World News Thread

[N.E. Brigand]

This appears to be the forum's only previous reference to the Pegasus spyware owned by an Israeli company called NSO Group:

AP: "Poland’s PM says authorities in the previous government widely and illegally used Pegasus spyware."

Prime Minister Donald Tusk "made the announcement during a news briefing alongside President Andrzej Duda, a political opponent aligned with the previous ruling party. The use of Pegasus was alleged to have occurred under the government led by the right-wing Law and Justice party. Pegasus gives operators complete access to a mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing histories, and to activate the microphone and camera for real-time eavesdropping."

There's a new story in The Guardian about Pegasus. The messaging service WhatsApp sued NSO in the U.S. for intruding on its users' privacy. One of NSO's lawyers is Rod Rosenstein, who as Assistant Attorney General appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate Donald Trump's Russian connections and obstruction of justice and then seemingly helped Attorney General William Barr to undermine Mueller's work. Emails leaked to The Guardian reveal that Mueller asked representatives of the Israeli government to "rescue" NSO from the lawsuit. Shortly afterward, an Israeli court issued a secret order giving the Israeli government control of all its data. The order itself officially remains secret, but it had one loophole: NSO was permitted to tell the U.S. Court in which WhatsApp was suing NSO that NSO was forbidden from providing the data requested by WhatsApp as discovery.

[N.E. Brigand]

CNN: "Both Venezuela strongman Nicolas Maduro and opposition claim election win, as US voices ‘serious concerns’."

[N.E. Brigand]

Exit polls are frequently wrong. That said, a reputable firm's exit poll in Venezuela yesterday found opposition candidate Edmundo González leading incumbent president Nicolas Maduro by 64%-31%. But the state's elections authorities claim that Maduro won by 51.2%-44.2%. Exit polls are rarely that wrong.

Also there are eight minor candidates, and it was being reported that each of them received 4.6%.

Doing the math: 51.2 + 44.2 + (8 x 4.6) = 132.2.

[N.E. Brigand]

This seems like a big deal: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement that says, "Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election."

Much more at the link.

[Jude]

Olympic triathletes swam the Seine in bacteria levels more than 5 times higher than Ottawa River

Acceptable levels of E. coli in Europe are five times higher than Ontario's standards

When Olympic swimmers hit the Seine River in Paris for the triathlon competition Wednesday morning, they were swimming in water with a bacteria count that would be considered unacceptable in Ottawa.

After widespread speculation over whether the river would be clean enough for the athletes, the World Triathlon governing body and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games found the water quality met the standard to allow the competitions to go ahead Wednesday morning.

"The results of the latest water analyses, received at 3:20 a.m., have been assessed as compliant by World Triathlon, allowing for the triathlon competitions to take place," says a statement issued by both organizations.

"Here in Ontario, we would close a beach if [bacteria was at] the same level as was in the Seine this morning when they jumped into the water," he said.

Many people might be surprised to learn that the Ottawa River is far cleaner than a body of water deemed safe enough for Olympic athletes.

"A lot of people think because we have such a big population and we're right on the river, that the [Ottawa River] can be polluted," said Elizabeth Grater, science programs co-ordinator at Ottawa Riverkeeper.

While the water quality standard in Paris doesn't measure up to Ottawa's benchmark, Brown said it should be noted that the city is working hard to make the Seine cleaner.

It's been illegal to swim in the Seine for more than a century because of the pollution. Paris has invested 1.4 billion euros in infrastructure to catch more stormwater runoff, preventing sewage and other waste from contaminating the river.

Question: were the athletes aware that they would be swimming in the Seine when they started training for this event? And were they consulted about this once it was decided that they would be doing so?

[Frelga]

I imagine they were free to pull out at any point.

[N.E. Brigand]

Apparently Slovakia's Prime Minister, Robert Fico, is trying to shut down an investigation into his alleged corruption. He's also had his cultural minister fire the heads of the national theater and national art gallery, who had criticized him for shuttering the national public television station.

[Frelga]

In happier news, a Ukrainian MP just won a bronze medal in wrestling. Various Ukrainian commenters want to know why still hasn't thrown their least favorite MP over his hip.

Screenshot_20240808-153158.png (667.2 KiB) Viewed 2729 times

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is concerning.

Germany: Far-right AfD wins first state vote since WWII

I thought this was a helpful observation.

[N.E. Brigand]

In March of this year, terrorists killed 40 people at a Moscow concert hall. ISIS took credit for the attack. The U.S. hard warned Russia that there was an intelligence suggesting an attack was forthcoming. Frelga noted echoes of 1999:

I initially thought back to 1999, when Putin blew up Moscow apartment buildings and blamed Chechens to drum up support for the war in Chechnya. But times have changed, he doesn't care if the population supports his war. Currently, Russia blames Islamic militants from Ingushetia. Although Medvedev went on another drunken rant about wiping Ukraine off the map.

And Russia initially did take the opportunity of this crisis to blame Ukraine, and what's more, it turns out that at Russia's request, some unwitting American right-wing commentators they were paying took up that lie and it shared it on their U.S. platforms.

[N.E. Brigand]

"Russia tried to stage coup in Armenia, prosecutors allege" (Politico).

Charges are being brought against seven people who reportedly were paid and trained by Russia in a plot foiled earlier this year. Since 2002, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, but following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Armenia began shifting its interests westward, and the nation's prime minister earlier this year signaled a desire to eventually join NATO.

[Frelga]

Not so much following the attack in Ukraine but following Russian peacekeepers doing bugger-all when Azerbaijan captured the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.

[Frelga]

Kiyiv Independent reports

Germany has overcome shortage of Russian gas and is ready for winter, minister says.

"There is no more gas shortage," German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that Germany no longer has a need for Russian gas.

I am reminded of the Russian ad in 2022 that depicted a German family freezing in their apartment for lack of Russian gas, and eventually eating their pet hamster. It's the same kind of mean weirdness that we see coming from MAGA. Coincidence?

[RoseMorninStar]

Kiyiv Independent reports

Germany has overcome shortage of Russian gas and is ready for winter, minister says.

"There is no more gas shortage," German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that Germany no longer has a need for Russian gas.

I am reminded of the Russian ad in 2022 that depicted a German family freezing in their apartment for lack of Russian gas, and eventually eating their pet hamster. It's the same kind of mean weirdness that we see coming from MAGA. Coincidence?

I think not.

And seriously.. how far would a hamster go? That anyone buys this crap is what boggles my mind.

[N.E. Brigand]

If they had a pet capybara, on the other hand...

[Frelga]

Russian sources report, via Preston Stewart

Russia just completed their investigation into the death of Russell Bentley, the American who fled to Russia to fight in Ukraine. They say three Russian soldiers tortured and killed him in April and then placed him in a car and blew it up to try to destroy the evidence. The soldier's unit then removed his remains from the scene to further cover up the event.

Meanwhile, Reuters
Exclusive: Ammunition from India enters Ukraine, raising Russian ire

This is a part of the Czech initiative to source ammo for Ukraine outside NATO.

India imports a good deal of Russian military equipment, and are generally friendly to Kremlin. But I guess business is business.

[Sunsilver]

Definitely going to watch this!
Justin Trudeau is going to be on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night! He's in New York for the U. N. General Assembly, so Colbert persuaded him to be a guest.

[Túrin Turambar]

Honestly, given the Liberals' standing in the polls I doubt it's a wise move politically. Swing voters probably want him in Canada talking about housing. But it might have been a long-running goal of his he wants to achieve.

[Sunsilver]

Ok, I watched it, and was surprised by how nervous Trudeau seemed. He's a seasoned politician, and when he was a teacher, I believe one of the subjects he taught was drama, so I thought he'd be more at ease on the stage.

Colbert stuck pretty much to softball questions, and avoided any potentially embarrassing questions about the election in the U.S. He did compare Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative party, to Trump, but Trudeau dodged that question and instead began talking about Canadian achievements in health care, such as universal health care, and how it had been a hard fight to get that to become a reality. Then, the government also covered drugs for seniors and children, and again, there was considerable opposition to that plan. Both of these plans were implemented before Trudeau came to power. Then he talked about the new dental plan that covers many dental procedures for low income Canadians, which just began this year. Poilievre has said he will cut that plan if he is elected. By talking about opposition to previous social medicine plans, Trudeau avoided making Poilievre the bad guy. It was a very polite, Canadian way of dealing with the topic!

I had my first dental checkup under the new plan last week. X-rays, cleaning and exam by the dentist cost me $21! I definitely don't want to see the plan eliminated.

[Frelga]

Reuters:
Exclusive: Iran brokering talks to send advanced Russian missiles to Yemen's Houthis, sources say

Seven sources said that Russia has yet to decide to transfer the Yakhont missiles – also known as P-800 Oniks - which experts said would allow the militant group to more accurately strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea and increase the threat to the U.S. and European warships defending them