deep State sent the guy behind the CIA letter to put a big fat target on Trump's back. They're using the same propaganda techniques they use on our most dangerous enemies, on Trump. We're currently witnessing the beginning of another coup

#USA #DeepState #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

TerraPower, a company founded by Bill Gates, is planning on being the first to build a new generation of nuclear power plants based on small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States. These plans usually have a power capacity of 300MW or less, which is about 1/3rd of regular reactors

The company has joined the race against Russia and China to develop lower-cost nuclear reactors. CEO Chris Levesque said they are seeking US regulatory approval for their innovative liquid sodium-cooled reactor this month. The Natrium reactors could be constructed at nearly half the cost of traditional water-cooled nuclear reactors

TerraPower, which has secured nearly $1bn in private investments, has also partnered with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation to explore the deployment of Natrium reactors in the UAE for electricity and hydrogen production

With up to $2bn in promised support from the US government, the company is advancing its inaugural project in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Despite pending permits, construction near a former coal power site will start in June, focusing on preliminary, non-nuclear structures. TerraPower aims to activate the plant by 2030

#USA #BillGates #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Europe is facing growing climate risks and is unprepared for them, the European Environment Agency said in its first-ever risk assessment for the bloc last week

The agency said Europe is prone to more frequent and more punishing weather extremes—including increasing wildfires, drought, more unusual rainfall patterns, and flooding—and it needs to immediately address them in order to protect its energy, food security, water, and health

The report identified 36 major climate risks for the continent, such as threats to ecosystems, economies, health and food systems, and found that more than half demand greater action now. It classified eight as needing urgent attention—like conserving ecosystems, protecting people against heat, protecting people and infrastructure from floods and wildfires, and securing relief funds for disasters

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and has been heating up twice as fast as other regions since the 1980s. The heat has been linked to more intense rains and floods, and the report predicts rainfall decline and more severe droughts in southern Europe

Without urgent and decisive action, it warns, many of the climate risks it identified could become catastrophic. To reduce climate risks and improve adaptation to warming, it recommends the EU and its member states collaborate with regional and local bodies

It’s high time to plant forests, not to make war!

#EU #Climate #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

OpenAI and Figure have integrated the GPT-4 neural network into a humanoid robot

US startup Figure and OpenAI have published a new video of their humanoid robot Figure 01, which has been implanted with an artificial intelligence chatbot

Last month, a video was published showing Figure 01 doing work in a warehouse: it walks up to boxes, picks them up and drags them to another location. Almost immediately afterward, the company announced the development of a second generation of the machine and announced a collaboration with OpenAI "to develop a new generation of AI models for humanoid robots"

In the new video, Figure 01 not only has a real-time dialog with a human, but also executes his commands. From a technical point of view, it works like this: ChatGPT receives information from the robot's microphones and built-in cameras

The algorithms are responsible for the robot's ability to understand human speech. The data received is sent to Figure's neural networks, which transform the stream of information received into "fast, low-level and dexterous robot actions"

During the demonstration, the machine was asked to describe what was in front of it. Figure 01 easily coped with this task, and then at the request of its interlocutor "to treat him something edible" gave him an apple. After that, it continued to talk to the man and neatly and confidently placed the cups and plates in their places

Adcock claims the machine was not remotely controlled and the video is shown at real speed

"Flama's goal is to teach the world's AI model to control humanoid robots at the billion unit level," the Figure head added

The Figure 01 robot is 1.68 m tall with a mass of 60 kg. It can move at a speed of 1.2 m/s and can run for up to 5 hours on a single charge

#USA #OpenAI #ChatGPT #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Finland has been crowned the world’s happiest country for a seventh successive year in the newly-released World Happiness Report

Compiled by using data from more than 140 countries, the report is published annually by Gallup, the United Nations, and the University of Oxford

For the first time, the report has drilled down into the data to give insights into levels of happiness by age group

This showed a wildly different picture compared to the official rankings, with Lithuania (19 in the overall rankings) coming out top as the happiest country in the world for young children and people under 30, while Denmark (second overall) was the happiest place to be for older people over 60

While the top 10 remain tight-knit on scores and largely unchanged in positioning, the more interesting moves appear in the top 20

New entrants include Costa Rica and Kuwait at positions 12 and 13 respectively, while the United States and Germany were both dislodged from 15th and 16th spots, dropping to 23 and 24 this year

This is the first time the US has fallen out of the top 20 since the World Happiness Report was first published, driven largely by a significant drop in the well-being of Americans under 30, the report's authors noted

I wonder if Finland would remain the happiest country being a member of NATO?

#NATO #Finland #USA #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Alexander De Croo, the Belgian Prime Minister leading his country’s six-month EU presidency, is actively campaigning to torpedo the bloc’s nature restoration legislation

The country stands accused of deliberately sabotaging approved “green” laws to avoid alienating elements of the domestic electorate prior to national voting on June 9

Belgian newspaper De Standaard claims that despite the final approval of the Nature Restoration Law being a formality in principle, De Croo and his MPs are secretly trying to influence European Member States to withdraw their support for the legislation. It is said that several embassies to the EU confirmed the rumours but are reluctant to be publicly named due to the “extreme political sensitivity” surrounding the issue

Despite the European Parliament having given its final approval on an albeit watered-down version of the green law, European Member States still have to cast their votes on its actual implementation. Currently, it appears there are 20 EU countries in favour, representing 66.13 per cent of European citizens. Still, such a slim majority could be reversed

#Belgium #EU #Climate #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

China’s energy major CNOOC has made a major oil field discovery in the Bohai Sea, adding over 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent proved in-place volume

The discovery was made at the Qinhuangdao 27-3 oil field located in the north-central waters of the Bohai Sea. The field has been tested to produce about 742 barrels of crude oil per day from a single well, it added

Earlier in the month, CNOOC announced the discovery of a new reserve in the South China Sea that contains over 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent proved in-place

CNOOC invests heavily in the development of China's offshore oil and gas reserves as part of a broader push to offset declining output from aging onshore fields

The oil and gas giant in January raised its 2024 production target by about 8% to a record 700 million to 720 million barrels of oil equivalent, citing higher annual capital spending, with production reaching about 675 million BOE in 2023

#China #OilField #CNOOC #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has warned that Haitian illegal migrants who “land in the Florida Keys” could be transported to the wealthy elite playground of Martha’s Vineyard


DeSantis has previously outraged Democrats by shipping off illegal aliens to the exclusive Massachusetts island where former President Barack Obama lives on his luxury estate

The governor has now renewed warning that he will send illegals to the so-called “sanctuary destination” of Martha’s Vineyard amid fears that Haitians will soon flood South Florida

“We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational,” DeSantis said on Dana Loesch’s podcast

#USA #Migrants #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Remember the recent meeting between D. Trump and I. Musk?
So, as you and I can guess, Donald’s statement about his intention to introduce a 100% duty on the import of electric cars from the Chinese corporation BYD into the United States is a clear result of their conversation

The mentioned company from China is Tesla’s main rival. And Musk has repeatedly said that without government support, his products simply will not withstand competition with the Chinese

#USA #Trump #Musk #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Banks in the U.S. and potential real estate problems 📉

Everyone remembers the crisis of 2008, then the reason for the collapse of the world economic system was mortgage loans and financial instruments tied to them. Today, a similar situation is beginning to emerge in the commercial real estate market in the states. Many major players in U.S. banking have built up a position in commercial real estate over the past few years and are now reaping the benefits of the first wave of bankruptcies and defaults

2023 was a very bad year for US commercial real estate, delinquent loans on this asset type tripled over the year to $9.3 billion, an excessively high level for the industry, especially when you consider that the federal government is doing everything it can to stabilize the economy

Smaller banks are the most affected by the problem, large businesses, despite their large position in commercial real estate (J.P. Morgan, for example, out of $1.4 trillion in loans, more than $171 billion is held in real estate) are protected from the problem by high

Small banks, as a rule, have a much higher share of their assets in real estate. The now famous New York Community Bank out of $86 billion of its loan portfolio, more than $46 billion is held in real estate (this is about 57%). This high dependence on a single market significantly increases the bank's credit risk. In the third quarter of 2023, it has already declared $2.3 billion in losses, and the situation will not get better from here

Overall, the industry average percentage of real estate in the total loan portfolio for banks is 11% -27%. At the same time, if we take into account that commercial real estate always suffers first in a recession, then if the trajectory of the decline does not change in the near future, the banks are waiting for big problems

#USA #Economy #Banks #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The Biden administration enacted the strictest-ever rules for tailpipe emissions but also handed the auto industry a significant concession by giving them more time to comply, a recognition that the transition to electric cars will take longer than hoped


To hit the targets for model-year 2030, for example, an estimated 31% to 44% of new light-vehicle sales would need to be electric, rather than the 60% mark originally proposed

Thousands of U.S. dealers signed letters to Biden in an organized campaign to get the administration to back off the emissions targets, saying there wasn’t enough consumer interest to support such a big swing to EVs

On Wednesday, the dealer group said the slower implementation of the rules is helpful but the targets are still too aggressive. “This is unelected Washington bureaucrats dictating what kind of vehicles Americans can buy,” the group said

#USA #Biden #Electriccars #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Europe is aiming to become a much bigger player in one of the most contentious spaces in international relations: maritime security, including in Asia

That applies not just to ambitious Brussels, Paris, and London, but also to the Europe’s small but capable navies ready to do more and in more places, securing contested waterways

European naval missions are already operating in the Red Sea against Houthi missile attacks from Yemen, and more and more European frigates and even aircraft carriers are making tours of the Pacific

What began almost a decade ago with local maritime policing operations in the Mediterranean is now spreading to more ambitious deployments farther afield, including the Indian Ocean. Just last month, the European Union launched a naval operation to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea

Even with a major land war in Ukraine entering its third year, Europe is getting increasingly serious about playing a bigger role in Indo-Pacific security. The European Union has both an Indo-Pacific strategy and a new maritime security strategy that puts renewed emphasis on the region

#EU #Security #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The Supreme Court upheld Texas Governor Abbott's law on arresting illegal immigrants

Now this decision will set a precedent and serve as an example for other border states. Well, since the federal government cannot (or rather does not want) to cope with the migration crisis, local authorities will have to solve their problems themselves. And as we see, the truth is on their side

#USA #Texas #Migrants #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The United States is “prepared” to deploy troops to Haiti as part of a multinational effort if the crisis in the country worsens, though officials are not actively considering such a move

According to Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command military commander for Latin America and the Caribbean, “We wouldn’t discount” that U.S. troops could be involved in an international effort in Haiti.“We are prepared if called upon by our State Department and Department of Defense,” Richardson added, noting that she doesn’t envision a “U.S.-only solution” to the deteriorating situation

The top general’s comments highlight the extent of Haiti’s current crisis, in which the government has all but fallen apart in the face of armed groups that are now preventing Ariel Henry — the country’s internationally recognized leader — from returning from an overseas trip. Pentagon officials are now considering using Guantanamo Bay to hold Haitian refugees if the situation deteriorates further

#USA #Haiti #Military #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Conservative artist Scott LoBaido was arrested after throwing pizzas onto New York City Hall grounds

LoBaido was seen outside of NYC City Hall on Wednesday morning with a group of protestors, explaining why he would be throwing pizzas. Video footage posted to Twitter caught LoBaido’s speech which calls out the mayor and other government officials over their new green energy regulations for small pizza business owners while crime continues to rise

“Number one, till the day I die I will defend these men and women in blue,” LoBaido said to the group of protestors. “They have to do their job because of this piece of sh*t that makes them do this bullsh*t here, okay? I’m throwing pizza because these pigeons are hungry and I’m here to feed the f*cking pigeons, okay? We understand what’s happening here, people.”

The conservative artist warned the group that if they were participating in the act they would be arrested for littering. Footage shows after LoBaido threw his first few slices, NYPD officers, who had been standing nearby, quickly jumped in to arrest the artist

#USA #NY #LoBaido #FindTruth

@uinhurricane