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Your Saturday Briefing

The Eurozone remains in recession, with the composite PMI falling from 47.6 to 47 despite expectations that it would rise slightly, marking 7 consecutive month below 50, or stagnation. In the UK, the services PMI rising might stop them from technically being in a recession, but it's not looking much better for them overall either.

As Pakistan continues to deport 1.7 million Afghanis back to Afghanistan - most of who were living in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces - their absence is causing labor shortages in agriculture and mining. The lack of migrant remittances heading from Pakistan to Afghanistan will also hurt Afghanistan, which is already among the poorest countries on the planet following the US's mission to bring freedom and democracy there.

Putin has stated that the coming decade will see a massive expansion of infrastructure, especially in railroads, linking Russia to south and east Asia.

China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has stated that the Middle East should no longer be a geopolitical arena of great powers, after a meeting with Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is kind of a hilarious statement to make with US aircraft carriers circling it like sharks.

The ruling emir of Kuwait, Sheikh-Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, has died at the age of 86. He took power in 2020 after the old emir died, and will be succeeded by Sheik Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, who is 83 years old.

China is experiencing a cold snap, leading to yellow alerts for cold temperatures. It is predicted that in northern regions, daily low or average temperatures would approach or break records. Authorities are setting up relief supplies, and roads, railways, and schools are being closed, especially after a railway accident in Beijing after a train was unable to brake in time due to icy rails and collided with another train, injuring 515 people.

Somalia has received $4.5 billion in debt relief from the IMF and World Bank due to their implementation of a poverty reduction strategy and sound macroeconomic management. Citizens seem generally pleased.

The German Defense Minister, Pistorius, told the German troops that have been kicked out of Mali that they fulfilled their mission and their achievements were not in vain, which I suppose is technically true, if the objective of the mission was to not stop rebel groups and keep the country in a state of chaos to maintain extractive industries.

Eight million Chadians will vote in a referendum for a new constitution tomorrow; the yes side seems certain to win as the government has been waging a campaign for it. The referendum is the final step towards elections promised by the military government.

Two unidentified men had sex in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in a Senate hearing room. Dudes rock.

Argentina's Presidential Spokesman has confirmed that the country is going through hyperflation, with inflation rising at 1% per day, or nearly 4000% per year. The government has simultaneously ordered protests to be made effectively illegal, promising harsh resistance in the face of any blockades.

Zelensky held a council with generals and the Minister of Defense, they say without Zaluzhny, where he instructed to build defense lines from Kupyansk to Ugledar in the east, and in the north of Ukraine - along the borders with Belarus and the Russian Bryansk and Kursk regions.

But that’s not all, the “Zelensky line” will be created in the Nikolaev region and in sections of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

The total length of the defensive lines that should be created by order of Zelensky can be from 2.8 thousand km.

It is estimated that to make fortified areas for 2.8 thousand kilometers it will be necessary to spend at least 10 billion dollars.

• Slavyangrad

Egypt should straight up close the canal for European ships until euros sanction Israel.

"Extremely serious"? Are they trying to be funny?

US official to address reducing harm to civilians during visit to Israel. | CNN

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will conduct “extremely serious conversations” with Israeli officials during his visit this week, the White House said, as the US looks to press Israel to conduct a more “surgical” campaign against Hamas. Sullivan is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with the Israeli war cabinet during the trip, which begins Thursday. He also plans to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The visit comes as the White House struggles to square President Joe Biden’s comments about Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza with the administration’s insistence that Israel’s “intent” is to limit civilian casualties. Sullivan also held talks in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

[Continues]

It's a summary so there's lots of stuff plus a hospital map.

Summoning Salt music

...and then, after the two speedrunners at the top of the leaderboard - Russia and China - took a short break, five new runners decided to enter the race to see who could collapse US global hegemony the fastest. Palestine brought new strategies to the field, such as extensive tunnel networks, regional non-state military power alliances, and inexpensive mass-produced weaponry. Meanwhile, Venezuela threatened a war in a rainforest, which the United States has a -33% combat bonus inside as proven by Vietnam. Last but not least, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso discovered an obscure technique from decades ago called federation, and though this takes a long time to execute, it pays off later on in the speedrun...

Genocide Justin really showing his entire ass here with the other colonial castoffs from down under. All three countries voted for the unga ceasefire motion today and then released the following joint statement

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2023/12/12/joint-statement-prime-ministers-australia-canada-and-new-zealand

We want to see this pause resumed and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. This cannot be one-sided. Hamas must release all hostages, stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and lay down its arms.

There is no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.

The pre-requisite for a ceasefire is unconditional surrender. This is what people mean when they refer to states being agreement incapable. These are the same talking points against a ceasefire as earlier in the Russia-Ukraine war, and look at how that's gone since spring 2022.

If you want to do mental self harm here is a bullshit "left critique" of leftists who have grown addicted to caring about palestine. This is only worth reading if you plan to engage in posting battles against Zionists using crybully idpol language otherwise it is entirely drivel for babies

https://leftrenewal.net/ ( highly astroturfed domain too)

https://www.easternangle.com/the-one-woman-men-in-power-cant-seem-to-escape/

"I wanted to do a classic damage control strategy for RFK Jr but turns out he had the same idea"

Why are people so convinced this demonic old man can do no wrong? What the hell?

Emphasis mine.

"It can barely be described as living conditions anymore," aid official says of situation in Gaza hospital

There are barely “living conditions” for the people of the Gaza Strip, the emergency coordinator of operations for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said Tuesday.

“Living conditions…I mean it can barely be described as living conditions anymore. People are displaced once, twice, sometimes more. They just don’t know where to go anymore,” Marie-Aure Perreaut, who is based in the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, told CNN’s Isa Soares in an interview.

People sheltering in hospitals in Gaza are living in “horrendous conditions” without access to health care, she said. While Gazans traveled to hospitals in search of safety, Perreaut said, they know that “this is just not the case.” She described a lack of food and water, cold temperatures, overcrowding, and widespread diseases in hospitals, saying that the situation is “very, very tough.”

Many people are suffering from respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, and skin diseases such as scabies, she said. "All of these are clear illustrations of the extremely tough and precarious living conditions,” Perreaut said, adding that, since health care centers were ordered to evacuate, people “just don’t have access to health care anymore.”

Half of the patients that MSF was treating were children under the age of five, she said.

“All those children are still living in those conditions, facing multiple evacuation orders in the south, and now, just do not have access to health care on top of it," Perreaut said. Several hospitals in northern Gaza have ceased operations in recent weeks, saying they received orders from the Israeli military to evacuate. The Israeli military disputes issuing such an order.

Fuel shortages have forced several hospitals in Gaza to close, while others have shut down due to airstrike damage, the World Health Organization has reported. The Israeli military says it only carries out operations in and around hospitals where they are being used by Hamas and other armed groups.

Is there a collection of statements of genocidal intent by the Zionists since 10/7?

Attacks on journalists ‘a failed attempt to obscure the truth’

The media office of Gaza’s government says the “targeting” of Wael Dahdouh and Samer Abudaqa in Khan Younis “comes within the framework of intimidation and intimidation of journalists”.

It called it “a failed attempt to obscure the truth and prevent them from blatant media coverage of the crimes of the occupation against children, women and civilians”, according to a statement posted on Telegram.

Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, says the Gaza war is “the deadliest conflicts for journalists” that the media watchdog has documented in the past 30 years.

“The role of journalists in such a situation is absolutely vital, particularly in Gaza where we’ve seen the kinds of institutions that traditionally also help with the kinds of documentation about the impact, like the UN officials, have left – so we’re really only left with the Gazan journalists doing this very important documentation work,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The international governments’ failure to push for an end to this conflict is increasingly creating a real sense of abandonment amongst the community and particularly amongst the journalist community in Palestine and the region,” Ginsberg said.

Chile Update:

CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM RESULTS

Against | 3.647.523 votes- 54,30%

For | 2.964.502 votes- 45,70%

Counted: 54.20%

Israeli troops are inside Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza and interrogating staff. "Interrogating"? The maternity ward was hit which killed two women and two women had their legs amputated.

Hamas-controlled health ministry claims Israeli troops are inside Gaza hospital and interrogating staff

The Israeli military is now inside Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, according to the spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the enclave, Ashraf Al-Qidra.

Al-Qidra alleged that the hospital director, Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, and all medical staff, including female staff, were being held in the emergency department and being subjected to interrogation.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces whether its troops are indeed now inside the hospital.

Dr. Al-Kahlot told CNN on Monday that Kamal Adwan was surrounded by Israeli forces.

In one recent tank shelling, Dr. Al-Kahlot said the maternity ward was hit, killing two women and leaving two more so badly wounded their legs required amputation.

"The hospital has no water, no food, no fuel. I make an appeal to lift this siege and bring in water and fuel," he said.

On Friday, the IDF said clashes near Kamal Adwan hospital were "in response to Hamas' barbaric attacks.”

The Israeli military says it only carries out operations in and around hospitals where they are being used by Hamas and other armed groups.

- CNN