/qnotables21/ - ===Q Notables 2021===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220805 (290829ZJUL21) Notable: Foreign soldiers killed ‘innocent’ Afghans, Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial told, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_outside_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_on_Thursday.jpg, A_picture_of_the_village_of_Darwan_where_Afghan_witnesses_have_given_evidence_about_the_actions_of_Ben_Roberts_Smith.jpg

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>>128214

Foreign soldiers killed ‘innocent’ Afghans, Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial told

Michaela Whitbourn - July 29, 2021

An Afghan villager has told the defamation trial of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith that he hated foreign soldiers and regarded them as responsible for killing innocent people, but he did not support the aims of the Taliban.

Darwan farmer Man Gul has told the Federal Court he was detained for questioning by foreign soldiers with two other men, Ali Jan and Mr Jan’s step-nephew, Mohammed Hanifa. The court has heard that a man matching Mr Jan’s description was killed by Australian troops, but the circumstances in which he died are contested.

Under questioning by Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Bruce McClintock, SC, on Thursday, Mr Gul agreed through a translator that he believed foreign soldiers had been cruel to him repeatedly during raids on his village.

“Yes, it is like that,” Mr Gul replied. “Yes, they killed innocent people and martyred them all.”

“You hate them, don’t you, foreign soldiers?” Mr McClintock said.

“Yes, it is like that,” Mr Gul said.

But Mr Gul said he did not agree with the aims of the Taliban, and both the Taliban and foreign forces had perpetrated injustices against the Afghan people.

Mr Gul agreed he regarded foreign soldiers as infidels but rejected a suggestion by Mr McClintock that in his religion it was “permissible to lie” in some circumstances to infidels.

Both Mr Gul and his fellow villager Mr Hanifa have said a “big soldier” was among the troops who detained them for questioning. Mr Hanifa has also given evidence that the man had “blue eyes, like, kind of brownish” and this uniform was wet and sandy to about his chest.

The court has heard evidence that the two-metre-tall Mr Roberts-Smith waded into the Helmand River on the same day in pursuit of a Taliban insurgent called Hekmatullah. Both Afghan witnesses have said they cannot read or write but the events in question occurred about eight years ago.

Speaking via video link from Kabul with the assistance of a translator in Canada, Mr Gul was asked on Thursday if Mr Jan had been carrying a radio with him on the day of his death, which is pictured near his body in photographs tendered in court.

“No, no, he doesn’t even know how to work out a watch,” Mr Gul said.

Nicholas Owens, SC, the barrister acting for the newspapers, asked Mr Roberts-Smith last month if he had heard “rumours of patrols in the SAS using throwdowns”, the alleged practice of planting weapons or objects such as radios on a body to justify a killing. “No,” Mr Roberts-Smith replied.

He said he had become aware of the term “throwdowns” in the context of them allegedly “being used by other nations”.

Mr Gul said Mr Hanifa and Mr Jan were taken away from him during the questioning and he did not see the “big soldier” again, but Mr Hanifa had subsequently told him that “they kicked [Mr Jan] ... and he went down into the river and they dragged him towards the trees”.

Mr Hanifa gave evidence it was the “big soldier” who kicked Mr Jan off a cliff into a dry river bed before he heard shots being fired.

“We didn’t see the person who killed him,” Mr Gul said.

Mr Hanifa has insisted Mr Jan had cattle and sold wood, and was not a Taliban fighter.

Mr Roberts-Smith has denied kicking anyone off a cliff, and has given evidence that he believed a man matching Mr Jan’s description was a “spotter” for the Taliban insurgency hiding in a cornfield.

He said another soldier, known as Person 11, fired the first shots before he fired from behind his comrade.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for defamation over a series of reports in 2018 alleging he was involved in unlawful killings during missions in Afghanistan.

The former Special Air Service soldier has denied all wrongdoing and insists he only killed suspected Taliban insurgents during the heat of battle. The news publications are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and are calling four Afghan witnesses to give evidence.

The hearing continues.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/foreign-soldiers-killed-innocent-afghans-ben-roberts-smith-defamation-trial-told-20210729-p58dz5.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220833 (290848ZJUL21) Notable: Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw says AFP has ‘another ingenious plan’ to further dismantle organised crime networks after pulling off Operation Ironside sting, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Commissioner_Reece_Kershaw_praised_the_staggering_breadth_of_crime_addressed_by_Operation_Ironside.jpg, Operation_Ironside_has_resulted_in_the_arrest_of_289_offenders_both_in_Australia_and_overseas.jpg, The_majority_of_Operation_Ironside_s_arrests_have_been_related_to_drug_crimes_with_almost_five_tonnes_of_drugs_seized.jpg

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Commissioner says AFP has ‘ingenious’ new plan to trap criminals after Operation Ironside

The AFP has ‘another ingenious plan’ to further dismantle organised crime networks after pulling off the Operation Ironside sting.

Helena Burke - July 29, 2021

1/2

Australia’s most powerful cop says the Australian Federal Police has “another ingenious plan” to further dismantle organised crime networks after pulling off the high-profile Operation Ironside sting.

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw issued the grave threat to those involved in criminal networks at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

“I will provide another warning to organised criminals, outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug traffickers, money launderers and those that believe they will get away with their crimes,” Commissioner Kershaw said.

“The AFP has another ingenious plan. In fact, it was well under way before we revealed Operation Ironside.

“We won‘t tell you what it is. The only thing I will tell you’ll is that we are coming – again.”

Operation Ironside was largest organised crime operation ever untaken in the southern hemisphere, resulting in the arrest of 289 alleged offenders both in Australia and overseas.

Commissioner Kershaw said the majority of charges were related to drug crimes, with almost five tonnes of drugs, $49 million in cash and 138 firearms, explosives and other weapons seized.

At his National Press Club address last year, the commissioner made similar threats to those involved in organised crime.

“I said the AFP will be relentless, we will outsmart you and we will always be a step ahead. I declared the full force of the AFP is coming for you,” he said.

“When I made those remarks, the AFP, together with the FBI, was covertly undertaking what has been referred to in Australia as the sting of the century.”

Back then, Commission Kershaw said he knew Operation Ironside would be significant, but noted the true breadth and scale of drug trafficking and other criminality uncovered by the operation had been “staggering”.

To achieve the 289 arrests under Operation Ironside, the AFP used an encrypted messaging service – AN0M – to monitor the communication of organised crime rings.

Although AN0M was developed by the FBI, Commissioner Kershaw said it was the AFP that made the breakthrough.

“For years, a small team within the AFP and FB, had planned law enforcement’s holy grail: seeing what criminals were planning over encrypted communications in real-time,” Commissioner Kershaw said.

“Those AFP members were the ones who provided the ingenuity to read encrypted messages in real-time. That breakthrough with the platform secretly run by the FBI has been devastatingly effective.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220859 (290856ZJUL21) Notable: Australian Bar Association calls for Attorney-General Michaelia Cash to reconsider controversial prosecution of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Australian_Bar_Association_has_called_for_the_prosecution_of_Bernard_Collaery_to_be_reviewed.jpg

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>>128238

New call to review Collaery prosecution

Australian Associated Press - JULY 29 2021

The Australian Bar Association has joined calls for Attorney-General Michaelia Cash to reconsider the controversial prosecution of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery.

Collaery, 75, is fighting allegations he unlawfully shared classified information about a 2004 Australian spy operation that bugged the office of East Timor's prime minister during negotiations over oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

He was charged in 2018 with breaching the Intelligence Services Act and a directions hearing for his case on Thursday in the ACT Supreme Court was vacated.

An ABA council meeting this week unanimously expressed concerns about the delays in the prosecution and secret nature of proceedings.

"This matter raises two, fundamental rule of law questions as to the fair and open administration of justice - the length of time it has taken to prosecute the matter, and the suppression of evidence," ABA president Matthew Howard SC said in a statement.

"For the public to have confidence in the administration of justice, it is vital that prosecutions proceed in a timely manner, and that the workings of the courts be open to public scrutiny to the maximum extent possible."

The ABA's call for the attorney-general to review the prosecution follows one made by the ACT Bar Association in April when it said the government had spent $3 million pursuing Collaery.

The prosecution stems from his representation of Witness K, an Australian intelligence agent who blew the whistle on the bugging operation.

He was handed a three-month suspended prison sentence in June after pleading guilty to conspiring to reveal classified information.

Others who have criticised Collaery's prosecution include former East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta, former Victorian premier Steve Bracks and independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie.

Collaery, a former ACT deputy chief minister, was awarded the Australian Lawyers Alliance's 2018 Civil Justice Award for his advocacy for Timor-Leste.

https://www.westernmagazine.com.au/story/7363066/new-call-to-review-collaery-prosecution/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220869 (290903ZJUL21) Notable: China Discovers the Limits of Its Power: Beijing’s confrontation with Australia should have been an unequal contest - That’s not how it worked out in practice, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_Discovers_the_Limits_of_Its_Power.jpg

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China Discovers the Limits of Its Power

Beijing’s confrontation with Australia should have been an unequal contest. That’s not how it worked out in practice.

Michael Schuman - JULY 28, 2021

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“Chewing gum stuck on the sole of China’s shoes.” That’s how Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese Communist Party–run Global Times, described Australia last year. The disparaging description is typical of the disdain that China’s diplomats and propagandists have often shown toward governments that challenge Beijing—like Australia’s.

China is now the great power of Asia—or so Beijing believes—but those pesky Australians, mouthing off about human rights and coronavirus investigations, refuse to bend the knee. Beijing has turned to economic pressure to compel Australia to fall in line. “Sometimes you have to find a stone to rub it off,” Hu wrote, of the gum and of Australia. But the Australians have proved impossible to shake, and have instead caused some embarrassment for their image-obsessed tormentor.

The ongoing dispute between Australia and China may seem merely a bilateral affair, fought out in a remote corner of the planet. But it matters around the world.

Australia is a crucial American ally in Asia, so China’s actions toward the country inevitably affect both Washington’s policy and its standing in the region. Australia is representative of many countries: a midsize nation whose economic relationship with Beijing is vital for growth and jobs but, simultaneously, whose politicians and citizens are becoming more concerned about China’s repressive tactics at home and aggression abroad.

The deteriorating relationship between the two countries thus reveals a lot about how China’s leaders can and can’t employ their growing diplomatic and economic power, as well as the options, consequences, and costs for countries, such as Australia, that seek to stand up to Beijing.

Australia “really is a bit of a canary in the coal mine,” Jeffrey Wilson, the research director at the Perth USAsia Centre, a foreign-policy think tank, told me. “You should care about what is happening here, because it’s got lessons for everyone.”

The most important lesson is also the most unexpected. On paper, the outcome of a China-Australia showdown looks like a foregone conclusion. China, a rising power with 1.4 billion people and a $14.7 trillion economy, should trample a country of 26 million with an economy less than one-tenth the size. But in a world wrapped in interdependent supply chains and complex political connections, smaller countries can wield a surprising armory of weapons. The U.S.-led global order, still held together by common interests, long-standing relationships, cold strategic calculation, and deeply felt ideals, isn’t ready to crumble before the march of Chinese authoritarianism either. The story instead offers a more intriguing twist: a China that badly wants to change the world but can’t even change an uppity neighbor.

Chinese leaders “are trying to make an example of us,” Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister, told me. “It is completely counterproductive … It is not creating greater compliance or affection.” Quite the opposite, he said: “It is confirming all the criticisms that people make about China.”

That should lift spirits in Washington. Australia is a key pillar of the network of alliances that upholds American dominance in Asia and the Pacific. If anything, Washington’s ties to Canberra are becoming even more important. Australia and the U.S. are members of the “Quad,” a loose grouping with Japan and India that largely seeks to contain China. What happens to Australia, therefore, has tremendous consequences for U.S. power in the Pacific.

“China can’t bash up on the U.S., but it can bash up on its allies,” Richard McGregor, a former Beijing bureau chief at the Financial Times who’s now a senior fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, told me. “If China can break Australia, then that’s a step to breaking U.S. power in Asia, and U.S. credibility globally.”

Australia’s importance hasn’t gone unnoticed in the White House. President Joe Biden’s top diplomats have been loud and clear in their support for Australia. His Asia-policy czar, Kurt Campbell, said in March that the administration told Chinese authorities, “The U.S. is not prepared to improve relations in a bilateral and separate context at the same time that a close and dear ally is being subjected to a form of economic coercion.” The U.S., he added, is “not going to leave Australia alone on the field.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220897 (290915ZJUL21) Notable: ADF, U.S. and Japanese joint amphibious assault - Talisman Sabre 2021 - Department of Defence Australia

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>>128304

>>128438

ADF, U.S. and Japanese joint amphibious assault - Talisman Sabre 2021

Department of Defence Australia

Jul 29, 2021

Exercise Sea Raider is an Australian Amphibious Force assault exercise in Queensland, as part of the greater Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21).

After the earlier successful Sea Raider assault on Bowen, Australian, U.S. and Japanese soldiers boarded HMAS Canberra and HMAS Choules via landing craft to prepare for the next planned in-scenario amphibious invasion - Ingham, Queensland.

Held every two years, TS21 is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States, aimed to test Australian interoperability with the United States and other participating forces in complex warfighting scenarios. In addition to the United States, TS21 involves participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4taZmLLnoMA

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14220962 (291019ZJUL21) Notable: Video: TikTok: Data mining, discrimination and dangerous content on the wildly popular app - Four Corners / ABC News In-depth

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TikTok: Data mining, discrimination and dangerous content on the wildly popular app | Four Corners

ABC News In-depth

Jul 28, 2021

TikTok is a phenomenally successful social media platform with more than a billion users scrolling through its endless feeds.

But there is a dark side to the world’s most popular app and a major investigation has uncovered disturbing evidence about how the app operates.

A joint investigation by Four Corners and triple j youth current affairs radio show Hack shows how dangerous content is being served up to unwitting users with sometimes devastating consequences.

Some users accuse TikTok of operating an inherently racist feed that has seen people of colour and disability, effectively muted and marginalised for failing to meet the app’s view of perfection.

Central to the app’s success is data mining, which enables TikTok to harvest vast amounts of information, including facial recognition, to know anything and everything about its users.

Owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, security analysts warn that countries need to take the national security implications of data mining far more seriously and recognise what is going on behind the fun videos.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-26/tiktok-algorithm-dangerous-eating-disorder-content-censorship/100277134

TikTok's full statement to Four Corners can be found here:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21016477-tiktok-statement-to-4-corners

#TikTok #FourCorners #documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwu5C8JWO_k

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228354 (300630ZJUL21) Notable: Paratroopers in the skies over Queensland - Flight Lieutenant Chloe Stevenson - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Alaskan_based_United_States_Army_paratroopers_about_to_jump_from_a_Royal_Australian_Air_Force_C_17A_Globemaster_III_aircraft.jpg

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>>128450

Paratroopers in the skies over Queensland

Flight Lieutenant Chloe Stevenson - 28 July 2021

The massive cargo hold of the Aussie C-17A Globemaster III is surprisingly silent.

Alaskan-based US Army soldiers rest their helmet-clad heads on their folded arms and parachutes, falling immediately asleep.

A few simply stare forward, patiently waiting to fall hundreds of feet in only a short two hours’ time.

The mood is sombre, quiet, peaceful and completely at odds with what is about to take place over Charters Towers, Queensland.

When asked what goes through his mind before he conducts a jump, Specialist Diaz, one of the US Army paratroopers sitting quietly while his team sleeps, says it is his family.

"I think about my wife,” Specialist Diaz says over the drone of the aircraft engines.

“To calm my nerves and prepare for the operation mentally.”

This is all part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 21 (TS21), the biggest bilateral exercise that the US and Australia have conducted every two years since 2005.

In previous iterations of the exercise, the United States paratroopers flew 18 hours from Alaska before dropping out of the aircraft and running straight into the exercise.

However, this year, more than 100 US Army personnel have flown from RAAF Base Darwin on two C-17A aircraft, after having completed their 14-day COVID quarantine, to drop into Queensland and run straight into the exercise.

Back in the aircraft, two short hours after take-off, the energy has changed completely.

The C-17A is flying low, heading fast towards the drop-zone. Turbulence shakes the cargo hold where all paratroopers are now standing, attached to a line running the length of the aircraft, going through their checks.

“Six minutes out,” bellows the jumpmaster. “Hook up, check static lines!”

As the minutes tick down, the paratroopers pat each other down, chanting their drills.

As the seconds dwindle, the Australian loadmaster raises his fingers in the air, his voice muffled over the loud roar of the open side door. Over the radio, the pilots begin to countdown.

“Four…three…two…one…green-light, go!”

Rushing out the side door, they step outside into the open Queensland sky, their heavy field packs attached to their fronts, parachutes billowing out the back one after the other.

From the ground, a line of parachutes descends across the horizon, slowly trailing the C-17A.

Over the headset, the pilot once again counts down the seconds until the drop zone disappears from view.

“Five more seconds,” his voice crackles across the static. “…Four, three, two, one…red light!

The loadmaster slams the side doors closed, as more than 100 United States paratroopers disappear into the exercise below. Another Exercise Talisman Sabre training serial complete.

The TS21 action continues:

witter - https://twitter.com/TalismanSabre

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/talismansabre/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talismansabre/?hl=en

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 - https://www1.defence.gov.au/exercises/talisman-sabre-21

https://news.defence.gov.au/capability/paratroopers-skies-over-queensland

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228626 (300800ZJUL21) Notable: Striking in a new way: Multi-domain strike - Synchronisation of traditional operating domains of Maritime, Land and Air with newer domains of Space and Information/Cyberspace - Petty Officer Jake Badior - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Gunner_Nathan_Wood_of_the_16th_Regiment_Royal_Australian_Artillery_observes_a_target_during_the_RBS_70_man_portable_air_defence_missile_system_training_serial_at_the_Shoalwater_Bay_Training_Area.jpg

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>>128453

Striking in a new way

Petty Officer Jake Badior - 22 July 2021

It’s the ADF’s newest joint warfighting concept and it’s on show at this year’s Exercise Talisman Sabre (TS21) in a big way.

Multi-domain strike is the synchronisation of effects in the traditional operating domains of maritime, land and air, with the newer domains of space and information/cyberspace.

It’s a potent way of operating for the ADF and an important aspect of training with partner forces, according to Colonel Effects Deployable Joint Force Headquarters Colonel Corey Shillabeer.

“When faced with a potential adversary, multi-domain strike means we can create multiple dilemmas in all domains, either simultaneously or sequentially, as required,” Colonel Shillabeer said.

“If there is a need to destroy a high-value target, first we might aim to dislocate so adversary forces cannot respond to our actions.

“We may do this by disrupting their communication systems while utilising kinetic means to destroy other aspects of the adversary force.

“Australia has always performed well as a joint warfighting force – however, rarely will we operate alone. Interoperability with our partners is important.”

Commanding Officer Task Force Fires United States Marine Corps (USMC) Lieutenant Colonel Roe Lemons said TS21 was a fantastic way to integrate US and Australian forces and further strengthen the alliance.

“With our strong partnership and alliance, we are able to seamlessly integrate our common tactics, techniques and procedures, our equipment and cross-train on the same systems,” Lieutenant Colonel Lemons said.

“A lot of our forces, myself included, have fought alongside Australian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – it’s one of the strongest allies we have and we’re just making it stronger.”

The live-fire exercise involved naval gunfire from HMA Ships Ballarat and Parramatta, USS Rafael Peralta and Japanese Ship Makinami.

There was no shortage of air support from RAAF F/A-18A Hornets, USMC F-35B Lightning II, Army’s Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters, USMC AH-1Z Viper and UH-1 Hueys, as well as aerial surveillance provided by the Shadow unmanned aerial system.

The land-based strike elements included the Australian Army’s RBS 70 man-portable air defence system, combined Australian Army and USMC M777 self-propelled Howitzer batteries, US Patriot surface-to-air missiles and the US Army’s and USMC’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

Behind the scenes, the information, cyber and space effects complemented the kinetic actions.

“First, we need the ability to find, fix, track and then target the adversary using intelligence and sensors before engaging any threat to friendly forces,” Colonel Shillabeer said.

“If we can continue to rehearse and practice our interoperability between forces and across domains, we are likely to maintain an advantage against any potential adversary.”

The interoperability, intelligence sharing, and technological cooperation between Australia, the United States and other international partners is critical to Australia’s national security.

Get the latest Exercise Talisman Sabre action here:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/TalismanSabre

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/talismansabre/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talismansabre/?hl=en

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 - https://www1.defence.gov.au/exercises/talisman-sabre-21

https://news.defence.gov.au/capability/striking-new-way

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228831 (300908ZJUL21) Notable: Covid case linked to Sydney’s anti-lockdown protest investigated for breaching self-isolation rules, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: NSW_police_commissioner_Mick_Fuller_says_overseas_groups_absolutely_played_a_role_in_organising_Sydney_s_Covid_anti_lockdown_protests_last_Saturday.jpg

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>>128418

Covid case linked to Sydney’s anti-lockdown protest investigated for breaching self-isolation rules

NSW police say a 35-year-old man fined ahead of last Saturday’s rally was not at his residence and found at another household in western Sydney

Michael McGowan - 30 Jul 2021

A man who was fined by New South Wales police in the lead-up to last Saturday’s protest later tested positive for Covid-19 and was found to be not isolating at his western Sydney home.

As the NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller warned people not to attend another anti-lockdown protest planned for Sydney on Saturday, police also revealed a case linked to last Saturday’s demonstration was being investigated for a possible breach of self-isolation rules.

Fuller initially told media on Friday that the 35-year-old from Granville had attended a work site after testing positive for Covid-19, but police later clarified to say the man, while not at his home, had instead been found at another household in Constitution Hill in western Sydney.

Police revealed the man had been stopped at Central station last Saturday as part of a “proactive operation targeting those attending last week’s protest”. The protest saw some 3,500 people gather in Sydney to protest against lockdown rules.

While a police spokeswoman said it was understood the man had been stopped before attending the protest, he was fined $1,000 for being “in breach of the current stay at home orders”.

The man tested positive for Covid-19 the next day, and then, on Friday, was found to not be at his home during a police compliance check.

“This morning, police attended the man’s residence at Granville to conduct a compliance check, where they were initially told the man was at a work site in Parramatta,” police said.

“Subsequent inquiries revealed the man was not at work but was located at a home at Constitution Hill.”

“Investigations are continuing.”

It comes as Fuller told ABC radio on Friday that overseas groups had “absolutely” played a role in organising last Saturday’s protest which led to dozens of people being arrested and hundreds fined after violent clashes with police.

Guardian Australia revealed a German-based conspiracy group helped to drive the anti-lockdown protests.

“Our intelligence agencies through the counter terror unit are reaching out to our Five Eyes partners, we know that extreme left and extreme right groups [were] represented on Saturday,” he said.

Fuller said protesters were using “encrypted messaging platforms”, although the protests were largely planned on the messaging site Telegram.

“On Saturday there were some decent people who turned out thinking this [is] a normal protests [but] they were hijacked by these violent thugs, I guess you’d call them,” he said.

Fuller also defended the use of the Australian defence force in western Sydney as part of the attempt to control the city’s Covid outbreak, despite NSW initially rejecting support from the military.

He said ADF personnel would be working on “compliance” with NSW police.

“I understand people are frustrated by any health order but the reality is we’re not winning the fight against this virus,” he said.

He said Saturday’s protesters would be met by more than 1,000 police officers and if the protest was moved to another part of Sydney the police were ready.

The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that people attending could be giving their families a death sentence.

“Can I please warn against anybody taking up illegal activity and protesting tomorrow,” she said. “You could be taking the disease home and passing it on to your parents, your siblings, your brothers and sisters or anybody you might have limited contact with.

“Do not give those you love the most a death sentence.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/30/covid-case-linked-to-sydneys-anti-lockdown-protest-investigated-for-breaching-self-isolation-rules

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228845 (300912ZJUL21) Notable: Intelligence officials looking at the role of foreign actors in stirring up Australian anti-lockdown rallies, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Authorities_are_looking_at_the_role_of_foreign_actors_in_stirring_up_Australian_lockdown_protests.jpg

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>>128418

Eyes on foreign actors in lockdown rallies

Georgie Moore - 30 July 2021

Intelligence officials are looking at the role of foreign actors in stirring up Australian anti-lockdown rallies.

Dozens of people were arrested and more than 250 fined following violent weekend rallies, including in COVID-hit Sydney.

They were promoted by the German-based Worldwide Demonstration group on Facebook and had reported links to QAnon.

A senior national security official told a Senate committee on Friday the rallies might be considered an example of foreign interference.

"Anti-lockdown protests, if they were amplified clandestinely by an online foreign actor, then that would deem to be foreign interference by my reading," Lachlan Colquhoun said.

The Department of Home Affairs said it was unaware of any substantiated and coordinated disinformation campaign targeting Australia that would constitute foreign interference.

It had referred more than 1735 instances of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic to social media platforms in the six months to June.

"We've certainly seen instances where, in the extremist context, COVID-related narratives including misinformation is playing out," the department's Richard Johnson said.

Facebook told the committee it was working to "aggressively combat misinformation about COVID and about vaccines generally".

"Some of the protests from last weekend are front of mind for us. There's lots we're monitoring this space," Facebook's head of public policy in Australia Josh Machin said.

The platform last year took down 110,000 pieces of COVID-19 misinformation originating from Australia.

Globally, it has removed about 18 million posts propagating misinformation since the start of the pandemic and slapped a "false" label to 167 million posts.

Facebook cautioned misinformation campaigns sponsored by foreign actors weren't the only risk, with domestic players also looking to manipulate public debate at home.

"We're seeing actors that otherwise wouldn't have the resources or the skills to run an influence operation hiring a firm to do that for them," said the platform's global head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher.

"As you're thinking about your upcoming elections, being aware of this tool that could be used domestically is important."

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed intelligence agencies were looking into how overseas actors stirred up Australia's weekend protests.

"On Saturday, there were some decent people who turned up thinking this was just a normal protest," he told ABC radio.

"They were hijacked by these violent thugs.

"There is certainly, in terms of those left and right movements, influence from around the world."

https://thewest.com.au/business/media/eyes-on-foreign-actors-in-lockdown-rallies-c-3550763

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228864 (300918ZJUL21) Notable: Australian Defence Force and anti-abortion organisations banned from Australian National University Induction Day by ANU Student Association - Education Minister Alan Tudge considers cutting off funding to student organisations that attempt to stop the airing of views they oppose on campus, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Alan_Tudge_says_he_is_considering_ways_to_block_student_unions_that_impede_free_speech.jpg

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Students face cash loss for Australian Defence Force ban: Alan Tudge

RICHARD FERGUSON - JULY 30, 2021

Education Minister Alan Tudge is considering cutting off funding to student organisations that ­attempt to stop the airing of views they oppose on campus.

Mr Tudge’s proposal to extend a free-speech code for academics to campus associations comes as students at the Australian National University moved to block the Australian Defence Force from a university market.

The ANU Student Association said this week it would not allow the ADF and anti-abortion organisations to open a stall at an induction day for new students at Canberra’s leading university, despite letting them do so at a similar event months before.

The ANUSA’s snub of the military has angered Morrison government ministers, who say it is another case of progressive student unions limiting free and open debate on campus.

Mr Tudge told The Australian he was considering ways to block student unions that impede free speech from taking compulsory student fees which fund their services on campus, and tying them to a model code of free speech that now applies only to university administrators and staff.

“It is one thing for some fringe students to have a pacifist view of the world, but quite another for the university’s student association, using compulsory student fees, to place a political lens over who they serve,” he said.

“It is particularly appalling that they would reject the Australian Defence Force, purely on a political basis. They are one of the most revered institutions in Australia … What’s more, they have had a very strong association with ANU for decades.

“I am going to look more carefully at how we prevent compulsory acquired student fees being used in an overtly political manner. This might include insisting that student associations be subject to a similar free-speech code that we are asking universities to adopt.”

Mr Tudge has made freedom of speech a priority since he took over as Education Minister late last year, and has already said he would legislate the model code on academic free speech if it is not adopted by all universities by the end of the year.

Universities across Australia have been embroiled in censorship scandals over the past two years on issues ranging from China to climate change.

Student unions have been at the forefront of an international push to pursue progressive causes, including the taking down of colonial statues on campuses and the cancellation of lecturers who do not adhere to mainstream campus opinion.

The ANUSA told the university’s student magazine, Woroni, earlier this week the ADF would not be permitted to this week’s Market Day due to complaints that involving the armed forces contravened student union policy not to back militarism. The union also told the student publication pro-life organisations would not be part of the event, after complaints an anti-abortion stall was placed next to a feminist group at a similar market in January.

A union spokeswoman said the ADF and pro-life groups had not applied to appear at the campus and that invitations were limited.

“Invitations to external stallholders are always limited, particularly so in the midst of Covid-19 restrictions,” she said.

“ANUSA did not receive an application for a stall from the ADF or any known pro-life group for this Bush Week. As such, we have not rejected any applications from these groups.”

When asked if she had said this week the ADF would not be allowed to be part of the day, the ANUSA refused to deny it.

A spokesman for the ANU distanced the university from the student union and its ADF blockage on Thursday, arguing it had no power to intervene.

“ANUSA is an independent organisation that sits separate and apart from ANU. Decisions about their clubs and events are for them,” he said.

Pacific Minister Zed Seselja, a senator for the ACT, said the university should not put up with attacks against the ADF.

“These are the people who secure our freedoms so we can enjoy opportunities like going to university and having free speech,” he said on Thursday.

“It’s time our university leadership acted to protect freedom of speech on campus.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/students-face-cash-loss-for-australian-defence-force-ban-alan-tudge/news-story/e513100d84b4c8f1d7a1bf922cfd3610

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228943 (300946ZJUL21) Notable: Cardinal George Pell - Prison Journal, Volume 2 Book Review: Televangelists, Christ’s Passion and solitary confinement - Michael E Daniel - catholicweekly.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Cardinal_George_Pell_holds_a_copy_of_his_book_Prison_Journal_during_an_interview_with_CNS_at_his_residence_in_Rome_on_18_December_2020.jpg, Cardinal_George_Pell_the_then_prefect_of_the_Vatican_Secretariat_for_the_Economy_arrives_for_the_closing_Mass_of_the_Synod_of_Bishops_on_the_Family_in_St_Peter_s_Basilica_at_the_Vatican_in_October_2015.jpg, Prison_Journal_Volume_2_The_State_Court_Rejects_the_Appeal_George_Cardinal_Pell_San_Francisco_Ignatius_Press_in_conjunction_with_Freedom_Publishing_319_pages.jpg

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Cardinal George Pell - Prison Journal, Volume 2 Book Review: Televangelists, Christ’s Passion and solitary confinement

Michael E Daniel - July 30, 2021

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A standard work on many secondary school English syllabi is To Kill a Mockingbird.

The average student reading this work in a liberal democracy such as Australia, which values the rule of law and a rigorous judicial process, is typically stunned and disgusted at how the accused Tom Robinson could possibly be found guilty of the crime with which he is charged, when the evidence clearly indicates that such a verdict is unreasonable.

Sadly, George Cardinal Pell, formerly Archbishop of Melbourne and of Sydney, and more recently Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (2014 – 2019) at the Vatican, was imprisoned for crimes for which he should never have been found guilty.

This is the most recently published volume in a three volume set, and covers the period from the start of Week 21 (Sunday 14 July 2019) to the end of Week 40 (Saturday 30 November 2019) of his imprisonment.

As the subtitle of this volume indicates, this covers the period leading up to the appeal before the Court of Appeal in Victoria, its decision to uphold the initial verdict, and the period following it.

One simply cannot imagine what Pell, a man who should never have been found guilty in the first place, endured during his 404 days of incarceration.

Given the nature of the crimes of which he was found guilty – namely the sexual abuse of minors – Pell typically spent 23 out of every 24 hours in his cell for his own protection, with short exercise periods outside his cell away from other prisoners.

This meant that his contact with fellow human beings, something most of us take for granted, was denied to him.

The portrait of Pell that emerges from his reflections is of a man of deep faith, whose faith sustained him. Central to his faith life is the person of Jesus Christ.

As Pell came to terms with the trauma of his appeal being rejected by the Court of Appeal in Victoria, he reflected on the sufferings of Christ, uniting his suffering to Christ’s sufferings.

For example, he makes frequent references to the scripture passages and works from the Church Fathers and other Christian writers in the Office of Readings. In many instances, these became for him a catalyst for reflection on his experience of imprisonment as well as on the wider church and society.

This spiritual reading was complemented by reflections/sermons written by Sr Mary McGlone, an American religious, which Sr Mary O’Shannassy, the prison chaplain brought to Pell in her weekly visit, during which she conducted a para-liturgy at which he received Holy Communion.

Pell openly states that being unable to celebrate Mass whilst in prison was a spiritual burden he had to endure. Furthermore, in the 20 week period this volume covers, he was able to attend Mass only once by special arrangement.

Pell was able to draw spiritual comfort from viewing Mass for You at Home, aired at 6am on a Sunday morning; however, it was not until he was given an alarm clock by one of the prison wardens that he was able to wake up consistently in time for the early morning screening. He usually watched the preaching of two evangelical preachers, Pastor Brian Houston (Hillsong Church) and Joseph Prince, noting that he preferred Prince’s overall approach as it was more explicitly Christocentric.

He critiqued their messages, identifying points in their sermons with which he agreed, and disagreed. However, Pell does so charitably and acknowledges that both men are formidable preachers.

One thing he notes is that both preachers draw extensively from the Old Testament. This reviewer found the descriptions of the eclectic clothing ensembles worn by Joseph Prince amusing and had the sense that Pell did as well – hence his recording of such details.

References are also made to various documentaries watched by Pell, particularly those of an historical nature, on channels such as SBS.

A keen football fan, Pell also records the various football matches he watched on his TV.

Extensive reference is made to the correspondence he received throughout the course of his incarceration, from correspondents across the globe. Virtually all the letters and cards he received were encouraging, and served to boost his morale. Pell also notes the visits from lawyers, family members and friends.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14228975 (300956ZJUL21) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith trial hears from Afghan witness who says 'big soldier' kicked man into creek, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_has_told_the_court_a_villager_killed_in_Darwan_was_a_suspected_Taliban_lookout.jpg, The_incident_was_alleged_to_have_occurred_in_Darwan_Afghanistan.jpg

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>>128214

Ben Roberts-Smith trial hears from Afghan witness who says 'big soldier' kicked man into creek

Jamie McKinnell - 30 July 2021

A second Afghan villager has told the defamation trial of Ben Roberts-Smith that he saw a "big soldier" kick a handcuffed man into a creek bed during a 2012 raid.

The war veteran is suing three newspapers in the Federal Court, claiming he was defamed by stories published in 2018 which included allegations that he comitted war crimes in Afghanistan.

The court has this week been hearing from residents of the village of Darwan, where Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) operators conducted a mission in September 2012.

A central allegation in stories published by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times was that Mr Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed, handcuffed farmer named Ali Jan over a cliff.

Nine Entertainment Co, the publisher of two of the papers, alleges he then entered into an agreement that Ali Jan be executed before soldiers covered it up.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies the allegations.

Darwan resident Shahzada Aka, who was giving evidence via video link from Kabul, today told the court he heard planes arrive on the day of the raid and saw soldiers making their way through the village.

He said he saw his oldest son, Mohammed Hanifa, and Ali Jan both with their hands tied behind their backs, recalling there was a "big soldier" within the group.

"I saw Ali Jan, Ali Jan's hands were tied up and they made him stand up," he said through an interpreter.

"Ali Jan was facing the soldier and then the soldier kicked him and he went down."

Nicholas Owens SC, for Nine, asked where Ali Jan had fallen.

"Maybe you call it a river, he fell down there, and then the trees we didn't see him because the tree blocked him from our sight."

Mr Aka said before the soldiers got in an aircraft, they warned him not to move until they had left.

He then found Ali Jan's body near a cornfield and said he had been shot in the jaw, chest and arm.

Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court a man killed near a cornfield during the Darwan mission was legitimately engaged as a suspected Taliban lookout.

Earlier this week, Mr Hanifa also described a "big soldier" who was present as he was interrogated and who kicked his relative, Ali Jan, hard in the chest.

"He was rolling down, rolling down, until he reached the river," the witness said.

Mr Hanifa said he then heard a shot and saw two soldiers "dragging" Ali Jan.

Both Mr Hanifa and his neighbour, Man Gul, were shown a photograph of Ali Jan's body.

They both said a radio and other equipment shown in the photograph must have been placed on the body by the soldiers, and denied Ali Jan had any links to the Taliban.

Mr Gul said Ali Jan could not have known how to operate a device like the one in the photo because he didn't even know how to use a watch.

The trial before Justice Anthony Besanko continues.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-30/nsw-ben-roberts-smith-defamation-trial-afghan-witness/100337518

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14229001 (301007ZJUL21) Notable: Epstein’s Shadow: How Ghislaine Maxwell went from socialite to inmate, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: There_are_occasional_moments_of_odd_humour_to_assuage_the_sordid_monstrousness_of_the_tale_told_in_Epstein_s_Shadow_Ghislane_Maxwell.jpg

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Epstein’s Shadow: How Ghislaine Maxwell went from socialite to inmate

GRAEME BLUNDELL - JULY 30, 2021

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Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell is proving popular viewing and is part of the so-called true crime boom across the TV streaming services. This boom has arisen to satisfy an increasing interest not only in grisly events involving serial killers and seemingly unpremeditated murders but also the problems caused by police brutality, corporate greed, government corruption and human rights violations.

Most of all we love stories of character; those investigative narratives where real lives are interfered with, real ongoing criminal cases, which sift through evidence, the filmmakers standing in for us creating something whole from fragments of story.

There seems to be a genuine desire to better understand why people act – and react – as they do in extreme circumstances, and why they contribute to, or even create, the terrible situations in which they find themselves.

Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell is directed by Barbara Shearer, a 20-year veteran reality producer who got her break with an HBO documentary called Women Who Love Killers, about those who fall in love with and, in many cases, marry convicted murderers. Shearer’s latest film is the three-part inside story of Ghislaine Maxwell, a woman who suffered an extraordinary fall from grace.

She is, of course, the British socialite on remand in a notoriously tough detention centre in Brooklyn, New York, with guards at the facility checking in on her every 15 minutes at night by shining a torch against the roof of her cell to make sure she is breathing.

She faces six counts including sex-trafficking of a minor and sex-trafficking conspiracy, as she allegedly procured underage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein and his high-powered friends to sexually abuse. There are a further two charges relating to allegations of perjury in 2016. And newer charges allege Maxwell recruited a 14-year-old girl to provide Epstein with sexualised massages between 2001 and 2004. The girl allegedly was paid hundreds of dollars in cash in return and was encouraged to recruit other young women.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking and other charges.

This is one of those true-crime documentary series that exerts a kind of cloying fascination, exploring mysterious real-life cases of sex, greed, mendacity, betrayal, financial perfidy and murder lurking inside some of the world’s richest homes.

Just how do these people get away with such things? How was it possible for a sexual predator such as Epstein to act with such impunity for so long? Was he in fact aided by his powerful friends, some of whom were possibly involved in what has been called his “pyramid of sexual abuse”? And just who was the woman at his side, the elusive presence who remained so mysterious after he was arrested, seemingly allowed to hide from public view.

Shearer takes a fast and furious look at the life and times of Maxwell, following the investigation and the resolution so far, drawing us to the crossover between celebrity and justice. She calls her approach “colouring in the lights”, fascinated by the way “so many people didn’t even know the name until she was arrested, yet she had been with him for more than 20 years’’. The first episode details Maxwell’s evolution, the second her trajectory and the third her downfall.

Maxwell, the daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell, a ruthless Czech-born Holocaust survivor and war hero, was in a relationship with the financier in the 1990s. Shearer points to similarities between the two men, both having come from impoverished backgrounds, insatiably drawn to money, many of their business dealings unethical, both manipulative egomaniacs.

Epstein’s primary co-conspirator, Maxwell allegedly introduced him to wealthy and powerful figures including Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. Writer Anna Pasternak, a university friend, suggests that “Ghislaine set her sights on Jeffrey Epstein, who could give her the lifestyle she’d become accustomed to”.

As the series shows, Maxwell was the Oxford-educated life of the party, constantly photographed with the rich and famous, from Mick Jagger to Naomi Campbell. “She ran with the fast crowd; Ghislaine was just impossible fun,” says the rather woebegone Christopher Mason, a key interview subject and former friend, sitting forlornly on a sofa into which he almost disappears. “She was able to figure out the comedic potential of everyone at the table so she could have you in stitches.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14229018 (301014ZJUL21) Notable: The US is the super spreader of coronavirus and political virus - Xin Ping - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_US_is_the_super_spreader_of_coronavirus_and_political_virus.jpg

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The US is the super spreader of coronavirus and political virus

Xin Ping - Jul 29, 2021

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When coronavirus hits the US, some politicians choose to surrender and collude with it. While working haltingly on containment, some people in the US, mostly without any scientific background, have been hyping up the "China lab accident" hypothesis. But in the China Part of the global study of origins of the coronavirus convened by the WHO, this pathway of emergence has been rated "extremely unlikely" after thorough review on data and evidence.

This is not the first time the US has insisted on going down a misguided path at the wrong time. Back in 2003, the US invaded Iraq with a tube of detergent as the proof for weapons of mass destruction held by the Middle East country. The 18 years since only made the US more unscrupulous. From using counter-terrorism as the pretext for raking in resources and geopolitical interests, it is now engaged in a terror-making campaign.

Muzzle voices of reason

Many Americans have been either muzzled, investigated or dismissed from their posts just because they told the truth about COVID-19 that the authorities don't like. Dr. Helen Y. Chu, a whistle-blower, sounded the alarm on the epidemic in the US, but was ordered to "cease and desist" and "stop testing". Adam Witt, a nurse, was barred from the medical center he worked for after going public with workplace concerns about coronavirus precautions. Captain Brett Crozier of aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Navy leaders to evacuate and quarantine most of the sailors on board after three crew members were tested positive, only to be relieved of duty for losing the "trust and confidence" of their superiors.

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top medical expert in the US, was lambasted by the previous administration and is still under attacks by some US politicians trying to force through conspiracy theories. The only way to evade the violent acts is to clam up about the truth. Indeed, some in the WHO and world scientists are adjusting themselves to the new reality.

Attack China with a whole-of-government approach

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the new US administration has generally continued its predecessor's extreme and erroneous China policy. This seems to be proved by the US stand on origin tracing of COVID-19. Despite the partisan gulf on most policies, Democrats keep with them the anti-China playbook compiled by some Republicans and have been going "tough" on China, including hyping up the lab leak theory pushed by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Following the line of the "presumption of guilt", the new US administration has entrusted its intelligence community to rummage through for evidence that shows the virus was leaked from or manufactured by China.

The US also went so far as to spread lies at different levels in its government about China's lack of "transparency and openness" by fabricating infections at the Wuhan Institute of Virology or in a mine in Southwest Yunnan Province without providing the names or any other supportive details. When unfounded claims from the US are debunked one after another with facts, the state-sponsored machine is working against the clock to churn out new disinformation. The aim is clear: to glorify the US by defaming China.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14229033 (301019ZJUL21) Notable: UK shouldn’t tempt own fate in South China Sea: Global Times editorial - "We should also give such advice to Australia and Japan" - Global Times - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: UK_shouldn_t_tempt_own_fate_in_South_China_Sea_Global_Times_editorial.jpg

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UK shouldn’t tempt own fate in South China Sea: Global Times editorial

Global Times - Jul 29, 2021

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The UK's Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group on Sunday entered the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca. It has not so far done anything particular that can attract the focus of public attention. The Washington Examiner, a US right-wing media outlet, on July 23 published an article which said, "The question of whether the 'special relationship' between Britain and the US is truly all that special… much depends on a 12-mile test in the South China Sea - more specifically, whether or not Prime Minister Boris Johnson sends a British warship within 12 miles of artificial Chinese territory." Earlier, the UK said Britain is not looking for a "confrontation." Instead, it is to "exercise its right to freedom of navigation," according to BBC.

The Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group's navigation to the South China Sea was the UK's effort to show its presence in the region. We seriously warn this group: They are obliged to remain restrained and obey the rules. Please follow the current international shipping lanes and stay at least 12 nautical miles away from the Chinese islands and reefs.

US warships have repeatedly entered the 12 nautical miles of the Chinese islands illegally in the South China Sea. So far, China has remained restrained to the largest extent. Yet it does not mean we will tolerate such provocations in the long term, nor does it mean that US allies can learn from the dangerous posture of the US. China is likely to escalate its attempts to expel the warships at any time. In the future, stopping such intrusive behavior that violates China's territorial waters is a struggle China is destined to intensify.

We advise US allies to be particularly cautious, keep a sufficient distance from China's red lines, and refrain from pushing ahead. They must be bluntly told that if their warships rampantly behave as the US military does in the South China Sea, they will more likely become an example of China defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity - just as a popular Chinese phrase indicates: To execute one as a warning to a hundred.

Needless to say, China has been strengthening its military capabilities in the South China Sea. These do not only involve the deployment of warships to the region, but also systematic military preparations. The distance between hot-spot regions in the South China Sea and the Chinese mainland is ideal for the use of China's various mid-range missiles. It would be wrong if the US and its followers just count who has more aircraft carriers and fighters in the region. Those aircraft carriers would be very vulnerable to extreme military conflicts.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14233997 (310135ZJUL21) Notable: ‘Freedom’ activists aim to harness anger for new political party - Monica Smit and Reignite Democracy Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Monica_Smit_in_image_from_the_Reignite_Democracy_Australia_Facebook_page.jpg, Anti_lockdown_protesters_in_Sydney_last_weekend.jpg

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>>128418

‘Freedom’ activists aim to harness anger for new political party

Richard Baker, Noel Towell and Simone Fox Koob - July 31, 2021

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Two months ago, the founder of Reignite Democracy Australia, Monica Smit, whipped up a Sydney crowd by issuing a threat to the nation’s “corrupt, lazy politicians”.

“We are absolutely sick of paying to watch you destroy this country. And your free ride is over ... we’re coming for your job,” the leader of the anti-lockdown and COVID-19 conspiracy group said. “The federal election is coming up, and we are going to be there.”

Last Saturday, thousands of maskless protesters, a disparate group including supporters of Reignite Democracy, took to the streets of locked-down Melbourne and Sydney. While many protesters were peaceful, the rallies resulted in violent clashes with police. Victorian and NSW police are preparing for protests this weekend.

While the protesters have a grab-bag of issues, some are starting to organise, believing they can have political influence. The demonstrations were condemned by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, premiers and many in the broader public, but some activists spent this week basking in the “success” of last weekend’s rallies and calling for the next planned “Worldwide Rally for Freedom” event to be brought forward from September.

While it did not organise last weekend’s rallies, Reignite Democracy Australia, now a fledgling political party that first came to attention during Victoria’s long winter lockdown last year, has organised a series of “community social gatherings” at 40 locations in Victoria this weekend. “We have a window of freedom so we’re striking while the iron is hot to create as many community groups as possible,” Ms Smit said in a post on her website.

The group has an application before the Australian Electoral Commission to be registered as a political party and has plans to field candidates for both houses of Parliament at the next federal election who will run on a core promise of “freedom” – freedom of speech, the end of COVID-related restrictions and lockdowns, and the right of the unvaccinated not to be discriminated against.

Ms Smit, who registered Reignite Democracy Australia as a proprietary limited company last September, is the group’s highest-profile figure.

But the party has also added to the executive Esther Baker, the former Victorian One Nation Party president; former Pizza Hut franchisee Miles Rozman; political activist and journalist Morgan C Jonas; and small-businesswoman Charelle Ainslie.

Reignite Democracy Australia this week advertised for people with “high-level broadcasting experience” to get in touch, with Ms Smit posting on its website that she had a “big dream” to start a media outlet, involving TV, radio and print.

Mr Rozman, who is party president, told The Saturday Age discussions about election strategy – including with like-minded parties – were under way, but any announcements would be premature.

Experts say these ambitions may be fanciful. Rallying those frustrated by Australia’s willingness to lock down to restrict the spread of COVID-19 into action is one thing; harnessing those disparate groups that make up the “freedom” protest crowd into a united, organised political force is a greater challenge.

Those attending the protests include a loose coalition of far-right, conspiracy and libertarian groups. These groups have relied upon encrypted messaging app Telegram and other social media platforms to communicate, motivate and mobilise. Reignite Democracy has 14,000 subscribers to its Telegram account.

While some messaging around the protest events can be extreme, messaging between many supporters show them expressing frustration about their daily lives – unemployment, family stresses and concerns about their children.

These worries are punctuated by militaristic calls for action from extreme corners, with some participants urging each other to be part of a “massive mobilisation of the citizenry”. Some key figures within the movement (none of those named in this article) this week drew comparisons with the Anzacs.

“The ANZACs were in the trenches fighting for freedom,” said one group member. “We are in cancel culture fighting for the same thing. We aren’t made for the trenches but I doubt the ANZACs would want to live through this era either.”

Another said: “I’m ready to go to jail, I’m ready to go to war and I’m ready to battle until death and protect my god’s given gift of birth rights.”

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, who fears more trouble on Sydney’s streets on Saturday, confirmed on Friday that his force’s counterterrorism command and national security agencies were working with the international Five Eyes intelligence network to investigate the involvement of overseas extremist groups in organising last weekend’s protests.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14234802 (310331ZJUL21) Notable: Malka Leifer wants to watch key court hearing via video link rather than attend court in person, lawyer says, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Malka_Leifer_is_accused_of_abusing_three_of_her_former_students_when_they_were_girls.jpg, A_sketch_of_Malka_Leifer_from_a_court_hearing_earlier_this_year.jpg, Where_to_find_help.jpg

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Malka Leifer wants to watch key court hearing via video link, lawyer says

Adam Cooper - July 30, 2021

Accused paedophile Malka Leifer wants to watch the hearing that determines whether she faces trial on a video link from prison rather than attend court in person, her lawyer has said.

Ms Leifer is in custody, on remand, after being charged with abusing three of her then students when she was principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick between 2004 and 2008. She was extradited from Israel earlier this year.

Previous hearings in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court were told the three women who allege they were abused by Ms Leifer want to attend court in person when they give evidence. That hearing, due to start on September 13, will determine whether Ms Leifer faces trial in a higher court.

But it was Ms Leifer’s preference to watch the five-day hearing on a video link from prison, defence lawyer Lucinda Thies told the court on Friday.

“My client is not seeking to be physically present [in court],” Ms Thies told magistrate Johanna Metcalf.

“Indeed it would be her preference to appear via a video link.”

Ms Leifer, 54, was excused from watching Friday’s hearing. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant most court hearings in Victoria are conducted online or via video link but it is possible for some to be held in person.

Ms Leifer faces 74 charges comprising 11 counts of rape, 47 of indecent assault, three of sexual penetration of a child and 13 of committing an indecent act with a child.

She maintains she is innocent.

Charge sheets allege Ms Leifer committed offences in Elsternwick, Elwood, Frankston and Emerald and the regional towns of Blampied and Rawson.

She left Australia for Israel in 2008 when allegations against her emerged. She was charged in 2012 and extradition hearings began in 2014.

The legal fight to have her return to Australia lasted six years and included more than 70 court hearings in Israel.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

https://www.1800respect.org.au

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/malka-leifer-wants-to-watch-key-court-hearing-via-video-link-lawyer-says-20210730-p58ec4.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235081 (310418ZJUL21) Notable: Defence Minister Peter Dutton's warning: China’s rise means Australia cannot afford further delays in construction of navy's new frigates and submarines, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Defence_Minister_Peter_Dutton.jpg

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China warning as ships delayed

CAMERON STEWART - JULY 31, 2021

The construction of the first three of the navy’s nine new frigates will be delayed by up to 18 months, as Defence Minister Peter Dutton warned China’s rise meant Australia could not afford further slippages in the timeline for its new frigates and submarines.

A frustrated Mr Dutton has ­delivered a blunt message to all prime contractors for the $45bn frigate project and the $90bn submarine project, saying Australia cannot allow these crucial projects to drift at a time of growing strategic uncertainty.

His comments came after he publicly confirmed for the first time that construction of the first of the new Hunter-Class frigates had been pushed back by up to a year and a half due to delays in the development of Britain’s Type 26 Frigate, on which the Australian ship design is based.

Under a revised schedule, the delay will be recovered only by the time construction begins on the fourth ship, meaning the first three frigates will now face a delayed introduction into naval service from the early 2030s.

“It is frustrating to see an up-to-18-month delay to the start of construction of ship one, but importantly this delay will be recovered over the term of the project,’ Mr Dutton told The Weekend Australian. “We are making difficult decisions in the national ­interest.

“It is important to note that the Australian changes are not the cause of the delay. The delay is directly related to the UK’s Type 26 design maturity which flows through to our program.”

He warned that Australia could not afford further setbacks in its major naval shipbuilding projects, given the rise of China.

“Our strategic circumstances with regard to the CCP (China) in our region mean I don’t intend to just sit back and let these projects drift,’ he said. “I have delivered a blunt message to all the primes and made it very clear they are to deliver these defence projects on time and on budget.”

Both the plan to build the frigates – the mainstay of Australia’s future fleet – and 12 new French-designed submarines have hit problems early before steel is cut on any of them.

The frigates will be based on Britain’s Type 26 frigate but will be modified to include a US combat system and an Australian radar, among other changes.

However, the development in Britain of the Type 26, which is not yet in service, has been delayed by design and weight problems, as well as by the Covid-related lockdowns in the UK this year.

This has meant the design is still too immature for the Australianised version to proceed as scheduled in Adelaide, and Mr Dutton has accepted advice that a delay of up to 18 months in the first ship would reduce design-related risks for the Hunter-Class boats.

The revised schedule means all nine frigates will still be delivered as originally planned by 2044. However, steel will not be cut on the first ship until 2024. It will not be completed until 2031, and will not enter service until 2033.

There is a concern that the weight of the new Hunter-Class frigates is already too heavy to ­accommodate future upgrades to weapons or other systems, potentially limiting their lifespan as ­effective warships.

The evolving design work on the Hunter-Class has seen the ship’s weight jump from a full displacement weight of 8800 tonnes to more than 10,000 tons.

The vessel’s weight margin – in other words the margin of growth to place future systems on the warship in years to come – is only 270 tonnes, or 3.3 per cent. By contrast the current ANZAC-class frigates had an initial weight margin of growth of 10 per cent, although this was larger than normal because they were built without ­several key systems.

“The risk is you won’t be able to evolve the vessel over its career because essentially you have used up the weight margin to add future systems to it as the threat evolves,” said Marcus Hellyer, a senior defence analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Craig Lockhart, the managing director of the frigate builder, BAE Systems Maritime Australia, denied the ship was too heavy and said its weight would not detract from its performance. “The Hunter ship … is within the design criteria to meet key whole-ship per­formance characteristics,” he said.

The government recently revealed that the cost of the project had jumped from $35bn to $45bn.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/china-warning-as-ships-delayed/news-story/db1dc3de77043c0cf809a9a8e63a07a5

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235136 (310428ZJUL21) Notable: Samoa's new leader Fiame Naomi Mataafa confirms scrapping of China-funded port, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_container_ship_unloads_at_the_Matautu_port_which_has_been_expanded_through_support_from_Japan_in_the_Samoan_capital_of_Apia_July_12_2019_Picture_taken_July_12_2019.jpg

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Samoa's new leader confirms scrapping of China-funded port

Jonathan Barrett - July 30, 2021

SYDNEY, July 30 (Reuters) - The new prime minister of Samoa has confirmed she will cancel a China-backed port project, but hasn't closed the door to China as she navigates a path for the Pacific nation against a backdrop of intensifying regional competition between Beijing and Washington.

Fiame Naomi Mataafa indicated she would only approve investments that had clear benefits for her country as she expressed doubts about the upside for the Pacific in being a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between the two superpowers.

Mataafa said China's interest in the Pacific had grown as the United States effectively "moved out" of the region.

"There seems to be a renewed interest in the Pacific, which may be a good thing, but not necessarily," Mataafa said in an interview over Zoom on Wednesday, days after her election was confirmed, ending a months-long political crisis.

Samoa, an island nation of around 200,000 reliant on subsistence farming, along with tourism, fish, coconut product exports and foreign remittance, has found itself exposed to external geopolitical jostling, as Washington and its allies respond to a more assertive Beijing in Pacific waters that have been largely uncontested since World War Two.

Any foreign involvement in critical infrastructure such as ports and airstrips are particularly sensitive, and China's proposed construction of a wharf in Vaiusu Bay had played a part in April elections.

Samoa's former leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, promised to build the port with Chinese help for $100 million, after a similar project was deemed economically unviable by the Asian Development Bank.

Mataafa told Reuters in May, after her election but before taking office as Malielegaoi disputed the poll result, that she would scrap the project, calling it excessive for a small nation already heavily indebted to China.

China is the single largest creditor in Samoa, accounting for about 40%, or some $160 million, of its external debt.

"We've indicated that would not be a priority for us at this time and that there would be other areas that we would be more interested in," Mataafa told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"I'm pleased the outgoing government had not reached a level of agreement with China where that is set in place."

China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that China held preliminary discussions with Samoa on the feasibility of building the port at the request of the former government.

"China always adheres to the principle of mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing in conducting foreign cooperation," the statement said.

"We will continue to strengthen friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields with the new Samoan government in accordance with the above principles to benefit the two countries and peoples."

Mataafa said China had been a long-term partner and her government would assess the relationship in the same way it evaluates all of its bilateral relations.

"I think as a new administration coming in we will do that for China and any other partner that we have," she said.

"China just takes the forefront because of the nature of the work that's being funded. There's a lot of infrastructure, mostly building infrastructure which other donors don't do."

FIRST FEMALE LEADER

Mataafa was confirmed on July 23 as Samoa's first female prime minister, ending a political impasse in place since the April 9 disputed election. Malielegaoi had governed the Pacific island nation for 22 years, making him one of the world's longest serving leaders.

Mataafa said her government would focus on the national budget after the months-long deadlock as the coronavirus pandemic had devastated important industries.

Her elevation to the country's leadership was briefly frustrated by a law, ironically, designed to ensure greater female representation in parliament that led to attempts to add an additional member allied to her rival.

Mataafa said there were ongoing impediments to female participation in politics such as the practice by some villages to deny women chiefly titles, called matai, which is a prerequisite for entering parliament.

"Fundamentally our electoral system was premised on our traditional matai system," she said. "A move away from that would be to seemingly say we want to discard the traditional. What might be better to do is ... change peoples' perceptions of tradition."

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/samoas-new-leader-confirms-scrapping-china-funded-port-2021-07-30/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235322 (310512ZJUL21) Notable: Jeffrey Epstein stalks his shadowy network of plutocrats from the grave - Why did so many rich and powerful men seek out his advice?, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Epstein_s_victims_hope_justice_will_be_served_in_the_forthcoming_trial_of_his_alleged_accomplice_Ghislaine_Maxwell.jpg

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Jeffrey Epstein stalks his shadowy network of plutocrats from the grave

Why did so many rich and powerful men seek out his advice?

VICKY WARD - JULY 31 2021

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The writer is the host and co-producer, with James Patterson, of the podcast ‘Chasing Ghislaine’

It’s almost two years since the alleged paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, months before he was due to face trial on charges of trafficking and abusing scores of minors.

His victims, understandably, have said that his untimely death robbed them of justice — which they now hope will be served in the forthcoming trial of Epstein’s alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. (She has denied all charges). But Epstein remains the subject of intense media curiosity, not just because of Maxwell, but also because of his extraordinary, destructive reach into the international plutocracy.

In the manner of a standing pack of cards collapsing from a gentle push, the list of billionaires who have paid a reputational price for their association with Epstein grows, as it confounds.

Some of the names are now widely known: the former retail king Les Wexner who has stepped off the board of L Brands, the company he founded; the founder of Apollo Global Management, Leon Black, who has also stepped down as CEO, after an outside review described how he paid Epstein fees of nearly $160m for tax advice and lent him $30m; the hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, who faced an allegation in a civil deposition by an alleged Epstein victim, also stepped down from his firm. (All three men have denied any wrongdoing). More recently, it’s been reported that the world’s greatest philanthropist Bill Gates was divorced by his wife Melinda, in part because of his meetings with Epstein.

That Epstein was able to infiltrate such a group raises a fundamental question: what did Epstein, a college dropout who spent only five years at the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns, offer that was so apparently irresistible?

The answer lies in the complexity of power and how it can manifest itself. In the last decade of his life, in an effort to rehabilitate his image, given that he was a registered sex-offender, Epstein curated elite, predominantly male salons.

I have been investigating Epstein for nearly two decades. According to my recent reporting Epstein claimed to some of his select guests that he could get them to whoever they needed — quietly. For example he knew Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — and if you doubted this, the Crown Prince’s photograph was hanging on the wall. He said he could get you to Vladimir Putin and to any number of prominent Israelis. He had friends in high places in developing Africa, France, Britain, the Middle East, Japan, and China.

And yet all this convening was done either on offshore islands, or in private rooms, on private trips, or in private planes — in short he was like a private concierge at the world’s most elite male club. Whether or not he really could deliver on everything he promised remains debatable. But astonishingly, given the sophistication of his audience, his followers seem to have believed him.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235380 (310527ZJUL21) Notable: Sarah Ferguson’s Own History With Jeffrey Epstein May Explain Why She’s So Quick to Defend Prince Andrew, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Sarah_Ferguson.jpg

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Sarah Ferguson’s Own History With Jeffrey Epstein May Explain Why She’s So Quick to Defend Prince Andrew

KRISTYN BURTT - JULY 30, 2021

Sarah Ferguson is busy making the rounds promoting her new book, Her Heart for a Compass, but it’s shining the spotlight back on an old topic that seems to keep circling the royal family: Jeffrey Epstein. While much of the talk surrounding the convicted pedophile is with Prince Andrew, Ferguson does have her own complicated history with the sex offender.

The former royal has gone through some notoriously public issues with financial debt, including owing her former personal assistant, Johnny O’Sullivan over $100,000 in salary. With no way to pay off that enormous sum promptly, she turned to Epstein to help settle the issue. As a businessman, he restructured her debt, got O’Sullivan to agree to a $20,000 settlement and Epstein paid off her tab. To make matters even more sinister, this entire deal was arranged by Ferguson’s ex, Prince Andrew.

In 2011, this questionable business dealing came to light, per The Telegraph, and the Duchess of York had to offer a very embarrassing apology. “I, personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,” she said in a statement to the U.K. publication. “I abhor peadophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say.”

Andrew’s suspicious ties to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019, created a very convoluted web that the royals got themselves into. But it makes it easy to understand why Ferguson stands by the royal family, no matter how poorly they’ve treated her in the past. And she’s doubling down on her loyalty in her latest press rounds on Good Morning America by sharing that she is a “number one fan of the monarchy” and believes in the “extraordinary steadfastness of the queen.”

But she didn’t stop there, Ferguson wanted to make sure everyone understood that she stands by Prince Andrew’s side, even though they’ve been divorced since 1996. “He is a great man and [our wedding day] was the best day of my life,” she said on the morning show. “I would do it all over again because he was a very good-looking sailor, but I fell in love with him and I think love conquers all.” So if she has any reservations about her ex’s alleged interactions with underage girls procured by Epstein, she isn’t going to share them with us — she is 100% pro-monarchy.

It’s a murky situation that will probably see more headlines and have people asking questions once the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner, begins in November. Prince Andrew and Ferguson will have to face their alleged misdeeds once again.

https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/2475294/sarah-ferguson-jeffrey-epstein-debt-prince-andrew-defense/

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/duchess-of-york-apologises-for-gigantic-error-of-judgement-over-debt-6574623.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235604 (310629ZJUL21) Notable: Video: Talisman Sabre 21: US Marines, British Royal Marines, ADF & JGSDF Conducting Amphibious Landing - GEORGEnews

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>>128304

Talisman Sabre 21: US Marines, British Royal Marines, ADF & JGSDF Conducting Amphibious Landing

GEORGEnews

Jul 31, 2021

U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, British Royal Marine Commandos with 40 Commando, Japan Ground Self Defense Force soldiers and Australian Army soldiers with 3rd Royal Australian Regiment conduct an amphibious landing during Exercise Talisman Sabre 21 in Ingham, Queensland, Australia, July 29, 2021. Amphibious operations provide a Combined-Joint Force Commander the capability to rapidly project power ashore in support of crisis response at the desired time and location. TS21 supports the Indo-Pacific Pathways initiative to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific by strengthening relationships and building trust and interoperability with allies and partners.

https://george.news

https://www.todaysmilitary.com/military-life/futures-magazine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NeNGAy-TQM

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235614 (310632ZJUL21) Notable: Video: A Multi-National Amphibious Assault was conducted as part of Talisman Sabre 2021. Coalition forces consisting of Royal Marine Commandos, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force, and the Australian Defence Force landed at Forrest Beach near Ingham, Queensland - Department of Defence Australia

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>>128304

>>128471

Multi National Amphibious Assault

Department of Defence Australia

Jul 31, 2021

A Multi-National Amphibious Assault was conducted as part of Talisman Sabre 2021. Coalition forces consisting of Royal Marine Commandos, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force, and the Australian Defence Force landed at Forrest Beach near Ingham, Queensland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3jMNg4SgM

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235682 (310648ZJUL21) Notable: Video: Joint amphibious landing and air assault - Talisman Sabre 2021 - The troops took to the beaches and streets of Bowen, Queensland as part of simulated battles between two opposing forces. Scenarios included a beach landing, securing of airfields and strategic areas and storming of positions at various locations - Department of Defence Australia

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>>128304

>>128471

Joint amphibious landing and air assault - Talisman Sabre 2021

Department of Defence Australia

Jul 30, 2021

Soldiers from the ADF, U.S. Marines, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, and Royal Marine Commandos participated in a combined joint amphibious landing and air assault as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21).

The troops took to the beaches and streets of Bowen, Queensland as part of simulated battles between two opposing forces. Scenarios included a beach landing, securing of airfields and strategic areas and storming of positions at various locations.

Held every two years, TS21 is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States, aimed to test Australian interoperability with the United States and other participating forces in complex warfighting scenarios. In addition to the United States, TS21 involves participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

More here: https://news.defence.gov.au/international/troops-come-ashore-quiet-beach-final-push

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tVGEbtRGsk

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235711 (310655ZJUL21) Notable: Troops come ashore on quiet beach in final push - Private Jacob Joseph - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Personnel_from_the_3rd_Battalion_Royal_Australian_Regiment_conduct_a_beach_assault_on_Forrest_Beach_Queensland_during_Exercise_Talisman_Sabre_2021.jpg, An_Australian_light_armoured_vehicle_disembarks_HMAS_Canberra_s_landing_craft_on_Forrest_Beach_in_an_amphibious_assault_activity_during_Exercise_Talisman_Sabre.jpg, British_Royal_Marines_land_on_Forrest_Beach.jpg

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>>128304

>>128473

Troops come ashore on quiet beach in final push

Private Jacob Joseph - 30 July 2021

If you were fishing near Forrest Beach, Queensland, over the past month, you might have seen landing craft from HMA Ships Canberra and Choules ferrying troops to shore.

This was part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021.

Hidden from view, however, were the reconnaissance soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), concealed in the bush, taking notes in preparation for a joint Australian, American, United Kingdom and Japanese assault on the town of Ingham.

At dawn on July 30, the assault began with an amphibious landing.

Ingham resident Garry Fresser sat on a beach chair and watched the silhouetted boats approach the shore against the rising sun.

“Everyone’s sitting doing nothing all the time and then, all of a sudden, something like this happens. It’s almost exciting,” he said.

The Joint Pre-Landing Force had been surveying the beach for days, marking the shoreline with red, blue and green lights in advance of the boats carrying soldiers and their large vehicles to shore.

Marine Matthew Owen, a Royal Marines Commando, was in the first wave of the assault, having spent weeks in HMAS Canberra.

“The landing craft were different to ours,” Marine Owen said.

“It was pretty deep when we got off, though back home they would probably drop us out further.”

Lines of soldiers departed the beach and moved on foot towards the Ingham airfield – their final objective some 20km away – while armoured personnel carriers took a faster route along the road.

Australia, the US and other partner forces used TS21 to strengthen their cooperative military-to-military relationships through the planning and conduct of realistic warfare scenarios across both conventional and cutting-edge battlefields.

The beach landing and assault were some of the final activities for TS21 and certified forces in amphibious operations, according to the Commander of Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, Major General Jake Ellwood.

“These types of skills don’t come easily, they take a lot of training to make sure that our people are highly capable,” Major General Ellwood said.

“You can’t take for granted that you can just do it on the fly; it’s something that must be worked at.”

US Marine Corps Colonel Jeffrey Rule, a US amphibious specialist at the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, said amphibious operations were “the hardest” to conduct in the military, and even more so when working in a coalition.

“Even when you speak the same language, the cultural differences can be huge, but the only thing harder than that would be working without a coalition,” Colonel Rule said.

“The one thing that Talisman Sabre says is: not only can we fight, we will fight and we will fight together.

“That’s the nature of friendship, and that’s what friends do for each other,” he said.

A special edition Talisman Sabre newspaper will be available on August 2. To subscribe for free, click here:

https://www.defence.gov.au/Publications/NewsPapers/

Keep up with the TS21 action here:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/TalismanSabre

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/talismansabre/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talismansabre/?hl=en

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 - https://www1.defence.gov.au/exercises/talisman-sabre-21

https://news.defence.gov.au/international/troops-come-ashore-quiet-beach-final-push

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14235790 (310712ZJUL21) Notable: Video: From Alaska to Queensland - U.S. paratroopers drop in on Talisman Sabre 2021 - United States Army troops from the 3rd Batallion, 509th Infantry Airbourne conducted an airborne assault dropping into 'Kangaroo Dropzone' near Charters Towers, Queensland for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 - Department of Defence Australia

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>>128475

From Alaska to Queensland - U.S. paratroopers drop in on Talisman Sabre 2021

Department of Defence Australia

Jul 30, 2021

United States Army troops from the 3rd Batallion, 509th Infantry Airbourne conducted an airborne assault dropping into 'Kangaroo Dropzone' near Charters Towers, Queensland for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21).

The paratroopers, based in Alaska, jumped from RAAF C-17A Globemaster aircraft, testing interoperability between Australia and the U.S.

Held every two years, TS21 is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States, aimed to test Australian interoperability with the United States and other participating forces in complex warfighting scenarios. In addition to the United States, TS21 involves participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

More here: https://news.defence.gov.au/capability/paratroopers-skies-over-queensland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um-uKaXIdp0

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14236063 (310841ZJUL21) Notable: Talisman Sabre Tweet: Hidden beneath the deep blue sea lurks an unseen threat, keeping sailors alert during #TS21 - @Australian_Navy & @USNavy submarines are disrupting operations during a series of sub-surface training scenarios, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: TS_24.jpg, E7cTCIgXIAAs38p.jpg

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>>128477

Talisman Sabre Tweet

Hidden beneath the deep blue sea lurks an unseen threat, keeping sailors alert during #TS21.

@Australian_Navy & @USNavy submarines are disrupting operations during a series of sub-surface training scenarios.

Learn more - bit. ly/3rEQxjZ

#AlliesandPartners

https://twitter.com/TalismanSabre/status/1420625136831639552

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14236071 (310843ZJUL21) Notable: Submarines add extra layer of realism on Talisman Sabre - Warrant Officer Class Two Max Bree - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: 725_Squadron_s_MH_60R_Romeo_helicopter_conducts_an_Anti_Submarine_exercise_with_HMAS_Rankin_in_the_Eastern_Australian_Exercise_Area.jpg

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>>128304

>>128478

Submarines add extra layer of realism on Talisman Sabre

Warrant Officer Class Two Max Bree - 27 July 2021

Beneath the impressive amphibious landings and multi-national fleet manoeuvres lurked an unseen menace, keeping sailors on their toes during Exercise Talisman Sabre 21 (TS21).

Royal Australian Navy submarines HMA Ships Collins and Rankin were on the prowl to disrupt surface-ship operations during a series of attack and interdiction missions. A United States submarine also contributed to the sub-surface training scenario.

Unlike the submarine wolf packs of WWII, today’s subs are lone hunters; dodging sonar and other sensors looking for a torpedo shot.

Australian Navy Captain Peter Bartlett, TS21 Maritime Response Cell, said submarines were a very dangerous adversary when positioned well.

“It does not mean the submarine will always win. There are ways to defeat submarines through manoeuvering and employment of air and surface assets,” he said.

As part of the opposing force for a portion of TS21, subs conducted sea-denial operations against the allied fleet, limiting their freedom of movement on the water’s surface.

This forced surface elements to undertake what Captain Bartlett referred to as the most complex type of maritime warfare – anti-submarine operations.

“That’s because of the environment and the capabilities of modern submarines,” Captain Bartlett said.

“Much of the training is based around the employment of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, as well as surface ships.”

Captain Bartlett said anti-submarine warfare was something surface elements had to perform over extended periods to keep adversaries at bay, with difficulty depending on a variety of conditions.

“It all depends on the environment and the water in which you operate,” Captain Bartlett said.

Submarines also conducted sub-versus-sub training.

The exercise included time to debrief the submarine teams after each serial and apply what they had learned.

“You cannot simulate the anti-submarine warfare training environment to the same extent without [other submarines],” Captain Bartlett said.

“You need a submarine with the thinking, reacting crew to train against.”

A special edition Talisman Sabre newspaper will be available on August 2. To subscribe for free, click here:

https://www.defence.gov.au/Publications/NewsPapers/

Read more TS21 news here:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/TalismanSabre

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/talismansabre/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/talismansabre/?hl=en

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 - https://www1.defence.gov.au/exercises/talisman-sabre-21

https://news.defence.gov.au/capability/submarines-add-extra-layer-realism-talisman-sabre

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14236111 (310857ZJUL21) Notable: Making new mates on exercise Talisman Sabre: Australian-Japanese soldier Private Louii Hornibrook, 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment - Captain Dan Mazurek - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Private_Louii_Hornibrook_from_the_3rd_Battalion_Royal_Australian_Regiment_on_board_a_landing_craft_during_Exercise_Talisman_Sabre_2021.jpg

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>>128304

>>128480

Making new mates on exercise

Captain Dan Mazurek - 30 July 2021

Getting to know the Japanese soldiers embarked on HMAS Canberra for Exercise Talisman Sabre (TS21) has been a career highlight for Australian-Japanese soldier Private Louii Hornibrook, from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

“We’ve been swapping rat packs, comparing training, you know,” Private Hornibrook said after a solid physical training session on the ship’s light vehicle deck (LVD).

With the aircraft lift lowered, there was a strong ocean breeze offsetting the Queensland humidity, making the LVD a popular place to work out.

HMAS Canberra was transiting north towards Ingham in preparation for the amphibious phase of TS21.

The heat didn't bother Private Hornibrook, who grew up on the Sunshine Coast.

His British father and Japanese mother met on holiday before settling in Queensland.

Private Hornibrook's grandfather, who served in the Royal Air Force, inspired him to join the ADF.

“Mum wanted uni, but Army has always been my aspiration,” Private Hornibrook said.

“They just wanted me to have a good career and now they see that I’m happy and saving heaps and enjoying my job, they are pretty proud of me.”

After initial training, Townsville was an easy choice in terms of units.

“I love it. I’m definitely glad I chose 3RAR as my battalion – super-motivated individuals, good rank structure and lots of time to train, so it’s been fun," Private Hornibrook said.

Last week, 3RAR moved from Lavarack Barracks to Bowen where it conducted a mock beach landing before marrying up with US Marines and Japanese soldiers to assault Objective Pepsi: an abandoned coking plant in the middle of town.

From there, the multinational forces loaded onto various landing craft at King’s Beach and embarked aboard Canberra.

This is Private Hornibrook’s first Talisman Sabre and getting to know his Asian and American counterparts had been a great experience.

That said, at the end of the day, it was his friends who made it memorable.

“The best part about the Australian Army is going everywhere with the mates that I’ve come through training with,” he said.

“A lot of us got posted to Townsville, so being able to experience these new things with all my closest mates is probably the best part about it all.”

The tight-knit camaraderie in 3RAR was obvious hearing the banter from Private Hornibrook’s mates as they ribbed him over his TS21 celebrity status, tallying up each click of the camera’s shutter for the payment they'd receive when TS21 was done.

Seeing the American, Japanese and Australian soldiers playing basketball and doing physical training together on the LVD, it was clear mateship isn’t limited to one army.

https://news.defence.gov.au/people/making-new-mates-exercise

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14236219 (310930ZJUL21) Notable: Communications ready for Koolendong - The live-fire exercise will be held during August and September at the Bradshaw Field Training Area, NT - Captain Peter March - defence.gov.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: _2020_Gunner_Thalia_Tabuai_right_of_8th_12th_Regiment_Royal_Australian_Artillery_and_US_Marine_Corps_Corporal_Kevin_Dominic_Matias_ram_a_high_explosive_projectile_into_the_breach_of_an_M777A2_Howitzer.jpg

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>>128483

Communications ready for Koolendong

Captain Peter March - 27 July 2021

Preparations are underway for high-end warfighting Exercise Koolendong, which is set to take place between elements of 1 Brigade and the US Marine Corps Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D).

The exercise will be held during August and September at the Bradshaw Field Training Area, NT.

The live-fire exercise, which is the concluding activity for the current MRF-D deployment, aims to achieve proficiency in core mission essential tasks and to enhance integration between the two nations.

To ensure successful interoperability from the outset, personnel from 1 Combat Signal Regiment (1CSR) and the MRF-D established a Coalition Communications Formation Node on the Robertson Barracks parade ground for a mission readiness activity to confirm information exchange between coalition networks.

1CSR’s Captain Michael Wiggins explained the importance of these types of pre-exercise activities in order to help identify and address potential issues.

“Here we have Australian soldiers and United States Marines working side-by-side, working to confirm that everything is mission ready before we deploy to the field,” Captain Wiggins said.

“Some of the initial challenges that we’ve come across is from a communications security perspective, getting the integration between their national authorities to be able talk on the same networks within the coalition.”

Communications enable the two forces to not only walk the talk on exercises, but be ready to respond if needed during humanitarian aid tasks or in conflict.

Captain Michael Wiggins said Exercise Koolendong was used to confirm ADF and MRF-D posture for contingency and crisis response in the Indo-Pacific region.

“From a communications perspective, Exercise Koolendong confirms that everything we say about interoperability and the effect we’re able to achieve in the stable barracks environment, is also replicated and achievable in the field or if required, in an operationally contested environment,” he said.

Teams from 1CSR and MRF-D will spend three weeks in the field, communicating across about 6600km2 to keep 4000 troops connected during Exercise Koolendong.

https://news.defence.gov.au/service/communications-ready-koolendong

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14243099 (010857ZAUG21) Notable: Australia's east coast battles rising COVID-19 cases, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_mostly_empty_domestic_terminal_at_Sydney_Airport.jpg

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>>128203

Australia's east coast battles rising COVID-19 cases

Lidia Kelly - August 1, 2021

MELBOURNE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's east coast states of New South Wales and Queensland faced an escalating battle against the COVID-19 Delta variant on Sunday, with millions under strict lockdown and authorities urging more testing and vaccinations to rein in the outbreaks.

Sydney and its surroundings, under a stay-at-home order for five weeks already, reported 239 new locally acquired cases of the highly infectious Delta strain, matching the record daily number in the current outbreak that was reported on Thursday.

The city's 5 million residents and those in neighbouring regional centres spanning 200 km (120 miles) of coastline are to stay home until Aug. 28 at least. The total number of cases in the outbreak, which began in mid-June, has reached 3,427.

"I think what is important to know is that there is no roadmap for the Delta variant," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

"The challenge for us is getting as many people vaccinated in August as possible so by the time 28 of August comes around, we have options as to how we can ease restrictions."

Australia's vaccination drive has been sluggish, with only 18% of adults fully vaccinated so far. Brad Hazzard, NSW health minister, said that 70% of the state's population could be fully vaccinated in about four months.

In neighbouring Queensland, there were nine new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, the biggest daily spike in almost a year. More than 3 million residents were put into a three-day snap lockdown on Saturday.

"It is vital (to get tested), anyone with any symptoms at all, it doesn't matter where you are, because I don't know where this virus is at the moment," Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young said.

Australia has managed to keep its epidemic largely under control with a total of just over 34,000 cases and 924 deaths. But the slow vaccination drive means that it could be months before the country's borders reopen.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-new-south-wales-reports-239-locally-acquired-covid-19-cases-2021-08-01/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14243113 (010902ZAUG21) Notable: Sydney anti-lockdown protest never arrived, but the movement is just getting started, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_man_rides_a_unicycle_past_police_in_the_CBD_exclusion_zone_on_Saturday.jpg, Police_enforced_an_exclusion_zone_around_the_city.jpg, Mounted_police_at_Hyde_Park_anticipated_another_protest_in_the_city.jpg, Experts_say_protests_are_likely_so_long_as_images_of_people_at_Bondi_Beach_continue_to_be_shared.jpg

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>>128418

Anti-lockdown protest never arrived, but the movement is just getting started

Nick O'Malley - July 31, 2021

A lone man on a unicycle tootled by a bored-looking posse of police officers in an otherwise empty Victoria Park in the warm winter sun at midday, highlighting just how thoroughly authorities had closed the city to protesters.

A week earlier, protesters had gathered here before marching into the city in an anti-lockdown “freedom rally” that turned violent at times and provoked outrage from authorities and fellow citizens alike.

On Saturday, police ringed the city and flooded its parks and public spaces, determined to prevent a repeat of the event.

Taxis and ride-share services were banned from taking passengers into the CBD and police stopped cars at roadblocks on major roads, checking identification and turning away those without a valid reason for travelling into the exclusion zone.

Eight people were arrested across Greater Sydney and more than 250 penalty infringement notices were issued in the high visibility operation, which saw more than 1300 police deployed across the CBD and surrounding suburbs.

Most of the infringements were issued to people for travelling outside their local government area, contrary to the stay-at-home orders, police said.

Olive New watched the operation unfold on her doorstep in St Peters opposite Sydney Park where she has lived for 40 years. Ms New said she welcomed the police presence.

“I think it shows you how worried the government really is about COVID,” she said.

Throughout Newtown, where rallies were rumoured to have been planned, a community known for its sympathy for protest actions generally shared her sentiment.

A large homemade sign propped up early in the morning at Camperdown Memorial Rest Park read, “You give protest a bad name”. On local social media sites, people thanked the police for keeping protesters out.

At Hyde Park police officers gathered in groups at every entrance from early in the morning. No protesters were seen by the media who watched throughout the day.

On the social media channels of some prominent figures in the emerging anti-lockdown protest movement, it was claimed that the rallies authorities feared were never planned in the first place.

One leading figure from last weekend’s rally warned people against attending, saying it was a “trap” set by the media. Others described it as a “false flag” event, using a term favoured by conspiracy theorists who believe governments agents are behind events like pandemics or mass shootings.

Another message being shared on social media showed a flyer for a rally at Hyde Park, tagged with the message, “This event is a police set-up, do not attend.”

Kas Ross, an academic who researches the growing far right movement, said that even though authorities managed to avert protests on Saturday, the movement was likely to grow as long as the lockdown continued.

She said the anti-lockdown movement in Sydney is at a similar stage of growth as it was in Melbourne a year ago.

Dr Ross, who follows the movement on social media platforms, said that those who attended last week’s rally included protesters concerned about loss of civil liberties, as well as opportunists - often from right-wing fringe politics - seeking to raise their public profiles.

It was backed and promoted on social media by an international protest group called Worldwide Demonstration, which has helped organise rallies in cities around the world.

In Melbourne, the movement has also attracted QAnon conspiracy theorists, libertarians and Trump supporters, many of whom have never attended rallies in the past.

“As long as you have the lockdowns going on and people in some suburbs find they can’t leave the house without being questioned by police, while they are seeing pictures of people lying on the beach at Bondi, they are going to get pissed off, and some will protest,” she said.

The well-organised and networked global anti-vaccination movement has also been central to the movement, she says.

Some parts of the movement are already advertising another rally to be held in Sydney later this month, and a Worldwide Demonstration site is promoting a global rally slated for the following month.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/anti-lockdown-protest-never-arrived-but-the-movement-is-just-getting-started-20210731-p58epo.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14243180 (010924ZAUG21) Notable: YouTube restricts Sky News Australia channel over ‘COVID misinformation’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Sky_News_Australia_s_YouTube_channel.jpg

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YouTube restricts Sky News channel over ‘COVID misinformation’

Josh Butler - Aug 1 2021

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YouTube has restricted Sky News Australia’s channel for a week and deleted several of its videos as part of a new crackdown on COVID ‘misinformation’.

It comes after Sky host Alan Jones was dropped from his column in News Corp’s Daily Telegraph and heavily criticised by former 2GB Radio colleague Ray Hadley following controversial comments on lockdowns and the pandemic.

Despite a relatively small television audience on Foxtel, Sky News Australia has one of the biggest YouTube channels in the country, with 1.86 million subscribers.

By comparison, ABC News has 1.42 million, 9 News Australia 767,000 and 7 News Australia 542,000.

Sky’s YouTube channel published dozens of videos every day, from short news bulletin clips to longer interviews and editorial segments from its ‘after dark’ conservative opinion programs.

But despite an active YouTube presence, Sky News Australia hasn’t published a video on the platform since July 29.

In a statement to The New Daily, a spokesperson for Google-owned YouTube said the channel had been given a “strike” for posting videos that the platform claimed constituted “misinformation” about COVID.

That strike means the channel is restricted from posting new videos for seven days.

“We have clear and established COVID-19 medical misinformation policies based on local and global health authority guidance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 misinformation that could cause real-world harm,” the YouTube spokesperson said.

“We apply our policies equally for everyone regardless of uploader, and in accordance with these policies and our long-standing strikes system, removed videos from and issued a strike to Sky News Australia’s channel.

YouTube said it doesn’t “allow content that denies the existence of COVID-19 or that encourages people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus”.

“We do allow for videos that have sufficient countervailing context, which the violative videos did not provide,” the statement continued.

YouTube declined to specify exactly which videos had been removed or how their content breached the platform’s rules.

TND contacted News Corp for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. In a statement on its website, Sky News Australia confirmed the suspension, saying it came after “a review of old uploaded videos.”

“Sky News Australia acknowledges YouTube’s right to enforce its policies and looks forward to continuing to publish its popular news and analysis content back to its audience of 1.85 million YouTube subscribers shortly,” it said.

“We support broad discussion and debate on a wide range of topics and perspectives which is vital to any democracy. We take our commitment to meeting editorial and community expectations seriously.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14243226 (010937ZAUG21) Notable: How foreign spies are infiltrating Australia - Intelligence experts say a “dormant presence” is lurking in Australia’s critical networks amid a rise in espionage efforts by foreign governments, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Senator_James_Paterson_chair_of_the_intelligence_and_security_committee_says_espionage_efforts_by_China_had_never_been_higher.jpg

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How foreign spies are infiltrating Australia

Intelligence experts say a “dormant presence” is lurking in Australia’s critical networks amid a rise in espionage efforts by foreign governments.

David Hurley - August 1, 2021

Foreign spies under the control of overseas governments are feared to have planted digital viruses to disrupt Australia’s critical networks such as electricity, water and food delivery in the event of the country going to war.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal intelligence agencies have learned that a “dormant presence” is believed to be lurking in the country’s critical networks, ready to be deployed if Australia becomes involved in a conflict in the region or in a humanitarian crisis.

It can also be revealed that more than 10 suspected spies have left Australia in the past 12 months after being confronted with strong evidence they were involved in foreign interference.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, Liberal senator James Paterson, chair of the federal parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee, said espionage efforts by China in Australia had never been higher and the country is “by far and away the biggest threat”.

Speaking about the spectre of foreign spies having infiltrated Australia’s critical infrastructure, Senator Paterson did not name China directly, but said: “The sobering thing about that is we have had independent experts before the committee say they believe it is likely there is already a dormant presence on some of those critical networks of a foreign state that could be activated in the event of a regional conflict or crisis.

“And that activation could be used to disable Australia internally and to weaken us to prevent us from projecting our power in the region and prevent us from coming to the aid of our friends and allies.”

Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is harmful to a computer network and includes viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is grappling with the threat of foreign spies more than at any time in its 72-year history.

While the public hear little about the work that goes into sending foreign spies home, Senator Paterson said it is happening frequently.

“It is very real,” he said.

“There is a lot that happens below the surface which will never reach the public record. There are foreign spies and agents of foreign powers who are all the time identified by ASIO and other agencies and called out and leave quietly to avoid embarrassment to their government.”

In March ASIO director-general Mike Burgess revealed the agency had cracked a “nest of spies” that successfully recruited a government official with security access to classified defence technology.

The spies also groomed politicians and tried to get access to sensitive security protocols for a major airport.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/how-foreign-spies-are-infiltrating-australia/news-story/bc54c0422f22f5d1ebdac05dc73c2c82

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14243230 (010938ZAUG21) Notable: Victorian Liberal Senator James Paterson lifts lid on China’s "wolf-warrior diplomacy" and the “shocking” level of Chinese subterfuge in Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Liberal_Senator_James_Paterson_was_recently_appointed_chairman_of_the_federal_parliament_s_powerful_intelligence_and_security_committee.jpg, Chinese_Premier_Li_Keqiang_delivering_a_speech_at_the_Australia_China_State_Provincial_Leaders_Forum_in_Sydney_in_2017.jpg

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>>128489

Victorian senator lifts lid on China’s ‘wolf-warrior diplomacy’

A senator has revealed the “shocking” level of Chinese subterfuge in Australia as the escalating trade war leads to a deterioration in relations between the two countries.

DAVID HURLEY - July 31, 2021

1/2

A lot has changed in four years. Back in 2017 the Turnbull government was considering signing an extradition treaty with China.

For many it was a no-brainer. Just another agreement with the country’s biggest trading partner.

James Paterson was 29 at the time and had been in the Senate only a year.

Until then his background was more in economics than national security. But something didn’t feel right to him about the looming deal with China.

Along with MPs Andrew Hastie and Tim Wilson, the young senator threatened to cross the floor and vote against the government.

“I was concerned an Australian citizen could be sent to face a fundamentally unfair justice system that has a 99.9 per cent conviction rate,” he tells the Sunday Herald Sun in his South Melbourne office.

“I was worried it would be another tool of leverage or oppression for the Chinese Communist Party to use against the Chinese diaspora in Australia.

“There are 1.2 million people here who already face threats to family and friends back at home if they don’t uphold and support Beijing’s political objectives in Australia.

“I thought this would be a powerful tool and strike a lot of fear into the hearts of the Chinese community.”

Fast-forward four years and the relationship between Australia and China has undergone a seismic shift. An escalating trade war has led to a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Australia’s security agencies have stepped up their efforts against foreign interference – with China deemed the No. 1 target.

Two weeks ago Australia joined the US in accusing China of engaging in “malicious cyber activities”, including recently a huge global hack on Microsoft Exchange software that compromised tens of thousands of computers.

“Everything that has happened in the last four years has vindicated that stand. No Australian government today would propose an extradition treaty with China; we have moved on a long way,” Senator Paterson said.

Earlier this year the Liberal senator was appointed chairman of the federal parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee.

“It has been a steep learning curve over the last five months,” he said.

“China is the biggest player in this space (espionage). They are not the only player, but China is by far and away the biggest threat.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/14245410 (011843ZAUG21) Notable: Our resilience has silenced Covid prophets of doom - "You are more resilient than you think...The Covid pandemic has done its worst and humanity has survived", MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_moment_when_tenor_Maurizio_Marchini_took_to_his_balcony_to_serenade_Florence_with_Puccini_s_Nessun_Dorma.jpg

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Our resilience has silenced Covid prophets of doom

JENNIFER ORIEL - AUGUST 2, 2021

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You are more resilient than you think. The message from mental health experts is that life in lockdown has been hard for most and misery for some. But the Covid pandemic has done its worst and humanity has survived. Developed nations where the virus took hold early are reaching high levels of vaccination, which should mean an end to the most restrictive public health containment policies. While Australia is playing catch-up, vaccination rates are rising as state governments allow younger people to access vaccines. All of this is good news for thumping Covid and giving hope where mutual suspicion has reigned for too long.

It takes a Christian with chutzpah to bet on Christmas. But the Prime Minister has set his sights on opening the country in time for Santa. On Friday, he met with the national cabinet to hatch a plot against Covid’s grip on power. Armed with modelling from the Doherty Institute, cabinet set vaccination thresholds for charting a path out of the pandemic. When 70 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, lockdowns will become less likely, some international arrivals will be permitted and vaccinated residents will enjoy greater freedoms such as reduced quarantine requirements.

At about 80 per cent, lockdowns will be “highly targeted”; vaccinated residents will have greater freedom of movement and be permitted to travel internationally. The travel bubble will be extended to other “safe” countries and inbound citizens who have been fully vaccinated will enjoy reduced requirements for re-entry.

The long-awaited end to Covid winter is in sight. Yet psychologists have warned that mental health can deteriorate as societies move out of pandemics. For The Atlantic, the Covid mind is a tale of two stories. The first ran in July 2020. Jacob Stern marshalled research and experts who warned about an impending mental health disaster. Stern observed that a third of Americans were already feeling severe anxiety. Texts to a federal emergency mental health line had increased 1000 per cent.

It was widely believed that people were at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder. There was historical precedent; in the four years following the SARS pandemic, more than 40 per cent of survivors in Hong Kong were found to have a psychiatric illness. There were “delirious patients” in America with “chilling hallucinations”. Stern contended that: “A wave of psychological stress unique in its nature and proportions is bearing down on an already-ramshackle American mental healthcare system.”

A year on, The Atlantic was emerging from dystopia. Psychology professors Lara Aknin, Jamil Zaki and Elizabeth Dunn reported on their efforts to quantify the psychological effects of the pandemic. They examined studies from nearly 100 countries that measured variables such as life satisfaction, anxiety, depression and deaths by suicide.

(continued)

Follow-up thread

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>>197

Follow-up thread