Covid19 - 75% of vaccinated people infected with Covid19 in Massachusetts

WASHINGTON: Three quarters of people infected with COVID-19 at public events in a Massachusetts town were fully vaccinated, a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.

The study, published on Friday without naming the town, suggested the Delta variant of the virus was highly contagious.

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The study found vaccinated individuals had a similar amount of virus presence as the unvaccinated, suggesting that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant could transmit the virus, the CDC said.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said this was a "pivotal discovery" leading to CDC's recommendation this week that masks be worn in areas where cases were surging as a precaution against possible transmission by fully vaccinated people.

The above Reuters report confirmed that vaccinated people are not safer than non vaccinated people against the virus especially Delta variant. It also said that the virus presence in vaccinated and unvaccinated people are similar, ie no difference, just as infectious.

The narrative in Singapore is that vaccinated people are safer though this is changing to one that said vaccinated people would have less severe infection than unvaccinated. Maybe the virus here and those in Massachusetts are different and the virus here are less likely to infect vaccinated people. Any data to prove this is so? Any view, vaccinated people are more dangerous carriers as many are asymtomatic and could be spreading the virus under a false confidence that they are not infected.

Whatever the narratives, the number of new cases is the new and real story. If the vaccines are effective, new cases must go down, not go up. The situations in US and UK are getting worse, more infections and more stringent measures introduced with mask becoming mandatory. And they all use mRNA vaccines, touted as the best by the sales talk with sales figures claiming more than 90% efficacy but losing ground and confidence with new data coming up.

Where is the solution, what is the solution when vaccines are no longer effective? The self denial that vaccines is the solution, the cure and prevention of this virus is growing very thin. Why keep poking and paying when it is not going to be effective?

PS. Vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant might be as contagious as those who are unvaccinated , the CDC says, and urged Americans to start wearing masks again.

Was the US Invasion of Afghanistan Legal Under International Law? - Part 1+2

Introduction

This article sets out to analyse whether the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was legal under international law.

Reference is primarily made to the United Nations Charter and customary international law.

Moralistic and pacifist arguments are not relied upon in this article, as the aim here is to assess the conflict within a legal context.

The work of legal scholars, academics, journalists and politicians are also used for analysis in order to determine the legitimacy of the war.


Brief History of Modern Afghanistan (1979 Onwards)

Afghanistan is a country with a population of approximately 30 million people. It is predominantly a Muslim country and is very ethnically diverse. The major ethnic groups in Afghanistan include the Pashtuns (who make up around half the population of Afghanistan), Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and Turkmen.

The country was invaded in 1979 by the Soviet Union, after they believed that the Afghan elite was becoming increasingly close to the Americans and drifting away from the Soviets.

The war began at a time when revolutions were taking place across Afghanistan. That war went on for just under 10 years, and resulted in the defeat of the Soviet Union and victory for the Taliban, and the Afghan resistance movement as a whole.

The Taliban was an Afghan resistance movement that came into being during the Soviet invasion as a direct response to the invasion. It was funded by the US and Pakistan and was made up mainly of ethnic Pashtuns.

The need for a resistance group was necessary in Afghanistan, as the Afghan army had been funded and trained by the Soviets and was in place to serve their interests.

After the Soviet invasion came to an end, Afghanistan continued to face an uncertain future and was still riddled with instability. This was due to the civil war that broke out in the country in the late 1980s which intensified in 1992, after the government of Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah was toppled.

The civil war itself went on for over a decade and resulted in the deaths of approximately 400,000 Afghans.

After the Taliban seized control of Kabul, a group known as the Northern Alliance was formed. This group consisted mainly of Afghan minorities of Central Asian descent and was funded primarily by Iran, as well as the CIA. But the Northern Alliance fell apart by late 2001, and was not in any way as powerful as the Taliban when it was in existence.


The Beginning of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’

The invasion of Afghanistan took place on the 7th of October 2001, and was called ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ by the United States Government. The US Government claimed that the invasion was in retaliation to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Pennsylvania. The main reason the invasion took place was because the US felt that it could eradicate Al-Qaeda and its support network within the Taliban through military action. The US claimed that it needed to get troops on the ground in Afghanistan, as Afghanistan refused to comply when asked to hand over terrorists that had sought refuge there. These were terrorists that the US believed played a major role in the 9/11 attacks.

On hindsight, after numerous Independent investigations and studies, the 9/11 attacks are said to have been carried out by people organised, trained and funded by Saudi Arabia, and probably Israel was also involved in one way or another.

It must be noted that no terrorist organisation in the world had claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, even if some may have sympathised with the act itself. 

Yoram Dinstein in his book 'War, Aggression and Self-Defence' incorrectly made the assertion that the Taliban had alluded to having conspired in implementing the attacks. In reality, the chief spokesperson of the Taliban at the time of the attacks, Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakel, and the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, both condemned the attacks and did not claim responsibly for them on the part of the Taliban or Al Qaeda. This is also affirmed by Aijaz Ahmad in his book 'Iraq, Afghanistan and the Imperialism of Our Time', where he writes, ‘it was in fact even more difficult to link the Taliban themselves with the events of 11 September; they denounced the attack immediately and promised in no uncertain terms to help find the culprits’.

What is a ‘Terrorist’?

The US and UK governments claimed that they were engaging in a war with Afghanistan because the country was harbouring terrorists that were complicit in the attacks that befell the US on the 11th of September 2001. In order to determine whether terrorists had taken refuge in Afghanistan and if they were actively operating from there, a descriptive definition of what a terrorist or terrorism comprises is due.

The CIA has its own definition of terrorism, namely that terrorism is a ‘premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.’ Thus, with reference to the CIA’s definition of terrorism, it can be deduced that anyone engaging in such activity is a terrorist.

Furthermore, in relation to the CIA’s definition of terrorism, Al-Qaeda fit the common narrative of being a terrorist organisation, as it uses an ideology to justify the use of violence against innocent people. However, a small issue of technicality does arise here, as the CIA’s definition does not account for motives for terrorism other than political. This issue should not be ignored as Al Qaeda uses a skewed religious ideology as the basis for its activities rather than a ‘politically motivated’ one. None the less, the suicide bombings carried out by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region would suggest that such activity can only be the work of a terrorist organisation, thus labelling Al Qaeda as such is justified.

On the other hand, labelling the Taliban as a terrorist organisation is problematic. This is because the Taliban was formed as a resistance group to fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, with funding from the US and Pakistan.

Also, conflating Al Qaeda and the Taliban has caused more confusion to the matter, as low level infiltration of the Taliban by Al Qaeda does not mean that both organisations are one and the same. Furthermore, the ideology of the Taliban is based around the application of Sharia law within Afghanistan, and it does not seek to follow Al Qaeda’s practices.

The Taliban continue to fight occupiers of their land and in the present context this applies to the US-led forces based there. Also unlike Al Qaeda, the Taliban are not active in terrorist attacks abroad, except in Pakistan due to the porous border between the two countries.

International Law on Self-Defence, the Use of Force and War

Initially, the United States had claimed that the invasion of Afghanistan was necessary on the grounds of self-defence, as a terrorist attack had taken place in the US and action was needed in order to prevent other such attacks. Afghanistan was specifically chosen since the US believed that terrorists were being harboured and trained there by Al Qaeda.

The former US President George W. Bush affirmed this when he said, ‘One by one we’re going to find [Al Qaeda and the Taliban] and piece by piece we’ll tear their terrorist network apart’.

SSO

Moon landing cat. How long more can the American cover up their moon landing hoax?

 

 

Look carefully at this American moon landing clip. Partially hidden by the translation band a cat was seen walking slowly across the screen, a few meters in front of the astronaut,...on the moon! How on earth could the cat be there?

Second point, looking at the shadow, the sun is pretty low on the horizon and very bright. Look at the reflection on the back of the astronaut. But it was pitch dark in the back where the sun was supposed to be.

Third point, the front of the astronaut and the cat were very bright, as if a reflector was used to reflect light onto them to show the details in their front. Normally their front would be pretty dark relative to the strong light behind them.

Fourth point. Remember the infamous Armstrong footprint on the moon? And also the numerous footprints around their lunar module in an area that looked damp? The astronaut above was walking some distance from the rover behind. But there was no trace of any footprint behind him or around him. It looked as if he was planted on the spot for a photo shoot and a cat just walked past nonchalantly.

China's moon mission is not simply to explore the moon and setting up a moon base station. It is also there to expose the American lies that they landed on the moon.  With the recent visit to the moon by its probes and collecting samples of moon soil, China is on the very of confirming that the American moon landing was simply a lie, a typical American big white lie.

Covid19 - Petition to allow vaccinatee Indians to enter Singapore

 As travel restrictions prevail, a petition has popped up on Change.org urging the Singapore government to allow vaccinated individuals from India to enter the country.

The petition, titled “Ease Travel Restrictions for Vaccinated ‘Indian’ with Singapore“, has garnered over 4,300 signatures at the time of writing.

Specifically, the petition seeks to have Indian travellers with valid work, student, or dependent visas or holders of other passes to be allowed to enter Singapore if they can provide a government-issued vaccination certificate on the Indian government’s end....

The situation in India, the petition claimed, has “improved a lot” as new daily COVID-19 cases have been “significantly reduced” recently, coupled with the “accelerating” drive to vaccinate the population....

In April, the COVID-19 pandemic started to spiral out of control as the country faced a new wave of infections, with new cases being reported at over 300,000 each day

 

Above is quoted from TOC.  Apparently more than 4,000 have signed the petition. Not sure how many Singaporeans were among the 4,000+ that signed. Any thinking Singaporean would be asking, are the numbers reported in India true, the situation has improved? What is the situation now, acceptable?

Another question, how many would believe the certificates for vaccination are real, not fakes?

How many of you would think it is a good thing, a wise thing, to sign this petition?

The Illegal US Invasion Of Afghanistan in 2001

The United States' invasion of Afghanistan occurred after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, USA, in late 2001. This Invasion was part of the Bush Administration's War on Terror, the countering of terror with even greater terror, by inflicting untold and uncountable sufferings upon millions of innocent women and children of the Afghan people and people in the neighbouring countries.

The aggression is also known as the US War against the Afghan people, or the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.

On the surface, publicly, the US claimed that the aim of the invasion was to dismantle the al-Qaeda and deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by forcefully overthrowing the existing Afghan Government, led by the Taliban, from power.

In reality, the Invasion of Afghanistan by the US, and its few coerced or cowed allies, was an extension and expansion of the Afghan Civil War's from 1996 to 2001, between the Northern Alliance groups and the Taliban forces which controlled 90% of the country by 2001.

The Northern Alliance Group was a number of Afghan warlords, supported by Western powers, mainly the UK, US and France. Yet they have lost the fight miserably to the Taliban forces because of popular and widespread supports of the local population given to the Taliban. The Taliban was/is actually a nationalistic movement painted black and evil by the evil White Imperialists, who were more interested in the natural resources of Afghanistan than caring for the Afghan people.

The US invasion of Afghanistan became the first phase of the War in Afghanistan, which has three main phases.

This Invasion was not debated or approved by the United Nations Security Council. It was an arbitrary, unilateral decision made by the US with a few of its allies being used to make it looked like a combined international force. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, the US Invasion of Afghanistan was totally illegal and belligerent.

Whatever resolutions then passed by the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan after the US Invasion cannot be used to justify for the US invasion of Afghanistan. The US had totally disregarded International Laws in the first place.

The US Invasion of Afghanistan is illegal and, therefore, criminal. Period.


SSO - 30 July 2021.

Muslim countries found China as a reliable partner and trusting friend

 After centuries of colonisation, oppression, exploitation and invasion by the West, the Muslim countries have found a new consensus in China as a trusted friend and reliable partner to build strong economic and strategic relationship. No longer would they be bullied by the West, be controlled and manipulated by the West, be invaded and their people killed and countries destroyed by the West. They no longer trust the West and their white lies.

Iraq is inviting China to rebuild its infrastructure destroyed by the invading Americans.  Syria is doing likewise, inviting China and accepting Chinese military aid and infrastructure building brigades to rebuild their war torn countries, bombed and destroyed by the Americans. 

Iran could have been invaded and suffered a fate worse than Iraq and Syria if China did not stand solidly behind them and telling the Americans that China would not stand idly by if they invade Iran. China also defied the American sanctions and became the major buyer of Iranian oil when the rest of the world were threatened by the Americans from doing so.  This gave the Iranians a lifeline and support for its isolated economy. Chinese economic and military aid, including the sales of sophisticated and modern military weapons to counter the American military might flowed freely into Iran. The Chinese support kept the Americans at bay and the Iranian economy churning.

The latest, the failed occupation of Afghanistan and the defeat by the Taliban forced the Americans to withdraw from a devastating war they could not win. Again, China is the country that the Taliban sought help from to rebuild their country and as the trusted mediator with the Afghan govt in Kabul.

What did all these developments said about China and the USA in the eyes of the Muslim countries, despite the daily attacks and demonisation of China with fabricated lies by the Americans and the Brits? Yes, the Muslim countries no longer trust the white men and are gravitating to a China that they can rely on to rebuild their flatten countries destroyed by the white men.

The white men, especially the Americans and the Brits, have completely lost the trust of the Muslim countries. No more white lies would turn them against China. Not that the Muslim countries believed or trusted the white men in the past, but there was no one to turn to then.  China was also economically and military weaker than the West and could not be of much help. The revival and rise of China as a super power and its ability and willingness to stand up to the oppression of the white men, in particular the Americans, give the Muslim countries a new hope that there is now a China to stand by them and to stand up for them against the bullying and oppression of the white men.

The table has turned in the Middle East and Central Asia against the white men, especially the Americans. China is now the country to turn to for help, for economic cooperation and infrastructure development and a military force to be reckon with to protect the weaker countries from American and white men's threat of war and destruction.

A new balance of power is taking shape with hopes for peace, development, cooperation and prosperity for the people of Central Asia and the Middle East. With the Americans and white men kept out of the region, peace will return, forged by the BRI financed by Chinese money and backed by China's military power.

Central Asia and the Middle East, mostly Muslim countries could see a better future of peace and stability and economic growth. No more wars, no more coercion and bullying and looting by the West.

The Americans and white men have proven beyond any doubt that they are liars, cheats and untrustworthy partners to the Muslim countries and would no longer be trusted again, would not be invited or allowed into their countries to wage wars against their people, ruined their economies and countries, wounding and killing their people, making many homeless widows and orphans and many refugees. The crimes against humanity, against the Muslim people shall never be allowed to be repeated again.

Muslim countries have abandoned the Americans and white men, turning to China for support. They have enough of American and white men hypocrisies and treachery. They know who is against them, killing them, destroying their countries and people.

PS.  The Afghan Taliban support the BRI and pledged not to support anti China terrorist groups in Afghans. The terrorist groups were mostly supported, trained and finance by the Americans.

First Group of Afghan-US Spies Evacuated To USA

This reminds me of the fall of the US US-Vietnam War in 1974/5. History repeats itself again. Only this time it's not so chaotic as before.

As the US military forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban resistance militia has manage to recapture and control more than 60% of the country. Only about 20% of the land are controlled by Afghan government forces. The other 20% are contested ground, which the Taliban seems to have the upper hand.

(The Talibans were removed from power by force through the illegal US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, initiated by President George W Bush.)

As the Taliban militia forces win more and more territories, threats against Afghan traitors who spied or worked for the US military and CIA have become more intensified and imminent. As such, the US is frantically trying to get their Afghan spies and operatives out of Afghanistan as fast as possible.

The first group of 2,500 interpreters (spies) and their families has been evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday to Washington DC.

They are temporarily housed at the military quarters near Fort Lee Army Base, waiting for the completion of their Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) processing.

The SIV programme is offered to those who worked with the US government or American-led military forces during the Afghanistan war, which began in 2001.

Since 2008, approximately 70,000 Afghans who have received SIVs have been resettled in the US.

Last week, a senior state department official said that the total number of SIV applicants stands just over 20,000. About half have yet to complete the first steps of the process.

Mike Jason, a former US Army battalion commander who has been deployed to Afghanistan, said that travelling across Taliban-controlled areas with the documentation needed for SIVs puts the translators in crucial dangers.

"That's basically an entire confession that you're an interpreter working for the Americans. We're asking them to travel with the evidence," he said.

The "No One Left Behind" agency estimates that at least 300 Afghan traitors or family members have been killed. The figure seems too low. More traitors could/should have been killed.

The mass evacuation is codenamed "Operation Allies Refuge". This marks the end of the US military invasion of Afghanistan.


SSO - 30 July 2021.