🔥 Reports that the Yury Ivanov-class intelligence ship Ivan Khurs was attacked by three maritime drones whilst transiting the Bosphorus Strait, plus the Crimean Bridge was closed for defensive exercises.
💭 At Present India has 28 States and 8 Union Territories.
There are more than 19,500 mother tongues spoken in India
Indian dialects of over 19,500 and 121 are recognized as languages since they meet the standard of 10,000 or more speakers.
The most commonly spoken Indian dialect, which also happens to be one of the oldest surviving languages in the world, is Hindi, the official language of the Indian central government, alongside English.
💭 As of 2020 about:
➡ 79% of Indians are Hindu (1 billion)
➡ 15% are Muslim (170 million)
➡ 2.3% are Christian (28 million)
➡ 1.7% are Sikhs (20 million)
➡ 0.7% Buddhists (8 million)
✞ 25+ Churches BURNED in Manipur, India
Mobs Kill 60, Burn Down 25 Churches in Northeastern India
While ethnic tensions have festered for decades, leaders in Manipur say religious extremism is fueling the extreme aggression.
Rioting mobs have taken the lives of at least sixty people and destroyed or burned down 25 churches in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. Since May 3, thousands of victims, the majority of them Christians, have fled as their homes and businesses have gone up in flames.
While tensions over property rights and economic interests have existed between the state’s ethnic groups for decades, local leaders told CT that church burnings are the result of the growth of Hindu nationalism among the dominant Meite community.
The chief minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, described the situation as a “prevailing misunderstanding between two communities” and said that his government was committed to protecting “the lives and property of all our people.”
“We should not allow the culture of communal harmony in the state to be disturbed by vested interests,” Singh said, adding that he also intended to address the community’s “long-term grievances.”
Manipur borders Myanmar and is home to a diverse range of ethnic groups, including Meiteis, who are a numerical majority in the state and are predominantly Hindu, and various tribal communities, who are largely Christian.
Primarily based in Imphal Valley, a region which includes Manipur’s capital, the Meiteis have long dominated the state’s political and economic landscape. Meanwhile, tribal communities make up around a third of the population (35.4%) and are mainly concentrated in the hills surrounding the valley, 90 percent of the state’s geographical area.
For decades, the issue of land ownership and control has been a source of conflict between the two groups. But in recent years, these tensions have been exacerbated by the political influence of the Hindu nationalist organizations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have sought to promote their faith as the dominant religion in India and have used the Meitei community to advance their political agenda in the state.
This month’s violence came weeks after the Manipur High Court ordered the state government to respond to the Meitei community’s request for Scheduled Tribe status. The designation gives communities special constitutionally backed protections including reserved seats in the parliament and state legislatures, affirmative action in education and employment, and property protections.
But believing that this categorization would dilute their own protections and political representation, Mainpur tribal groups have long fought this change.
While area leaders believe that the violence was largely a reaction to this political decision, they see its viciousness and severity, particularly the attack on churches, as the growth of the influence of BJP and the RSS. Radical Hindu ideology historically has struggled to find a foothold in Manipur, because of its mix of tribal, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim communities.
Christian leaders from the area told CT that they believed this violence was religiously motivated.
“In this pogrom, the Hindu Meiteis not only burned down churches belonging to tribals but also churches that exclusively belong to Meitei Christians,” said Ngaineilam Haokip, an academic at university in Kolkata, who grew up in Manipur. “They targeted their own brethren who follow Christ by burning their churches.”
“If this is not a pogrom, what is? They are burning churches when the protest rally was simply against the inclusion of Meiteis as Scheduled Tribe by All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM). There is definitely a religious angle here,” said a Christian leader in the area, who for security reasons asked to be identified by the name Lien.
On Wednesday, thousands of people across the state, the majority Christians, gathered locally to protest the Meitei’s demand. Although the event ended peacefully in several districts, there were reports of arson, vandalism, and confrontations in other areas.
In the district of Churachandpur, one unidentified group set fire to a famous war memorial. Infuriated by this arson, there was a clash among locals, resulting in the destruction of homes and forcing hundreds of residents to seek refuge in nearby forests. Retaliatory attacks by local youths targeted Meitei neighborhoods in Churachandpur, and the violence caused two deaths and injured 11. Some reports alleged attackers carried sophisticated weaponry.
In response, groups of people targeted several tribal neighborhoods in the capital city of Imphal. Residents told The Wire that mobs burned down 23 houses and injured 19 residents.
One victim of the attacks was a tribal legislative assembly representative who sustained severe head injuries and is currently in critical condition.
“Tribals were not prepared for a war. They were holding peace rallies against the demand for Scheduled Tribe status by Meiteis. The Meiteis on the other hand, were planning for this kind of confrontation for a long time, it seems. They collected gun licenses and guns and then lit the fire,” Haokip said.
In the wake of the violence, the government has imposed a curfew and suspended internet access. The severity of the situation has led the Indian government to deploy military to the affected areas and authorize it to use lethal force in “extreme cases” in addressing the increasing violence. The federal government has additionally invoked Article 355, giving it authority over the state of Manipur. More than 7,500 people have been evacuated to safer places.
🔥 Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman in international waters on Thursday, the U.S. Navy said, the latest in a series of seizures and attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019.
Iran’s state television IRIB News reported on its Telegram channel that the Iranian navy had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, but gave no further details.
The U.S. Navy identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet which, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data, is a Suezmax crude tanker which had been chartered by oil major Chevron and had last docked in Kuwait.
Its manager is listed as Genel Denizcilik Nakliyati AS, a Turkey-based company which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” the U.S. Navy said, adding that Iran has in the past two years unlawfully seized at least five commercial vessels in the Middle East.
Iranian authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Since 2019 there have been a series of attacks on shipping in the strategic Gulf waters at times of tension between the United States and Iran.
Iran last November released two Greek-flagged tankers it had seized in the Gulf in May in response to the confiscation of oil by the United States from an Iranian-flagged tanker off the Greek coast.
Almost a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman which the Advantage Sweet had passed through, according to ship tracking data.
Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers have stalled since September over a range of issues, including the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on popular protests, Tehran’s sale of drones to Russia and acceleration of its nuclear program.
The U.S. Navy, whose Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf island state of Bahrain, called on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGCN) to immediately release the tanker.
The ship issued a distress call during the seizure, the U.S. Navy statement said.
Maritime security company Ambrey said the tanker was boarded via helicopter and seized by the IRGCN off the coast of Bandar-e Jask in Iran.
According to the International Maritime Organisation shipping database, the Advantage Sweet is owned by a China-registered company called SPDBFL No One Hundred & Eighty-Seven (Tianjin) Ship Leasing Co Ltd.
❖ AXUM – The Capital of The Axumite Empire – Land of THE QUEEN of SHEBA – Where the Sacred ARK OF THE COVENANT is Housed.
🛑 Encircling Axumite Ethiopia 🛑
💭 Former General of the US Army Wesley Clark in 2007:
‘We Are Going to Take-out 7 Countries in 5 Years.’
Former General of the US Army Wesley Clark on the military strategy after 9/11 (Ethiopian New Year’s Day) attacks: “We are going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and finishing it off with Iran”
A former commander of NATO’s forces in Europe, Clark claims he met a senior military officer in Washington in November 2001 who told him the Bush administration was planning to attack Iraq first before taking action against Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.
The general’s allegations surface in a new book, The Clark Critique, excerpts from which appear in the latest edition of the US magazine Newsweek.
Clark says after the 11 September 2001 attacks, many Bush administration officials seemed determined to move against Iraq, invoking the idea of state sponsorship of terrorism, “even though there was no evidence of Iraqi sponsorship of 9/11 whatsoever”.
Ousting Saddam Hussein promised concrete, visible action, the general writes, dismissing it as a “Cold War approach”.
Clark criticises the plan to attack the seven states, saying it targeted the wrong countries, ignored the “real sources of terrorists”, and failed to achieve “the greater force of international law” that would bring wider global support.
“There was no evidence of Iraqi sponsorship of 9/11 whatsoever”
He also condemns George Bush’s notorious Axis of Evil speech made during his 2002 State of the Union address. “There were no obvious connections between Iraq, Iran, and North Korea,” says Clark.
Clark points the finger at what he calls “the real sources of terrorists – US allies in the region like Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia”.
Clark blames Egypt’s “repressive policies”, Pakistan’s “corruption and poverty, as well as Saudi Arabia’s “radical ideology and direct funding” for creating a pool of angry young men who became “terrorists”.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on April 26, 2023
✈️ Ukrainian UAV ‘Striking’ Moscow To Force Russia To Withdraw Its Defense Systems From Frontlines – Russian Experts
Russian analysts believe the Ukrainian military wants Moscow to withdraw its advanced air defense systems from the frontline to protect its cities from drone strikes.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) strikes in Russian cities like Moscow and Belgorod have seen an uptick recently.
While these strikes have limited success, their impact is also psychological on the Russian population, which an adversary usually hopes has a bearing on the country’s political leadership and eventually leads to strategic battlefield mistakes.
Ironically, Russia had put Ukraine in a similar dilemma in October and November 2022, when its cruise missile and drones struck deep into its cities and crippled its energy distribution network.
Ukraine’s Increasing Drone Strikes Inside Russia
On April 24, an explosive-packed Ukrainian UJ-22 drone was found near Moscow, possibly the closest a military aircraft has reached the Russian capital. However, there were conflicting reports about exactly where it landed.
TASS reported it fell in the Bogorodsky district, 19 miles east of central Moscow.
“A fallen drone stuffed with explosives was found in the Bogorodsk district, not far from the SNT Zarya. The aircraft was discovered the day before; it was broken in half,” said the TASS report quoting an unnamed source and officials from law enforcement agencies.
💭 Security video caught a female bodybuilder fighting off a man trying to attack her while she was working out alone in a Florida gym.
Nashali Alma, 24, was exercising in the gym at the Inwood Park Apartment Complex in Tampa when Xavier Thomas-Jones attacked her Jan. 22, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office charged.
💭 Two Turkish-owned cargo ships have reportedly come under attack at the port of Kherson, marking the first time in many months that commercial ships have been damaged during the fighting in Ukraine. Turkish TV is airing an undated video showing the bridge and accommodation block of one of the vessels on fire while the second ship was reported to have been hit possibly by shrapnel.
Both of the vessels registered in Vanuatu and operated by Turkish shipping companies have been trapped in Kherson for nearly a year since the fighting began in Ukraine. They are part of as many as a dozen Turkish ships that were not covered by the UN agreement and have remained caught in Ukrainian ports including Kherson and Mykolaiv while the crews were mostly evacuated.
The vessel shown on fire is the Tuzla, a 43-year-old general cargo ship managed by Cayeli Shipping of Istanbul. AIS data shows the vessel departed Turkey on February 18, 2022, and arrived in Kherson on February 23, the day before the invasion of Ukraine. The vessel is 282 feet long and 3,943 dwt.
👉 Could it be these ships with contaminated GMO Grains?
UN-chartered ship with 30,000 tones of wheat for Ethiopia leaves Ukrainian port
The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reported that three ships loaded with wheat and corn left Ukrainian ports on Sunday, including a ship chartered by the UN World Food Program carrying 30,000 tones of wheat as humanitarian aid to Ethiopia. Two other ships were headed to Spain and Turkey with a total of 105,500 tones of grain and other food products. As of 22 January, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports was 18,330.360 tones and 1,336 voyages were enabled.
One alleged activist group in Norway is calling for Aretha Franklin’s hit 1968 song “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” to be removed from both Apple Music and Spotify after they deemed its lyrics offensive.
The Trans Cultural Mindfulness Alliance took to Twitter last week to condemn the ballad, citing that it has ignited harm against transgender women.
“Aretha Franklin’s 1968 song ‘Natural Woman’ perpetuates multiple harmful anti-trans stereotypes,” the organization tweeted. “There is no such thing as a ‘natural’ woman.”
The message continued, “The song has helped inspire acts of harm against transgender women. TCMA is requesting it is removed from Spotify & Apple Music.”
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on November 22, 2022
💭 The head of Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence said Iran could attack the World Cup in Qatar
A top Israeli military intelligence official said on Monday that Iran could be mounting an attack on the World Cup, but may hesitate due to uncertainty over how the host Qataris would react.
Major General Aharon Haliva, head of Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence, attended an Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, and spoke about protests taking over the country and how they could impact the World Cup, soccer’s biggest international tournament.
“Iran is considering disrupting the World Cup 2022 in Qatar,” Haliva said.
“However, the only thing preventing them – what will be the Qatari reaction?”
💭 An Ethiopian man admitted he was “trying to kill people” out of contempt for America during an attempted vehicle attack at the Pentagon Friday morning, according to court records obtained by The Post.
Tamirat Tilahun Yehualawork, 36, is accused of driving a large SUV through two access checkpoints and into a secure parking lot on the grounds of the Defense Department’s headquarters in Arlington, Va. before attempting to run down a Pentagon police officer, according to his arrest affidavit.
“The officer took cover, pointed his weapon at the vehicle, and began giving verbal commands that Yehualawork ignored,” a Pentagon Force Protection Agency special agent wrote in the document. “[He] then drove over a sidewalk and through grass towards the Pentagon Mall Entrance.”
Law enforcement eventually stopped Yehualawork by “pinning his Ford Expedition with their cruisers against a parked vehicle adjacent to the mall entrance,” according to the affidavit.
Yehualawork, who entered the US on a visa but whose “immigration status is unclear,” resisted arrest and was “forcibly removed” from his vehicle, the report said.
“While being advised of his Miranda Rights, Yehualawork yelled, ‘F–k America,’” the special agent wrote in the affidavit. “After acknowledging his rights, Yehualawork told officers, ‘I hate American [sic] and I was trying to kill people.’”
He now faces federal charges of “assaulting, resisting or impeding” law enforcement and criminal trespass, according to court documents.
Alexandria US District Judge William E. Fitzgerald on Tuesday denied Yehualawork bond, noting that the affidavit “indicate[s] the defendant poses an ongoing danger to the community by clear and convincing evidence.”
💭 The 2nd part:
Remembering 911 – The Pentagon Attack History
September 11—or Meskerem 1—is Ethiopian New Year’s Day
💭 Pentagon Mulls Using Elon Musk’s Rockets to Deploy Troops From Space
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been in discussions with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to potentially use rockets to rapidly deploy military personnel and cargo across the planet, documents reportedly show.