Author: Hector Hoffman

Former vice-presidential nominee condemns prosecutors over ‘travesty’ and says ‘we’re not going to keep putting up with this’ A second US civil war is “going to happen” if state and federal authorities continue to prosecute Donald Trump, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said. “Those who are conducting this travesty and creating this two-tier system of justice, I want to ask them what the heck, do you want us to be in civil war? Because that’s what’s going to happen,” Palin told Newsmax on Thursday night. “We’re not going to keep putting up with this.” Palin was speaking to…

The US approved the sale of David’s Sling, the air defense system jointly developed by Israel and the US, to Finland, according to the Israeli military, clearing likely the last diplomatic hurdle for the $345 million deal. “The approval granted by the U.S. government today for the sale of the David’s Sling […] marks a significant step towards the realization of a historic agreement between Israel and Finland,” Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement today, announcing the approval from the US. He called the news a “new milestone in the cooperation between our countries that will improve…

Industry points the finger mainly at government’s focus on electric vehicles, but recent fuel tax credits are also criticized The product that sparked the first big global grain rally of the 21st century is under attack in the United States, according to an industry official. Various U.S. federal government regulations are promoting electric vehicles and other low-carbon options at the expense of ethanol, according to Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the leading trade association for the U.S. ethanol industry. A prime example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed multi-pollutant emissions standards for model years 2027-32…

Israel announced on Thursday that the US had approved the sale of a co-developed an advanced air defense system to Finland. With the €316 million ($345 million) sale, Finland will become the first country to possess the medium- and long-range system known as “David’s Sling,” the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement. Finland will receive missiles, launchers, and radar systems under the deal to be signed between Tel Aviv and Helsinki, as well as Israeli state-run company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Finland’s version of the missile defense system will be jointly developed by Rafael, US company Raytheon, and Finnish…

A senior official at the Federal Reserve is pushing back against growing hopes on Wall Street that the central bank could be nearly done raising interest rates. In a pair of speeches on Saturday and on Monday, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman warned that multiple rate hikes could be required to get inflation back to healthy levels. “We have made progress in lowering inflation over the past year, but inflation is still significantly above” the Fed’s 2% target, Bowman said on Monday at an event in Atlanta. Bowman, one of the more hawkish members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee, highlighted that the job market…

The defence department has confirmed that, rather than building eight of the new Aukus submarines, Australia plans to acquire a total of eight nuclear powered submarines (SSNs) under the $368bn deal. At least three and up to five of that eight will be Virginia-class submarines it will buy from the United States. The “only actual promise” under Aukus is for Australia to build three nuclear powered submarines, Greens senator David Shoebridge said. It has been widely reported that all eight submarines will be SSN-Aukus boats built in Australia. The misunderstanding appears to have crept in because, while successive governments have talked about…

Libya’s state-owned oil company, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), had established last month a new program office, but multiple foreign press reports claim that one of the staff running the office is embroiled in a major fraud case in Kazakhstan. Peter Sztyk, a Canadian lawyer and entrepreneur who also goes by the name “Petro”, has joined a group of foreign consultants who will manage the Office of Strategic Programs, which the NOC inaugurated in February 15 during a meeting with local oil industry executives in Benghazi. Who is Peter Sztyk? The Canadian lawyer graduated in 1993 from Concordia University with bachelor in…

A US army soldier has pleaded guilty to attempting to help the Islamic State (IS) group attack and murder US service members in the Middle East. The justice department also said he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Cole Bridges, known as Cole Gonzales, shared information with an undercover federal agent, the department said. He could face up to 40 years in prison. Mr Bridges joined the US Army around September 2019 and was based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He soon began “researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent…

Trade Minister Don Farrell is embarking on a four-day trip to the United States in a bid to boost economic ties after the nations agreed to the historic transfer of nuclear technology. The American, Australian and British defence supply chains and manufacturing sectors are set to be more closely intertwined as the three nations work under the AUKUS pact to build nuclear submarines. Senator Farrell will attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework meetings, where discussions will also span the transition to clean energy and a safe region amid anxiety over China. He will also meet US Secretary of…

Coordinating the snarl of “alphabet agencies” in the American intelligence community, the “Office of the Director of National Intelligence” instructed the “National Intelligence Council” to prepare “an assessment of the implications of governments’ use of the Internet and other digital technologies to suppress freedom and control public debate”. The (predictable) result was a 31 October 2022 study, some 40%-redacted, entitled “Digital Repression Growing Globally, Threatening Freedoms” which specifically aimed at how “autocrats and personalist leaders in backsliding democracies” have definitely awoken to the potential political power of cyber-technology and invested heavily in controlling the flow of information and shaping public…