Podcasts about Western world

Grab your Very Important Props and crunchiest snacks, dearest listeners! Join us as we step into the studio to meet the man behind the sound, Mitchell Kohen, to discuss his work as the ton's finest Foley Artist. We'll be learning how Mitchell made a splash in the industry, from his time curating airplane playlists, to working shifts at the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and bowing before the Queen of Regency England.As Mitchell takes us on a tour of the Foley stage, we'll be living a day in the life of Bridgerton post-production, walking in the footsteps of the Diamond, playing skittles with Prudence and putting on our heels to dance the Quadrille six times over. We'll also be uncovering the secrets of Lady Whistledown's quill, an earthy afternoon tea and the great escape of a soon-to-be-monarch. What crucial role does a toy train play in the Polin love story? Why will we forever shudder at the thought of ravioli? And, most importantly, what does Francesca Bridgerton really think about SunChips?Turn up the volume and listen close: if there is one thing you should know by now, it is that this podcast cannot keep quiet for long. *Show NotesFollow Mitchell on Instagram: @soundslikemitchellFollow Mitchell on Reddit: u/soundslikemitchell*Show Notes: Crumbs Radio Times: Bridgerton casts Gracie McGonigal in Season 4 AlloCiné: Interview with Nicola CoughlanReddit: *Spoiler Alert* Rumoured casting for Season 4Reddit: Chris Fulton at Land ConYouTube: Trailer for Tudum 2025Shorty Awards: The Bridgerton Chaise speaks outGold Derby: Netflix put forward Bridgerton cast for Emmy considerationHarper's Bazaar: Nicola Coughlan honoured with Konbini Commitment Award at CanneseriesWhatsOnStage: Nicola Coughlan to star in ‘The Playboy of the Western World' at the National TheatrePlaybill: Hannah Dodd and Rob Madge join the London cast of ‘Cabaret'WhatsOnStage: Rob Madge's ‘My Son's A Queer (But What Can You Do?)' announces New York runWhatsOnStage: Kitty Devlin joins the cast of ‘The Show That Goes Wrong'Regent's Park Open Air Theatre: James Phoon joins ‘Shakespeare For Every Day of the Year: Live'UKTV: Release date announced for Bessie Carter's ‘Outrageous'*Follow UsPatreon Instagram⁠ ⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠YouTube

Practicing Shamanism in the modern, Western world is fraught with challenges. Is it okay to practice Shamanism as a Western person? What is the most integral way of working with our Shamanic practices? What is Shamanism asking us to confront in ourselves? As modern, Western people working with Shamanism, we must consistently ask ourselves these questions (and more) to ensure our greatest integrity. Pursuing a Shamanic path is often at odds with Western culture of white supremacy, patriarchy and extractive entitlement. Practicing Shamanism in the modern, Western world means confronting our own conditioning and traumas (and those of our lineage), and rigorously living according to the values of Shamanic practice, including right relation with Gaia and with our spirit allies. If you're practicing or exploring Shamanism or even just exploring your spirituality, this episode is for you. Michelle and Katherine dive into their decades of Shamanic study and practice and share powerful insights and invitations for those walking the path of Shamanism in the modern, Western world.

In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. John Patrick delves into the philosophical implications of reductionism, a phenomenon that has reshaped the Western world. He highlights how science excels at explaining the natural world but falls short in providing moral structure, citing the works of David Stove and C.S. Lewis. Dr. Patrick explores the critical distinction between objective reality and human desires, emphasizing how modern society seeks to conform reality to our desires through technique, rather than virtue.   // LINKS // Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/ Biblical Literate Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/ Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/ Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/ LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

The Irish-language hip hop trio Kneecap is being investigated by British counterterrorism police following a controversial appearance where the group performed in front of the words "FUCK ISRAEL, FREE PALESTINE" during a music festival in the United States. Reading by Tim Foley.

World events keep derailing my civilization series! As a professional historian, I felt compelled to address the recent Rogan/Cooper podcast pushing the revisionist claim that Churchill was the villain of WWII who caused millions of deaths by refusing Hitler's peace offer. Let's examine what the historical evidence actually shows about this controversial take. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite:  More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 Shopify:  Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive Click here to make some cash for giving your opinion with YouGov: https://www.inflcr.co/SHLCl Thanks, YouGov, for sponsoring this video! -- LINKS: Link to my second podcast on world history and interviews:    / @history102-qg5oj   Link to my Twitter-https://twitter.com/whatifalthist?ref... Link to my Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/rudyardwlyn... -- Bibliography: Liddle Hart's the Second World War 2 Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer World War 2 by Childers My Early Life by Winston Churchill A History of the English Speaking Peoples after 1900 by Andrew Roberts A Military History of the Western World by JFC Fuller The Dictators by Richard Overy The Rule of Empires by Parsons Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quiggley War in Human Civilization by Azar Gat The World at War by Forster If the Allies had Fallen by Showalter History's Greatest Wars by Cummins A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia by David Christian Honor by Bowman Cynical Theories by James Lindsay Fire in the Minds of Men by Billington Atrocities by Matthew White The First World War 1 by John Keegan The Second World War by John Keegan The History of the English Speakings Peoples by Winston Churchill Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer 15 Battles of History by Creasy

Life, Culture and Current Events from a Biblical Perspective, with guest host, Wendy Francis Your support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who are the most symbolic mid 20th century American Jews? In Eminent Jews, New Yorker staff writer David Denby tells the remarkable stories of Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. He explains how each embodied a new Jewish confidence after WWII, contrasting with earlier generations' restraint. Each figure pushed boundaries in their own way - Bernstein through his musical versatility, Brooks through his boundary-pushing humor about Jewish experiences, Friedan through her feminist theories, and Mailer through his provocative writing style. Five key takeaways * Post-WWII Jewish Americans displayed a newfound confidence and willingness to stand out publicly, unlike previous generations who were more cautious about drawing attention to their Jewishness.* The four figures in Denby's book (Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, and Mailer) each embraced their Jewish identity differently, while becoming prominent in American culture in their respective fields.* Mel Brooks used humor, particularly about Jewish experiences and historical trauma, as both a defense mechanism and a way to assert Jewish presence and resilience.* Each figure pushed against the restraint of previous Jewish generations - Bernstein through his expressive conducting and openness about his complex sexuality, Friedan through her feminist activism, and Mailer through his aggressive literary style.* Rejecting the notion that a Jewish "golden age" has ended, Denby believes that despite current challenges including campus anti-Semitism, American Jews continue to thrive and excel disproportionately to their population size.David Denby is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He served as a film critic for the magazine from 1998 to 2014. His first article for The New Yorker, “Does Homer Have Legs?,” published in 1993, grew into a book, “Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World,” about reading the literary canon at Columbia University. His other subjects for the magazine have included the Scottish Enlightenment, the writers Susan Sontag and James Agee, and the movie directors Clint Eastwood and the Coen brothers. In 1991, he received a National Magazine Award for three of his articles on high-end audio. Before joining The New Yorker, he was the film critic at New York magazine for twenty years; his writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and The New Republic. He is the editor of “Awake in the Dark: An Anthology of Film Criticism, 1915 to the Present” and the author of “American Sucker”; “Snark”; “Do the Movies Have a Future?,” a collection that includes his film criticism from the magazine; and “Lit Up,” a study of high-school English teaching. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

The greatest danger to the Western World is not a world war, it's not a recession, it's not even so much an election. The greatest threat is the ignorance of the populace. Too many people in the Western World no longer have the ability to think for themselves, get accurate information, or even know how to ask the right questions. Mass ignorance will lead to mass enslavement if nothing is done to repel this demonic enemy. Now, do you believe in this ministry? If you do, you can keep us on the air as a radio program and podcast by visiting our website, https://truth2ponder.com/support. You can also mail a check payable to Ancient Word Radio, P.O. Box 510, Chilhowie, VA 24319. Thank you in advance for your faithfulness to this ministry. To support this radio program and podcast please visit https://truth2ponder.com/support.

This episode is the one you need to hear if you have feeling distraught by recent events! Welcome to today's episode of WTR! This is where we explore the depths of conscious living and what it truly means to live an expanded life. Join us to be inspired, encouraged, transformed and to tap into a deeper sense of joy and possibility.In conversation after conversation that I have with clients, friends, and colleagues, there is a more unsettledness with the state of the world than I can ever remember. People are alternately angry and fearful and, often accompanied by a deep breath, stating a commitment to walking the path of love. What does that mean? I deeply respect my guest today and have invited her to bring forward ancient teachings to show us what is possible today. The author of the New York Times and globally best-selling book series, The Magdalene Line, Kathleen McGowan has sold over a million books across approximately 100 countries and 40 languages. An expert in both women's history and ancient mysteries, she frequently appears as an on-air expert in historical, biblical and ancient mysteries for multiple History Channel shows. At the heart of all Kathleen's projects is her mission to shed light on influential women from the past whose contributions have been erased, maligned or misrepresented by the writers of history. Her research into the life and legacy of Mary Magdalene has appeared on shows in the US and abroad.Kathleen is currently compiling thirty years and several thousand pages of research into her forthcoming books on Mary Magdalene's life in France and how this one woman changed the face of the Western World. Part of this great legacy is an ancient process for manifesting a joyful and fulfilling life which Kathleen shares in her forthcoming book, Invocations: Secrets of The Magdalene Rose.  She is also working on several books of ancient Egyptian interest.Find Kathleen McGowan at: https://kathleenmcgowan.com/Join Kathleen's Patreon group at: https://www.patreon.com/c/kathleenmcgowan/Find Laurie Seymour at https://thebacainstitute.com/ .Follow Wisdom Talk Radio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisdomtalkradioSubscribe on Apple.Want to reach out to me? You can email me directly at laurie@thebacainstitute.comIf you are enjoying our show and you'd like to spread the love, please subscribe, download, comment, and tell your friends and family about us. We want to thank you for your continued support. We really appreciate it! Find more episodes of Wisdom Talk Radio HERE Discover your Quantum Connection Style! (QUIZ)The first step to mastering your Quantum Connection is to know your natural style of being in the world.We are each designed to connect with Source differently. Knowing your style, with both your superpowers and your learning edge, is the first step of aligning with your inner guidance at a deeper level than you ever thought you could. It's the doorway to creating what you truly want in your life.Click here to take the quiz now: Quantum Connection QuizSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wisdom-talk-radio/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Hauntings & Healing Nightmares During Crisis About the Show : Have you ever wondered aloud, “Was that just a ghost I heard and saw?” During any crisis, it is not unusual for our deceased loved ones, spirit guides, and guardian angels to come to our aid and offer guidance. Because many in the Western World were not raised to believe in such help, we may misinterpret these signs of caring for Hauntings. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our loved ones often go to great lengths to let us know we are not alone in our hour of need and use anything and everything at their disposal, from moving objects to make noise to appearing in nightmares to let us know we are not alone. Helen Keller said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but which has opened? Often, we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one for us.” Join Kat Kanavos aka Kat-The Queen of Dreams, as she shares deeply personal experiences from her first Nautilus award-winning book, Surviving Cancerland, filled with “hauntings and nightmares” during her health crisis. These experiences helped save her life, all three times.   About the Guest: Kathleen O'Keefe-Kanavos aka, Kat-The Queen of Dreams, is a three-time breast Cancer Survivor whose dreams and nightmares diagnosed her illness missed by the medical community and the tests on which they relied. She listened to the guidance in her dreams returned to her doctors for more tests, which found the cancer. Her doctors and dreams worked to save her life, three times. Kat turned her life crisis into award-winning books translated into foreign languages. Kat now teaches people how to understand and use their dream power to improve their life and writing, too, as a Dreamy Writers Conference Cruise Facilitator on the Holland American Cruise Line. https://www.kathleenokeefekanavos.com/ Show Take Away- Nice things go more unnoticed and are less remembered than scary ones. Sometimes scary things are the Universe saying, “Change…or else!” Remember when an authority figure said that to you? “Or else” can scare the be-jabbers out of us because our imagination can create scenarios much worse than reality. When we feel we have been painted into a scary corner by Death, what if…it is the only way Life can get our attention so we will make a change…for the better!  Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/live/9iHULFhQdS4?si=KShIuPRf4DKjThfE Chat with Kat during Live Show with Video Stream:  write a question on YouTube Have a Question for the Show? Go to Facebook– Dreams that Can Save Your Life Facebook Professional–Kathleen O'Keefe-Kanavos http://kathleenokeefekanavos.com/

Joe Fick, leader of Kelley's Heroes and alumnus of the Don Kelley Band, joins us today. He shares of his time with the Dempsey's, The Don Kelley Band, working movies Walk The Line, and Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, to currently leading Kelley's Heroes. We also discuss the history of the upright slap style, challenges of transitioning from electric to upright bass, and a variety of upright bass playing styles. If you visit Nashville, you must see Joe and the band, Wednesday thru Saturday, at Nashville's famous Robert's Western World on Broadway. To Support the Channel:Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZacTip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZacVenmo @AskZac Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/Support the show

The first Ishara open  House Challenge .Book 3 in 18 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.Odd Happenings{8:58 am, Wednesday, Sept. 3rd ~ 5 Days to go; the Final Salvo ~ at this time}I had deposited my Mother in the place I felt was safest for her   with OT (Oyuun T m rbaatar) at the Kazakhstan's UN mission. Her being my family was what mattered to them most. I picked her up on my way to work, which made my entrance into the lobby all that much more cataclysmic.I was traveling light with only Wiesława Živa providing me with security. Chaz, Pamela and Juanita were catching up with their sleep, with a promise of taking me out for a late lunch. That was really them telling me to not leave JIKIT until they came for me around 2:00 pm.So anyway, me, Mom and Wiesława walked into the ground floor of the Mil Ma Towers to find eleven people waiting on us. We were in downtown Manhattan in a part of town the NYPD paid particular attention to. What could go wrong, right? Two of the people were Amazons from Havenstone. With them were two fine young men from the US 'don't make me kill you' Department. By this time in my life I was sure they had one   which no one talked about.Five of my expectant visitors were of the same mold as those who protected Hana for me. Not the Ghost Tigers   that would have put me at ease. Sure, they were a gang of assassin and in this circumstance; I would have preferred them. As it was, ten sets of highly-trained Illuminati operative eyes kept me, my party and the four guardians of JIKIT in their overlapping fields of vision.The last two, were doing an impromptu family reunion. They were Aunts 'X' and 'Y', and neither of them smelled like fish, or crab."Aunt Deidre," I tossed out there. "What brings you here today?"It looked like clobbering time! No. Wait. Neither Mom, nor my aunts, were saying anything and they were normally so verbose."Sibeal.""Imogen.""Sibeal, you are looking surprisingly well for a dead woman," the other one said."Deidre, you are looking surprisingly alive for someone who deserves to be dead," Mom bantered back."How long have you known about this?" Imogen's eyes flickered my way."Not long, a while, more than a day, ah, take your pick," I mumbled. I decided to turn that frown aka 'my gut wrenching terror that my Mother was about to die' upside down aka ramped up my sexy, 'glad to see you in a totally incestuous way'."So, what brings you here today and why aren't you waiting upstairs with the rest of my band of cutthroats, malcontents and ne'er do-wells? Oh, and I'm happy to see both of you." Karma was about to bitch-slap the shit out of me and it was so well deserved."I'm pregnant," Imogen studied my reaction. Yeah, I had banged her after Deidre, but before Baibre because I am a fucking reprehensible human being and sometimes, I feel I am utterly irredeemable."Great news," I exhaled. I so wanted to ask 'so, who is the father?' except that was too cruel, even for an O'Shea.No one stopped me from stepping up and hugging her. Everyone in the lobby had heard her loud and clear. Anyone who knew me, or even about me, knew she wasn't passing on the information because Imogen liked sharing good news. I kept my hands on her hips while I leaned my torso back until we could make eye contact."Does Granddad know?" It occurred to me in that second that Pamela was going to kick herself for missing this and the opportunity to kick me as well."I told him over the phone. His reaction was neutral," she responded."Whoa, girl? Boy? How are you doing? When are we going to sit down and figure out a name? Is there anything I can do for you?""Come home with me," she suggested."No," Mom snapped. "Next time he steps into your custody, we all know you won't let him get away." She meant the plane trip to Ireland."No, Mom," I countered. "I'm a grown man now and I make my own decisions. That being said   no, I'm not going home with you.""Not only am I still in love with the concept of my personal freedom, I have important work to do. People are counting on me.""We are counting on you too," Deidre stated. "In fact, that is the other reason we came here. We need you.""Why do I feel that has to do with something besides sex?""Can we talk to you in private?" Imogen requested. There were a thousand and one reasons to say 'no'. Things like 'common sense', bad behavior   they had murdered my homicidal uncle   and the fact they were as morally twisted as their creator. Oh   and they were hot and I hadn't been laid in forever."Sure. Let's go upstairs. You can have your people sweep the room to ensure our privacy then the four of us can sit down and have a family chat," I offered."We don't want her in the room," Deidre indicated Mom."We are a package deal," I denied her. "Like her, or not, she is as much family to me as you both are."They consented far too fast. Either I was falling into their masterful trap, or something horrible had happened. Neither options was palatable to me. The bodyguards departed, Wiesława last of all."What's gone wrong?" Mom preempted me. Her sisters glared."Father's body is not his own," Imogen told us. I was trying to figure out the relevance of that when Mom gasped."Oh fuck," she said in a small voice. "No serum?" Oh yeah, the refinement of those addictive pheromones Grandpa Cáel had gifted me with. Whatever flesh-form he currently inhabited wasn't one containing his genetic make-up meaning,"Oh shit," I mumbled. "What can I do?""Yes," Deidre replied to Mom."Let them die," Mom insisted (to me). Less I forget, she was raised by Grandpa Cáel too. Her being a loving mother to me didn't translate over to her being a humanitarian of any kind."The Hell you say," I jumped up and stared down at Mom. "You hate them. I don't. Letting them die makes me worse than him." Grandpa."So you will help us?" Deidre moved to the edge of her seat."Okay. This is the point where I threaten you into making some concessions, we argue then you eventually cave in because no matter how terrible your futures look, you aren't willing to give up on living. None of that is going to happen. What do you need from me?""Come back with us to Ireland so we can finish our experiments," Imogen joined me in standing. Unwilling to give her sister any physical advantage, Mom stood as well."No. That isn't even a believable lie," I scolded her. "You don't need to blackmail me into helping you. I'll do it gladly. That doesn't mean I'll let you trick me into doing something stupid. I do 'stupid' all the time. I'm accustomed to it and I know it when its ugly head rises up before me. Try again.""We could pick a neutral location," Deidre suggested."How about Havenstone?" They didn't look like that plan was even worthy of their consideration. "Imogen, inside you is growing a possible heir to House Ishara. An attack on you would be an attack on Ishara. Barring you betraying the Amazons, you would be perfectly safe.""Wonderful," Mom's sarcasm dripped off every word. "I'm going to be a grandmother to my nephew while my son is bringing a child into the world that can double as his cousin.""That sound pretty horrible, Mom. It is the truth, but it still sounds pretty terrible."While those words tumbled out of my mouth, I did a little soul back-searching. How in the fuck was   outside of the actual fucking   was Imogen pregnant? My existence was a freaking fluke of nature. A few words were bandied about the room while I was lost in deductive reasoning and turning hunches into assumptions and turning those into reasonable mystic hypotheses.I created the Mojo-Little Engine that thought it could. Specifically, the legacy of Vranus. Legions of little Vranusian sperm had been jumping hurdle after hurdle to keep the faith alive   that Vranus would meet his Ancestors with his mission accomplished. I was already half way there.Still, the legacy of Vranus and the hopes of Dot Ishara hadn't stopped in their struggle just because I had been born. They were still trying to restore the mortal descendants of a Dead House. They were also still spiritually pushing me on to fulfill his last command   to save the Arinniti sons.I was halfway there by returning the offspring of Bolu, Vranus' fellow guardian, back to the fold. It remained for me to round up the purpose of the whole mission in the first place. My semen weren't taking a chance that I could get gakked before that was accomplished. Having knocked up an augur despite the toxic soup she called blood should have been a dire warning to me, I'm an idiot.When the curse of Sarrat Irkalli clashed with the actions of Dot Ishara, Ishara had won. Sarrat Irkalli sought to deny Alal any children of his own. Dot was insisting the male line of Vranus Ishara continue on. The end result was Alal received his long-denied grandson, who just happened to also want him dead because of a feud that stretched back over two millennia.As an added insult, his grandson then knocked up one of Alal's genetically manipulated daughters, again giving him something he couldn't accomplish on his own   heirs   grand-sons and  daughters, most who would also want to kill him, being Amazons and members of the 9 Clans after all. Why? Cause Goddesses are bitches, that's why.That got me to wondering when would be the next time I was going to meet Ishara. I hadn't suffered severe head trauma in while and she was overdue for some snuggle time, witty banter and a fortune cookie. I'd try to be careful. It wouldn't do any good, but I had to try."Why are you crying?" Mom touched my arm."No reason," I lied."Why don't we make plans for tonight?" Deidre insinuated herself next to me. "We'd like to meet Hana. From what I understand, Father likes her.""No can-do," I sniffled. "I've got an orgy with 159 women at 8 o'clock, except there won't be any sex, or fun of any kind. Basically, I have to convince a roomful of women to not beat me up and take my stuff.""You don't have to go," Imogen had finished boxing me in   I had a chair behind me and Momma-clones all around."For the same reason I'm going to take care of our child, Imogen, I have to go to this meeting. People are counting on me to do the right thing without telling me what the right thing to do is.""That's unfair," Deidre empathized by stroking my chest."Not so. This is just another day in the life of a new hire at Havenstone Commercial Investments. Every day is like this and in five more days, the real fun beings." That wasn't entirely accurate. I had one good, stress-free week. It was when Carrig put me in a coma. That week I had done pretty well for myself.{9:28 am, Wednesday, Sept. 3rd ~ 5 Days to go}I trundled my latest 'Assistant-in-Charge of keeping the hopes of future Isharans alive' (I didn't want to call Aunt Imogen, or any other woman, my 'Baby-Mamma'), along with Mom and Deidre, for a meet-and-greet with Buffy. I had spelled out in no uncertain terms that Buffy was the power behind the Ishara Throne and thus making 'her' believe they were playing on the up-and-up was their best hope for easing relations between the O'Shea and the Amazon Host.After they left me (with the assurance we'd be getting back together for lunch, with Hana), I made three calls. I needed to make a formal request to Katrina (any Illuminati member(s) entering any Amazon facility was her purview) and another to Elsa (as a sign of respect) that Aunt Imogen and two unarmed bodyguards, max, needed to see our medicos about a delicate issue.The third call was to Buffy to enlighten her as to both the arrival of another one of my aunts (so we needed to get along peacefully with her) and that Aunt Imogen was carrying yet another potential heir to House Ishara. I suggested it would be a symbolic gesture if a member of House Ishara could hang around for the visit, as it might impress upon Imogen our House had a vested interest in keeping her alive."Another one?" Buffy sizzled. "And this one is your aunt?""It is a date then," I stumped her."You are going to take your pregnant aunt out on a date?" Buffy's sizzle meter was rapidly climbing to Krakatoa proportions."Nope. I'm setting up a date for us. You, me and a quiet location at 12:01 am Tuesday morning, my First. Later in the morning, I'll be heading out to wherever they have stored Felix so we can work on some cooperative strategy.""And if I say 'no'?" She was terribly grumpy."Ugh, I guess I'll go bar-crawling with Odette and Timothy, Gay and Lesbian bars only. That way I know I'll behave.""And if they say 'no'?" she was slightly less hostile."I'll know you threatened their lives, and then you and I will finally find out who is better on the mats. Trust me, it will not be an experience you will enjoy.""I don't know. I think I'd like that.""No. You start threatening the other people I love and you will not be happy; I guarantee that, Buffy."She realized I was both serious and angry. She had stepped out of bounds, the 'bounds' I had set up two hours earlier during our elevator ride."Is the meeting still on for the night?" she evaded my disappointment."Yes. Will you be there?""Of course," she grumped."Buffy, don't bother showing up if you can't separate 'us' as friends, 'us' as Wakko Ishara and my First, and you as my apprentice."Making me miserable in the first relationship doesn't help the latter two one bit. I try not to be an irresponsible asshole as House Head. More than anyone else, you know what I will sacrifice to be Ishara and one with my Isharans. I'll also step out and be plain ole 'Cáel Nyilas' when events permit.""But I am sick and tired of people not taking my desire to be foolish and care-free seriously. Being a dogmatic ass-hat isn't in me, but if you can't work with that, from here on out we are Wakko Ishara and Buffy Ishara and nothing more. I will still trust you as an Isharan, but not as a friend. Your choice.""Don't be such an asshole!" she snapped."Screw you!" I fired back. "I made a fucking effort to plan out some personal time with you, disguised as a joke; you knew it and you still decided to be a ball-buster. Like I need another fucking ball-buster right now, with all the other shit on my plate. You know better!" I was screaming. The people in JIKIT were working overtime at not staring at me."I'm under a ton of stress here too," she snarled. "I have to deal with the Council, keep our House growing and fulfill my obligations with Executive Services.""Do you want to quit? No longer by my 'apprentice'? Go back to working for Katrina full time?""Really?" she whispered."Of course the fuck not!" I shouted. "I didn't pick you for the job because of your sterling personality, or your bedroom excellence. I picked you because I had, and still have, utter faith in your ability to do whatever is necessary to overcome the landfill-sized colossal ill-fortune the Ancestors have dumped in our lap.""I'm just asking you to stop being a whiny, over-sensitive cunt and remember: it was the psychotic bitch who I chose for the top spot," I rumbled."I'm going to kick your ass," she seethed."Nice to know. We on for Monday night?"Pause."Yes," and she hung up. Two seconds later my phone rang again. "Buffy?" I answered. "And don't be late!" she menaced, then hung up again."So," Addison turned my way, "are you praying for World Peace to break out, or Nuclear War?""Hardy-har-har," I griped."Now that your personal drama is temporarily derailed, we have something for you to look at," Mehmet motioned for my attention. "Ever heard of Kōfuku no Kagaku?" I shook my head. "It translates over as 'Happy Science' and it is a cult-like organization in Japan.""Cool beans. Why do I have a sinking impression it is not a front for the Ninja?""That is what we want you to find out," Addison took over. "Of critical importance is the news conference their leader, Ryuho Okawa, gave earlier this afternoon/morning (~ 3:17 pm Tokyo time = 2:17 am East Coast time ~), especially a very relevant part of his interesting public announcement."He claims to be the Earthly manifestation of the Supreme Being. That is old news. Today he claimed that Temujin of the Khanate was the reincarnation of the original Genghis Khan and, with him, Ryuho, as the unifier of theological forces and therefore serving as spiritual advisor to Temujin, they would usher in a new period of Peace throughout Asia.""I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," I exhaled."He also claims that Japan is in the midst of an epic struggle, both spiritually and in the physical sense. The 'ancient guardians' of Japanese purity, the 6 Ninja Families, are at war with the depth of all Evil, the Chinese Seven Pillars of Heaven by name, who are determined to drag all of Asia away from the Light and into the Darkness of pain, degradation and slavery."In fact I quote: 'Alone among the nations of the Earth, only the Japanese cultural identity can stand firm against this global menace. Only the Japanese can keep the torch of true Enlightenment aloft. Only the Japanese can guide the development of the Khanate into the Supreme Empire it is meant to be'.""I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this guy is pseudo-religious, a Japanese ultra-nationalist as well as anti 'all things Sino'," came out of my mouth."Correct.""None of the Secret Societies would do something so public. Temujin's background is a mystery, but no one in the Khanate is calling him a reincarnated spirit, and they know the truth," I continued."This guy is pretty nutty," Mehmet confirmed. "He also claims to channel Buddha, Mohammed, Christ and Confucius. His followers worship him as the Earthly manifestation of the 'Supreme Being' named El Cantare, which is yet another name for any number of ancient supreme deities. And he claims to consult with the 'spirit guardians' of national leaders and aids in their mystic defense, with the aid of the Five Sacred Sisters' Spirits."Clearly this man was insane. Unfortunately, insane didn't make someone wrong,"Ah Hell," I muttered.Mehmet and Addison perked up; after all, figuring out the bizarre was my position on the team."He probably is insane, and I can't blame him," I sighed. "He isn't El Cantare; he is in touch with the Weave.""I have a feeling this is 'not good'," Addison murmured. "How bad is it?""The Five Sacred Spirit Sisters are most likely the five augurs who died in order to save Temujin, which, in turn, allies the 9 Clans with the E&S and Amazons to 'save' Japan, though it is not 'saved' yet.""Technically, the Weave IS the Supreme Being. It's largely indifferent, yet capable of doing both good and ill in response to outside (aka mortal) stimuli. If you can observe the Weave, you might be able to see the most likely path destiny is taking as well as the key players screwing with that destiny."That would include the Gong Tau sorcerers and the ninjas use of their own brand of magic; and God only knows what other mystic tricks the others have been attempting.""How do we get them to stop?" Captain Delilah Faircloth muttered."Not that easy Delilah. Everyone in this room has intersected because of a magic experiment that happened before any of us were born (Mom).""The fight at Summer Camp was flipped on its head because I saw the ghost the 7 Pillars sent to scout the area. My freeing of one of those trapped and tortured souls led to the calamity at the Barbeque Pit. I didn't use magic. I countered it. Still, my actions were interfering with the Weave."All four people the augurs, those Five Sisters, told me about had been dead at some point in time, some for thousands of years. Ajax didn't kill anyone using magic. Neither has Saku, yet both of them are products of disruptions in the Weave. 'Me' being alive and breathing is yet another disruption, since I shouldn't exist because of another mystic curse from five thousand years ago."Being alive and killing people means I've killed people who shouldn't be dead. Do we need to go into all the millions that have died in the Khanate war? Which was a combination of a resurrected Temujin and the 7 Pillars hunger for World Domination, if we do nothing, the rippled of those other disruption will still carry on."Except for me, no one on this taskforce has used an iota of magic, yet we are all dedicated to combatting mystical forces," I related to the group. I wondered where Rikki (Martin) and Beatrice (Ya Konan) had gotten off to. Lady Yum-Yum being absent only made my 'Scooby' senses tingle more."You use magic?" Agent-86 tilted his head in curiosity."I talk to a Goddess on a semi-regular business. I see ghosts. I've been the conveyer of messages from dead people and I've killed an un-killable man. Do we need to go back over my kidnapping by the 7 Pillars? The memories of my undead Grandfather floating around in my head?""I'm not calling thunderbolts out of the sky and shooting fireballs out my ass, but what I am doing is magical, nonetheless.""So, what do we recommend to our allies and benefactors (i.e., our sovereign governments)?" Mehmet inquired."Hmm, we tell our governments this crackpot is a Prophet of Doom who could be turned into an asset," I rubbed my brow with all four fingers and a thumb. Rikki, Beatrice and Lady Worthington-Burke quietly entered the room. They were all highly pleased in a 'I just won the lottery' kind of way. I was curious, but had to carry on with my train of thought."Quietly start seeking out other mystic societies, preferably low-key, quiet types who avoid the limelight, and start looking into other forms of magical insight and, quite frankly, protection. If the Weave has let this happen, we can expect worse. Lastly, I'll ask my 'Brother' to meet with this guy and get a feel for his personality.""That will only increase the believability of his ramblings," Addison protested."The boat called 'Denial' has already sailed. The World is in crisis. People are going to look for non-conventional answers. It is better to get ahead of this and bring Ryuho Okawa on board as a 'consultant'. Don't give him the whole picture by any means. The guy is definitely a loose cannon. Even worse, he is also a loose cannon the Weave has touched.""Besides, the Seven Pillars are going to figure this out pretty quick, their Weave sensitivity, ya know, and either kidnap him to be their own spiritual seismic sensor, or kill him for being both a loose cannon and yet another person screwing with their 'best laid plans'. Keeping him alive has the added benefit of making the Seven Pillars expend resources trying to get at him. Japan needs every bit diversion they can get."Let's not forget to tell our Secret Society allies of our plans, lest they kill him too. His babblings aren't going to make the 9 Clans or the E&S happy with him. They both have an established habit of making perceived enemies dead. Let's keep him alive and utilize this opportunity.""I like this plan," Addison nodded. Mehmet was clearly on board as well. Agent-86 clearly was playing the best on-line mystic MMORPG ever! (And with the added bonus that his team's action had real-world consequences.) The three 'ladies' new to the room received an abbreviated version of our discussion and my 'suggestions'. They weren't really suggestions. Barring a few insanely criminal endeavors, JIKIT treated me like a true asset."Something else big?" Addison looked to her British counterpart (Yum-Yum)."The Japanese Diet has voted for a public referendum on a Constitutional Amendment to repeal/revise Article 96 of the Japanese Constitution.""Oh fuck," was echoed, either verbally or subliminally, by everyone in the room except for me, Delilah and Agent-86.'Cáel' knew Jack and Shit about the Japanese Constitution. Hell, I barely knew about the US one and I was a native. However, Alal did know it, and knew both what Article 96 was and what its amendment really meant. Good-old 96 was the rolling dark cloud across the political Great Plains that heralded a swarm of tornados. Clouds were clouds and their arrival could mean anything.Article 96 dictated how the Japanese Constitution could be amended. The current process was a 2/3rd vote in both the House of Councilors (the 'Upper House', roughly equivalent to our Senate) and the House of Representatives (the 'Lower' House) followed by a public referendum. The proposed amendment to Article 96 would transform the process to a mere majority vote in both Houses.Imagine the shit-storm which would be unleashed if the US Congress tried to pull that shit. The biggest political issue was that the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held 294 of the 475 seats in the lower house (a clear majority) and 115 of the 242 in the Upper House (7 seats short of a majority). If the amendment passed next month (October 14th to be precise), the LDP could pretty much do as they pleased.And what was the first thing they were going to do? They were going to put to rest another part of the Constitution, namely the far more globally important Article 9. And what was that?Real World Stuff: WarningsArticle 9:(1)Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.(2)To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.If Article 9 was repealed, the Japanese nation could exercise diplomacy by military means, aka declaring an offensive war against a foreign power. Currently Japan had a modest budget military budget of $48 Billion a year (Earth's 10th largest). It was modest when you considered it was a mere 1% of the Japanese GDP. Great Britain, France and South Korea's smaller economies all functioned nicely with double that percentage for their military budget.Regionally, every other nation was increasing their military expenditures, except Japan's protector, the US and (perhaps) North Korea, who's spending on anything was a closely guarded state secret. Right now, China and the Khanate's military expenditures were running roughly even at $180 billion each, but this was an arm's race the PRC would eventually win, they had too great an advantage in the size of their workforce and a far larger industrial base.The truth was, if the PRC couldn't win this race fast, she was facing a long, grinding war reminiscent of the Communists' Long Rise to Power that wrecked their country a century ago. The monetary dynamic was shifting badly against them because the Khanate wasn't alone.India, Taiwan and Vietnam were also ramping up their war spending to a combined tune of $34 billion and now allied with the Khanate, equating to an additional $90 billion the PRC had to overcome. South Korea was already adding $8 billion to their military and Russia was taxing the fuck out of Manchuria to both pay for their 'Peaceful Intervention' and to increase the 'Readiness' of their other forces.All of this military spending was bad for both the regional and global economies (unless you were Israel who was turning out hardware 24/7/365 for the Khanate and Indian war machines). So at this point, Japan doing 'nothing' was possibly more disastrous than doing 'something' else.They were already spending $50 fucking billion on glorified policemen while the future of East Asia was being decided without them. Doubling the military budget would place a huge burden on the largely pacifistic population. It would also put Japan in the position of deciding the Fate of Nations.With the repeal of Article 9, Japan could utilize 'proactive means' to keep the naval supply routes to China open, not even the Indian's had the naval presence to confront the Japanese. Such a policy was a nice, friendly gesture to the Asian Colossus, who wasn't likely to show a shred of appreciation for their efforts.No, China had spent the last 60 years stoking the hatred of the Land of the Rising Sun among their people. (Many Japanese forgot current Chinese hatred was based on the Japanese butchering their way across China for nearly a decade between 1937 to 1945).(The Cornerstone) There was a truism which had guided American, Chinese, Japanese and Russian political thought for 150 years: 'There could only be one supreme power in East Asia and the Eastern Pacific'. Japan had followed the logical expression of that paradigm by invading Taiwan (1895), Korea (1910), beating up on Imperial Russia (1904), taking Manchuria (1931) and going to war with China (1937) while that country was trapped in a bloody civil war.To stop the Empire of Japan's rise, the US had attempted to cripple the Japanese economy before the Empire could harvest their just-acquired Asian natural resources. In response, Japan had thrown its soldiers and sailors into a futile effort against the British Empire, the United States and China and lost.With Imperial Japan crushed and the Soviet Union preoccupied in Europe, China had risen. The irresistible force of China's rapidly increasing population, natural resources exploitation and extensive land mass took hold. Japan couldn't compete in a 'fair' fight. Since 1945, the Japanese government had lived with the fear of aggression from Russia and/or China aimed their way.The US felt the same way, or they had. The fear produced by the broad acceptance of 'Only-One-Shall-Rule-Asia' had led to the Korean War, the half-century cease-fire along the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and the Vietnamese Civil War. The Communists in China and Russia had feuded until the Soviet Union collapsed under its own economic inadequacies.A reborn Russia, even with the ultra-nationalist Putin at the helm, couldn't stop China's growing domination. Asia was China's for the taking, until the Khanate rose up like some desert mirage in the Western Steppe, one that turned into the Mother of All Storms. So now, miraculously, the dominion of Asia was up for grabs once more.Japan could not overcome China; that was a given. The Dragon had more people, more resources and an almost three-fold larger economy. Given a decade, the PRC would grind the Khanate down. Once more it was the tyranny of numbers. Even India, Taiwan and Vietnam could only slow down the inevitable.India's subpar economic output marginalized the power of their citizenry. Taiwan had the proportional economy, but not nearly enough people. Vietnam had neither and had always had a rough time defending themselves, much less been successful confronting powers beyond her homeland. Putin's Mother Russia had a host of other problems, internal and external, so she had already contributed as much as Putin dared.Until Thursday morning, Tokyo Time, the undeniable Destiny of Asia remained in the hands of those men in Beijing. The dominoes were falling in a way those rulers had not foreseen and now fumed over. But on Wednesday night, there was no industrial power (with the population to back it up) which could threaten the People's Republic of China.Europe and the US wouldn't intervene. Much like the leadership in Japan, the Communist Chinese Politburo believed Putin had wagered as much as dared. No other nation on Earth mattered. Japan? That was laughable. Their Constitution bound the hands off their military behind their backs with a pledge of eternal pacifism.The Chinese weren't blind to the 250,000 men and women of the Japanese Self Defense Force. Without the political will, those troops might have well have been in Brazil. A hostile Brazil was actually a greater worry because Brazil was the powerhouse of South America, a G-8 economy and hungered for a Permanent Seat on the UN Security Council. The PRC was dedicated to denying their desire as it would have diluted the PRC's burgeoning diplomatic power.Japan? Ha.Thursday morning, in what was essentially an undetected (by anyone except the Ninja and JIKIT) coup d' tat, pacifism was sacrificed on the Altar of Nationalism. Article 96's demise was pre-ordained. A poll taken on July 1st, 42% of Japanese felt positively about the repeal of Article 96 while 46% opposed it.The same agency took a new poll on August 28th. The economic-political situation of Japan was going through a titanic tidal shift. If Buddhism moved you toward devout pacifist, the Khanate had liberated Tibet and was clearly withdrawing as the UN troops' boots hit the ground.If you were a Nationalist of any kind, you were seeing a whole lot more people at your rallies, accessing your websites and signing up to join your formerly fringe parties. If you were a Socialist, you were scared. Why? The PRC was in the process of nationalizing all of Japan's (and South Korea's and Taiwan's) business interests in China, for the 'Duration of the Emergency', or so they said.That meant plenty of Japanese workers were losing their jobs and looking to blame someone. You couldn't blame the centrist LDP. The LDP had been working alongside the Japanese Communist Party for months. They had done nothing wrong and had worked tirelessly for a peaceful diplomatic solution. It was their 'comrades' in China, their Marxist confederates, who were costing the hard-working Japanese workers their jobs.If you were in the Establishment, all of the above worried the crap out of you. Japan's economy had been limping along at barely-positive growth for a decade. Your aging population needed more and more from their public services and, worst of all, you had nothing in your political and economic tool box to escape the obvious oncoming national catastrophe.The possibility of a Global Recession loomed on the horizon, if they were lucky. Highly respected economists in Japan and elsewhere were examining all the key indicators over the past three months and were suggesting hording as a viable policy for middle class households to consider. If you were in the Developing World, worse was heading your way.The word being bandied about on those esteemed academic internet websites wasn't 'recession', it was depression. Global prosperity thrived on nations investing in both their own economy and the economies of other nations. The governments representing a third of the World's population were not investing in their economies.Unless you were a war profiteer, you could expect fewer consumer goods on the shelves; and what was there would cost more. Your income wasn't going up; your expenses were. If you were an Atheistic homeowner in the Western World with a secured 3.25% fixed rate home loan, you took up religion. The prime interest rate would be racing for the 20% mark and that was only if your economy was stable.If you lived in a country in the Developing World, your trade goods didn't compete with those created in the G-20. Your competition was with other Developing World businesses and the prize was the pocketbooks of those consumers in the G-20, which was a shrinking purse.It wasn't like you were being paid all that much to begin with; and now those once poor-paying, but at least plentiful, jobs were drying up. You needed your government to help you out. It wasn't like those governments could raise money by taxing the unemployed and under-employed. They didn't have money. And the rich in most of those same nations had a long and successful legacy of avoiding paying.Those growing economies had a few tried and tested 'solutions' for getting their countries through these rough stretches.The IMF? 'We are out to make 'positive' capital investments and your economic outlook doesn't look promising. We suggest 'austerity'.'The BRICS? Since India and China were basically in an undeclared state of war: 'we won't be loaning anyone anything for a while.'The BIS? 'As soon as the People' Bank of China, the Reserve Bank of India, the Central Bank of Ireland, the Bank of Israel and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey get back to us about their sudden, serious lack of transparency, we'll call you back.'World Bank? Holy Shit! 'The world's going down the toilet, we will do what we can.'F Y I, I (as in Cáel) had been wrong. The 6 Elders of the Ninja families didn't talk to Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Awbee. They talked with another, far more immediately important man. So sue me (Cáel) for not knowing the inner workings of various world governments, and creatively interpreting events surrounding all those people I (Cáel) didn't. I'm a freaking Liberal Arts major with a fertile imagination, not a superspy, or even a competent Intelligence Analyst!}The Japanese government had appealed to the U.S., U.N., P.R.C., A.S.E.A.N., India; and (through back channels aka JIKIT) the Khanate for an end to this madness; all with typical results:The U.S.A: We are working on it (without letting them know what precisely they were working on)Japan: Well, do something fast. Our Government Bonds are about to be more useful as wallpaper.The U.N.: We are working on it (with their long-established tradition of not doing anything until the crisis had passed)Japan: You are preparing to pass a Resolution to move this matter from the First Committee to the Fourth Committee, gee, thanks guys. Will they be meeting sometime before Christmas?The PRC: We are too busy right now, so shut up, keep the trade lanes open, and was that your submarine we detected sneaking into our territorial waters?Japan: What? What do you mean you are 'too busy?' You are one of our biggest trading partners, your economy is going down the toilet, and, No! That was not our submarine in your territorial waters. That accusation is absurd.(Note from Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Awbee, to Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, head of the JMSDF {the de facto Japanese Navy}), The PRC has made this outrageous claim that one of our submarines has been sneaking around their territorial waters. There is no truth to that rumor, right?Kawano: Which time?Prime Minister: Oh My God! What have you people been doing and why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?Kawano: Sir, if you are just now getting around to asking us, you don't want to know.Prime Minister: What do you mean 'I don't want to know?' I'm the head of the damn government and, you are right. Fine. There is no way I'm going back to the Chinese Ambassador and apologizing for any this. Is there any way this can come back to screw us over?Kawano: With all these US and British submarines helping us out, not very likely, Prime Minister.Prime Minister: Oh, very good. You are correct, I don't want to know what you 'haven't' been doing. I am ordering you to destroy all transcripts and recordings of this conversation.Kawano: It has been my distinct honor not having this conversation with you, Prime Minister. Sayōnara.ASEAN, What do you expect us to do about this? Have you seen the unimpressive combined sizes of our members' air forces and navies? Did you see the smack-down the Khanate has inflicted on the PLAN's South China Sea Fleet?Besides, the PRC is claiming that the Khanate launched covert attacks against the Parcels and Spratly islands which originated from Indonesian and Filipino waters. We are investigating the issue. If you are asking us for help, you are truly screwed. Don't call us. We will call you.Japan, {muttering} Investigating the attacks that came from your territory, bullshit! You are covering your own asses, damn it!(Note from Prime Minister, Shinzō Awbee, to Shotaro Yachi, Japanese National Security Advisor), I've heard an ugly rumor that the Khanate has forces secreted in the Philippines and Indonesia. Do you happen to know anything about it?Yachi: Yes Sir. We had advance notice of the organization, composition and destination of those forces.Awbee (while muttering 'no one tells me anything anymore'): What the! Would you please tell me what is going on.Yachi: We have made critical steps toward future alliances which will guarantee Japanese security for decades to come.Awbee What does that mean, and since when have you been creating and implementing foreign policy? We have a Minister for that, in case you somehow over-looked him at the last cabinet meeting. Wait! Does he know about this too?Yachi: No Sir, Foreign Minister Kishida is currently unaware of the Kinkyū tokushu sakusen tasukufōsu (Emergency Special Operations Task Force). Admiral Katsutoshi knows the basics of our operational policy, since we need to borrow some of his assets from time to time. Director-General Kitada (of the Public Security Intelligence Agency) and key personnel from the Foreign Ministry's Intelligence & Analysis Service and Security Bureau make up the majority of the task force's operatives.Awbee: What have you been doing?Yachi: You don't want to know, Mr. Prime Minister. It would make things, awkward.Awbee: 'You don't want to know', of course, I don't. I'm only the elected head of this government. Why would I possibly want to know what acts of espionage and war my deputies are executing?Yachi: I am glad we are on the same page, Sir. Will there be anything else?Awbee: No, wait. Do you have any intelligence on what the Khanate is up to?Yachi: Yes Sir. Is there anything in particular you want to know?Analysis Services: Can you contact someone in their leadership willing to discuss regional affairs?Yachi: I can put you in touch with the Great Khan himself if necessary.AS: What!Yachi: Sir, I would hardly be acting in our nation's best interests if I couldn't divine the intentions of the key players on the stage. Shall I initiate the necessary communications to facilitate that level of clandestine diplomatic contact?AS: No. Yes. No, I need to think about this. Hmm, have you been conducting any domestic espionage missions?Yachi: You don't want me to answer that, Sir.Awbee: of course I don't, I'm only the damn Prime Minister. Shotaro, I'm still Prime Minister, aren't I?Yachi: Yes Sir. We have been working overtime to ensure that. We've foiled two enemy assassination attempts and one attempted kidnapping so far. We remain vigilant.AS: How come this is the first I'm hearing about it? Is the head of my security in on this conspiracy of yours too?Yachi: No Sir. These particular guardians wish to avoid notoriety at all costs.Awbee: Okay. Good to know. Ah, keep up the good work and destroy any trace of this conversation.Yachi: Way ahead of you, Sir. Have a good night.India, Yes, we are more than willing to work with you toward regional stability. Care to acknowledge the Khanate's legitimacy first? We'd really appreciate it. Sure, get back to us when you've done that. Until then, the South China Sea Awaits! Yes, we plan to keep what we've earned. Later now. We think there is going to be further instability in Southeast Asia.Japan, Ya think? It is your damn warships sailing around the freaking South China Sea enforcing your utterly un-secret alliance with the Khanate. Why are you doing this to us? What have we ever done to you?The Khanate, We are not out to damage your national interests. We apologize, but there is now way we will call off this war with the Communist Chinese. It is them, or us, to the death. We have already received and agreed to your request to allow all Japanese flagged ships safe transit through the South China Sea. We really wish to be your friends this time, to make up for those two invasion attempts seven hundred years ago.(Note from  Prime Minister to Self) Great. The only reasonable people who aren't out to kick me in the nuts are also the ones I can't acknowledge talking to. I've got to do something a

Rescue and patchwork relationship.B Book 3 in 18 parts, y FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.Loving your enemy is easy, you know precisely where both of you stand(Right where we left off)The closest Marine had been waiting for me to finish my bonding moment with Menner before speaking. He walked and talked like an officer."You are certainly Mr. Cáel Nyilas," he nodded. "I'm Lt. Robeson, United States Marine Corps. I would like to take you and your party home. What is the situation?""Lieutenant, this young lady is Aya Ruger. She was kidnapped along-side me and managed to kill over twenty of our enemies, so be careful around her." I was deadly serious about what I said. Aya should get proper credit for all the people she sedated then drowned. Dead was dead, even if it was accidental."These two," I pointed to Zhen and Mu, "are Lúsìla ninda and Amar, Taiwanese nationals suffering some shock from the abrupt crash landing of the aircraft. They don't seem to know why they were kidnapped, but they were instrumental in aiding Aya and me making it to shore during the typhoon.""If you say so, Sir," he nodded. He did believe me, yet a soldier was taught to be skeptical of anything a civilian told him about a military situation. "The bodies?""Those are the corpses we found after the storm. I decided we should attempt to place them in your custody so you can figure out who they are," I suggested."Sir, I don't think we can let civilians keep their weapons aboard the flight," the Marine Lt. stated since I had both a pistol and submachine gun, Aya had her pistol and Zhen had her and Mu's blades. A Marine NCO sent a party to gather the dead."Marine, I am Cáel Nyilas, Irish diplomat, freebooter and Champion of the worst possible causes," I began my spiel."You probably have some orders concerning bringing me in alive. I am not so constrained and am more than willing to steal this aircraft and fly back to Hawaii without you. My team keeps their weapons, or you give me your best shot, right now," I met his gaze. He mulled over his options. Two Romanians and two Marines were starting to load the ad hoc body bags aboard the C-37B."Normally I don't take that kind of crap from a civilian and I don't want you to think I'm making an exception because of your Security Clearance. I'll let your people keep your weapons, but if something goes wrong, I'm shooting you first," he assured me."Done deal," I offered my hand and he shook it."Oh and Happy Tibetan Independence Day," he congratulated me."What?" I gasped. Rescue and patchwork relationships{6 pm, Sunday, August 17th ~ 22 Days to go}{11 pm Sunday, Aug. 17th (Havenstone Time)}{And just this once, 11am Monday, Aug. 18th Beijing Time}"Oh and Happy Tibetan Independence Day;, nice work.," the Marine congratulated me."What?""How is that possible?" muttered Mu."Yippee!! No more burning monks," Aya fist-pumped. Personally, I think she did that for the enjoyment of our guardians and to piss off Zhen and Mu just a tiny bit more.(Mandarin) "Brother," Zhen studied her brother's pained expression. "What has gone wrong?"(Mandarin) "The province of Tibet apparently has broken away," he groused. In English, to the Marine Lieutenant he repeated, "How is this possible?""I take it you didn't know Peace Talks had broken out?" he grinned. I doubted the Lt. bought my 'these are my two Taiwanese cobelligerents' story, but belief was above his pay grade, so he didn't give a shit."Yes," Mu mumbled, "we knew of the proposed cease-fire.""Yes, you mean both sides actually honored it?" I added. I really had been out things for a while."Nearly two days ago, noon, Peking Time, the People's Republic of China and the Khanate put a six month cease-fire into effect which has remained intact for forty-one," he looked at his watch, "forty-one and a half hours." He was being a cock to the petulant Mu. No one called Beijing 'Peking' anymore. I had even ordered Beijing Duck on several menus. Peking was the height of Western Imperialist thinking, or so it looked to Mu.(Mandarin) "He is yanking your chain, Mu," I explained. "You are looking pissed off at being rescued, which isn't doing my alibi for you much good.""My apology," Mu nodded to the lieutenant. "Is there any news from the Republic of China? Are they free as well?" That was nice of Mu to call Taiwan by its pet name, the ROC."Not yet," he patted Mu's unwounded leg, "but with the utter shellacking the Khanate put on the People's Navy (really the People's Liberation Army Navy, but the Marine was getting his shots in) it is only a matter of time."I had been translating in a low voice to the V nători de munte in order for them to keep up with the conversation. They all started laughing. The Marines joined in. There was a huge joke here that we had missed out on while stranded.(Romanian) "So, ask them if they know where their aircraft carrier is," Menner chuckled. Most Romanians had grown up knowing of only one China.Me: (Romanian) "What!"A Naval Corpsman who didn't know Romanian, but knew 'aircraft carrier' just fine jumped in: "Oh yeah, the missing Chinese Aircraft carrier," she chortled.Mu: "What!"I'd only been gone two and a half days. What the hell had been going on?(What had transpired in my absence and the subsequent consequences)(Notes:P R C = People's Republic of China; PLA = People's Liberation Army;P L A N = People's Liberation Army Navy;P L A A F = People's Liberation Army Air Force;R O C = the Republic of China {aka Taiwan, aka Chinese Taipei, aka the "other China"};The First Unification War {aka what the Khanate did to China in 2014};Truce lasts from August 16th 2014 until February 15th, 2015 = 183 days)There are several classic blunders grownups should know to avoid: never fight a land war in Asia, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, and, if you are going to cross a master thief, first make sure you have nothing of value. For the land war in Asia, check with my partner, the Khanate. Substituting Black Hand for Sicilian ~ check with Ajax, use an Ouija board. So far, destiny was batting .500.The last blunder I created entirely on my own, but I felt it was the true and right response for the circumstances. So witness the Six Families of the Ninja and the greatest theft in all of recorded history.In the closing hours of the First Unification War, as in many wars, some serious theft was going on; mainly it was the People's Republic getting fleeced.The most obvious and immediate blows came in the Spratlys and Parcel Islands where Khanate forces (actually, elements from all the JIKIT players) seized the key island in the Parcel chain, Woody Island, and secured the P L A N base the Chinese had created there, including the 2,700 meter runway built there in the 1990's. The 1,443 Chinese civilians and 600 military inhabitants in the area were incidental complications and the survivors were about to be 'repatriated' to the mainland anyway; the Khanate didn't want them hanging around as they prepared for the inevitable end of the six-month truce.Yes, the Khanate had stolen the most important island airfield ~ an unsinkable carrier really ~ in the South China Sea. It was also the northern end of the potential People's Republic of China's stranglehold on the east-west sea lanes between East Asia and the rest of the World, i.e., roughly 25% of all global trade.The southern end? That would be the Spratlys. There are few 'real' islands in that 'island group' and only two worth having: the artificial one the P L A N was building and the one the ROC has a 1200 meter airfield on. That artificial island and every other PRC/P L A N outpost in the region was also stolen by the Khanate between 4 a.m. and noon of that final day of active conflict.Every geological feature that had been the basis for the PRC's claims to all of the South China Sea was now in Khanate hands. Considering how much the P L A N had bullied everyone else in that portion of the globe, the Khanate taking over their geopolitical position was incredibly awkward. It was going to get worse.Technically, the Khanate hadn't stolen the P L A N 'South Sea Fleet' (SSF); they'd blown the fuck out of it, including sinking the sole fully-functioning P L A N carrier Liaoning as well as five of the nine destroyers and six of the nineteen frigates in her battle group. The Liaoning and one destroyer had died in those last few hours as the SSF was racing for the relative safety of Philippine waters ~ so close, but no cigar.So the Khanate had stolen the ability of the P L A N to project power in the South China Sea until February 15th, 2015 when the U N brokered truce ended. But that was not the epic theft, though. That distinction went to the Ninja. What did they steal? A semi-functional Chinese nuclear powered super-aircraft carrier still under construction.The beast had no official name yet, but she was a 75,000 ton engine of Global Domination laid down in 2011 and clearly complete enough to float and to be steered under her own power. (To be on the safe side, the Ninja included stealing four tugboats to help in their getaway.) So, you may be asking yourself, how does one 'steal' a nuclear-powered, 1000 foot long, 275 foot wide and ten-story tall vessel?For starters, you need a plan to get on board the sucker. We had begun with the Black Lotus. They wanted to sneak onboard, exit the dockyard the ship was being built in, then sink it off the coast so it couldn't be easily salvaged. That was plan A.Enter the Khanate and their plans; they too wanted to sink this vessel, and destroy the dry docks while they were at it. That was plan B. Actually, the Khanate desire was to contaminate that whole section of the port city with fallout from shattered reactors. They knew they would have to apply overkill when they smashed that bitch of a ship because the PLAN had hurriedly put on board its defensive weaponry ~ ensuring that the Khanate couldn't easily destroy it. For their approach, Temujin's people wanted the Black Lotus' help with the on-the-ground intelligence work. But the Black Lotus didn't want to help anyone irradiate Chinese soil.Enter JIKIT as referee. All those islands the 'Khanate' was busy stealing were actually part of a larger JIKIT mission called Operation Prism. Another object that was a part of the overall plan was Operation Wo Fat, the sinking of the Liaoning ~ again GPS direction and distance to be courtesy of the Black Lotus.JIKIT absolutely needed the Black Lotus. The Black Lotus wouldn't help anyone planning on poisoning any part of China for the next thousand years. Sinking the unnamed and incomplete vessel off the coast in deep waters meant no nuclear leakage and plenty of post-war time to salvage the wreck before it did start to hemorrhage. The Khanate wanted to kill this potential strategic nightmare no matter what it cost the Chinese ecology.JIKIT went to the Ninja to help them adjudicate the issue. All the lights flared brightly in Ninja-Town when they heard of that delicate dilemma. They could make everybody happy and send a clear message to the Seven Pillars expressing how unhappy the six surviving families were about the 7P's trying to annihilate them when all of this 'unpleasantness' began.The Khanate was already going to blast the shipyards and docks, the Black Lotus was already going to sail the ship into deep waters, so why not take it one step further, sail the ship into Japanese waters and declare it Khanate property as a colossal Fuck You! to the PRC, PLAN and specifically the Seven Pillars, all at the same time?Now normally, you can't steal a ship that big. The owners will notice it is missing and come looking for it. And you can't sell or hide the damn thing. So, you steal it at the tail end of a war before the players can capture, or sink it. It just so happened the Ninja had access to a war and such a time table.The next problem: where do you put it? The Khanate's closest safe haven was 8,000 km away at the Eastern Mediterranean Seaport of Izmir.But wait!The Khanate was about to steal an island airbase with its own (albeit small) harbor. The Khanate was confident that a few weeks after the truce, an alternate port, or two, would become available for the two-to-three year process it would require to prepare the vessel so it could be commissioned as the true warship it was meant to be.So, how do you steal a well-guarded, humongous ship with its skeleton crew of 500? You need a distraction ~ a big one. Remember those Khanate airstrikes? They intended to destroy the dockyards anyway. Now all they had to do was 'miss' the carrier.They could do that. If you recall, to dissuade the Khanate from sinking the ship in the final days of the war, the PLAN had hastily put teeth on the thing by giving it all its pre-designed defensive weaponry and added jury-rigged radar and sonar systems. The carrier could defend itself if needed. With the new plan (C), the airstrikes could avoid those teeth, thus reducing the risk of losing their precious planes and pilots.A series of bombing runs and missile hits near the carrier would convince the PLAN admiral in charge to hurriedly put some distance between the ship and shore, Not out to sea. That would be stupid. Within the harbor, his weaponry could adequately defend his ship. And if she took serious damage, he could run her aground, so the vessel wouldn't really sink.The only problem was that out in the harbor, with everything exploding, he was away from the only ground security support available. That was when the Amazons, Black Lotus, Ninja and JIKIT mercenaries would make their move. How could they sneak up on such a big, important ship? By using the submarines the US Navy, the British Royal Navy and Japanese Defense Force were providing, of course.Note: As I stated earlier, Lady Fathom, Addison and Riki had wandered way off the reservation . By this time, if you were a Japanese, British, or American submarine commander in the Yellow Sea and you weren't part of this madness, you were insanely jealous of those who were.The missions JIKIT was sending them on were:-definitely Acts of War if they were ever discovered,-far more dangerous than any war game exercise they'd ever been part of, and-the ultimate test of their crews and equipment.These people weren't suicidal. They believed they were the best sneaks under the Seven Seas and now they could prove it ~ in 50 years when this stuff was declassified (if it ever was).For the one American, two British and four Japanese submarines inserting the assault teams, this whole mission had a surreal feel to it. They were transporting a packed assortment of women of Indian, Malaysian and Indonesian descent along with some very lithe Japanese ladies and gents, none of who talked a whole lot.There was a third group with the spooky women and spookier Japanese teams, and that group was scared shitless about the sudden turn their lives had taken. They were all former American and British servicewomen (to not tick off the Amazons too much) with carrier and/or nuclear reactor experience who had been RIFed (Reduction in Force, aka fired) in the past five years from their respective national navies.Around a week ago, they had all answered an advertisement by a logistics support corporation that was going to do a 'force modernization' in an unnamed country. They all knew that mean the Khanate. The job had been laid out as 'basically your old job with the addition of training the natives' and it included the promise of no combat.It was a guaranteed five year contract with an option for a year-to-year extensions for another five years if you desired to stick around. For that, you received your 'pay grade upon retirement + 20%', free room and board, private security, judicial protections and a $10,000 to $10,900 signing bonus. For many struggling military families, it was manna from Heaven and thousands were signing up.Then 72 hours ago, a different group from the same company came knocking on the women's doors. If you could come with them right then and there, they had a satchel of money, $100,000 to $109,000, tax free, and a Non-disclosure Agreement for you to sign. Sure, the deal sounded shady, but the money was very real.Twenty-four hours later those who accepted the money found themselves in a small fishing village on Ko Island, Japan. There some rather fiercely intense people outlined the job they were needed for. From a submarine, the assault teams would sneak aboard the carrier, neutralize the crew and then the new crew (them) would sail it to Jeju, Jeju Island, South Korea.At that point they would be allowed to stay with the vessel (preferred), or depart for a non-war zone of their choice. Both options came with another $100,000 to $109,000 payment. Anyone who declined this particular job would remain incognito on Ko Island for another 48 hours then be allowed to leave without the need to return their initial payment.Of the 312 job applicants, 293 volunteered for both the first and second parts of the assignment. With the technical and linguistic expertise of the Amazons and 9 Clan members that would be enough to get their prize to Jeju Island's temporary safety and then make the last leg to Woody Island and a more permanent anchorage.Besides the airstrikes to goad the carrier away from the wharves, all the Khanate had to do with the carrier was put three or four clearly Mongolian faces onboard when the various nations of the world came calling. After all, what was the public going to believe:, the Khanate had pulled off yet another daring (i.e., mostly JIKIT) Special Forces coup, just as they'd managed to do throughout this short war, or that 'Ninjas stole my Battleship, umm, carrier' stuff some PRC leaders were claiming? Forty-eight hours later the whole globe was able to watch the newly named Khanate supercarrier, the  z Beg Khan, passing through Japanese territorial waters while being escorted by South Korean and Japanese warships.The PRC did complain to the United Nations over the 'theft' of both the carrier and 'their' islands, but the Security Council, led by the UK, could and would do nothing about the 'latest round of injustices heaped upon the People of China'. By the time the UN got around to doing nothing, the next round of JIKIT diplomacy was causing the PRC even greater headaches.That greatest theft, while remarkable in its own right, was really a sideshow to the reordering of the political order in Southeast Asia. The big winner wasn't the Khanate. And it certainly wasn't the mainland Chinese. No, the nations to immediately prosper were an unlikely pair, the Republic of India and the People's Republic of Vietnam (PRV). The Republic of China (R O C) was also getting its own small boost as well.By gambling their precious navy, India had become the largest power broker in the South China Sea's resource bonanza. She went from a minimal presence to being the critical ally of the Khanate and the 'big stick' (naval-wise) of Asia's new dynamic duo. The Indians had the only two functional aircraft carriers in the region and the Khanate had Woody Island with a mega-carrier number of planes sitting on it.Their combined naval aviation was not something any of the others powers wanted to mess with. The duo then sealed their supremacy by making the duo a trio. That third member was the PRV. Vietnam was the land-based logistical anchor of the three regional powers.Not only did Vietnam gain the prestige denied it for over two centuries, it redressed the P L A N humiliating treatment of their own navy for the past thirty years. The Khanate's naval aviation would shield Vietnam's economic exploitation of the Parcel Islands. The Indian Navy could counter anything the P L A N South China fleet could come at them with.Yes, the P L A N had two other fleets, the Northern and Eastern, but both had been put through their own 1001 levels of Hell by the Khanate's air power, plus they had to protect the Chinese heartland from Russia and North Korean ambitions. The South Koreans and Japanese were suddenly a very real threat from the East too. But for the time being, the Indians had the decisive edge.The final location for the  z Beg Khan was an old familiar haunt for some Americans, Da Nang, PRV. It had the facilities, courtesy of the US military from the 1960's and 70's, to be the new base for the Khanate's Eastern Fleet and logistical hub for their naval aviation forces in the Parcel Islands.The Vietnamese were thinking with more than their testicles, as were the Indians. Sure, geopolitical clout was nice, yet that was only the icing on the economic cake that was the Parcel Island Accords. That hasty bit of JIKIT backroom dealings gave a 50% stake in the Parcels to the PRV.India got 20% of something she had 0% in a month ago. The Khanate gained a 20% stake for their audacity and the ROC gained 10% because the other three would protect its share from the PRC. Something was better than nothing and the three legitimate powers agreed to the deal because in less than six months, the PRC would be back in the game.The Indians and Vietnamese wanted the Khanate to stay interested in the region and the Taiwanese wanted to forge closer ties to the Khanate. That treaty was a 'no-brainer'. Within one week, the Vietnamese were strutting like peacocks and internal political opposition to the Indian intervention into the South China Sea in the Indian parliament was silent.The Spratly Islands was a tougher deal to work out within the six month timetable. There were more players ~ the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand (who had a non-functional carrier). The JIKIT deal gave everyone but the Indians a 10% piece of the huge natural gas, oil and fisheries pie and the Indians got 20% once more.The Philippines and Malaysia were both very opposed to this treaty; they believed they deserved a far larger portion of those regional resources. Indonesia and Thailand also felt they could hold out for a bigger slice and weren't happy with India getting so much for basically having a double handful of ships (34 actually) sailing about.That 'handful of ships' was the point JIKIT was trying to make. If the PRC beat the Khanate next year, did any of the players think the PRC would give them anything, even if they promised them more right now? Really? When the PLAN had the biggest guns, they hadn't respected any other claims to the region. Why would that change in the future?The reality was this: India would only stick around if they had the economic incentive to remain. Vietnam, the Khanate and the ROC were watching the clock and realized this was the best deal they would get. Brunei and the Philippines were also coming to that understanding. Brunei was tiny (thus easy to defend), very rich already and a good ally of the British.The Philippines had a very weak navy and a non-existent naval air force. They couldn't even enforce their current claims versus Brunei, much less confront the PLAN, or any other nation's current military. The Philippines was, sadly, relatively big and very poor. Its big traditional ally was the United States, and the US was currently busy doing 'not much' about the South China Sea situation.The world's biggest navy was partially taking up its traditional (and treaty bound) role of interposing itself between the North Koreans, PLAN/PLAAF and Russians arrayed near Japan and South Korea, or busily not 'ratcheting up tensions' in the region by sending more forces into the front lines.President Obama was urging dialogue and 'stepping back from the brink' even though every country in Southeast Asia felt the brink had already dissipated the moment the PRC was forced to accept the cease-fire. In this context, the Philippines had good reason to be feeling lonely at the moment.Bizarrely, both New Delhi and Hanoi were singing the praises of US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Rt. Honorable Phillip Hammond, Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for the UK, for their deft handling of the crisis, thank you, Riki Martin and Lady Yum-Yum.Riki wasn't expecting any thanks. She was certain she'd be fired and imprisoned for the rest of her life. Lady Fathom Worthington-Burke was sure she'd get two additional knighthoods out of the deal, which would look very nice engraved on her tombstone. Javiera had long ago decided to face the music and go down with the ship, so to speak.The CIA's Addison Stuart already had her exit strategy. She was going to go work for the Khanate, building up their clandestine service when this whole mad scheme collapsed into recriminations and 'extreme sanctions'. Mehmet, Air Force Sr. Master Sgt. Billings and Agent-86 had all decided to go with her. Katrina had their escape plane on standby. Mehmet's family was already 'vacationing' in Canada.Anyway, the Republic of India, the Khanate, the Republic of China, the People's Republic of Vietnam (the Vietnamese were happy to already be getting half of the Parcel Island windfall), the Sultanate Brunei (Lady Fathom 'knew' some people and the Sultan was an autocratic Muslim ruler, just like the Great Khan) and the Philippines (because they had no other true choice) were all coming around to signing the Spratly Accords.Indonesia and Thailand were kind of waiting for a better deal. Malaysia was downright hostile, having gravitated toward the PRC over the past decade and been assured by the PRC a better apportionment would be their reward for upsetting the treaty process.The Great Khan's answer was simple. He publically threatened the Malaysian Federation in general and both the King (Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah) and Prime Minister of Malay (Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak) in particular with military action if they kept dragging their feet.He even told them how he'd do it. He'd butcher or expel every living thing in the states of Perlis and Kedah (~ 2.1 million people) and give those empty lands to Thailand to settle along with the added sweetener of Malaysia's 10% of the Spratlys. He would also invade Eastern Malaysia, taking the island state of Labuan for himself while giving Sarawak to Indonesia and Sabah to the Philippines if those to states agreed to the split.He'd also decimate their navy & air force before devastating every port city, just like he'd done to China. He'd already killed more than two million Chinese. What was another two million Malays to him? Also, Indonesia wanted Sarawak and the Philippines had claims on Sabah. While they were openly and publically defying the Great Khan's plan, could Malaysia really take the chance?What would India and Thailand do while this was going on? Thailand stated that it would protect its territorial integrity, whatever that meant. India wasn't returning Malaysia's phone calls while showing their populace re-runs of Malaysian violence against their Hindu minority, the bastards!To the world, the Indian Navy proclaimed it would 'defend itself and its supply lines' which was a subtle hint that they would shepherd any Khanate invasion force to their destination. Why would the Indians be so insensitive? The Malaysians were screwing up their deal to get 20% of both the Parcel and Spratlys wealth, that's why.If the Khanate went down, there was no way India could defend their claims (which they'd won by doing nothing up until now). Oh yeah, Vietnam began gathering up warplanes, warships, transport ships and troops for the quick (710 km) jaunt across the Gulf of Thailand to north-eastern Malaysia to kill Malaysians because Vietnam needed the Khanate to ensure their own economic future as well.That military prospect had a cascade effect, especially among the Indonesian military. If the Indian Navy remained active, the vastly more populous Western Malaysia couldn't reinforce the state of Sarawak. Sure, the Philippines was unlikely to conquer Sabah on their own, but all the Indonesians needed was for Sabah to be kept pre-occupied while their army took their promised territory, fulfilling a fifty year old dream of conquest/unification.The United Nations blustered. It wasn't that they didn't care, they did. They also cared about the deteriorating situations in Libya, Nigeria, Syria and Ukraine. The situation was complicated by the unwillingness of the permanent members of the Security Council, namely the PRC and Russia, to recognize the Khanate.In reverse, when those two tried to stick it to the Khanate, the UK stoically vetoed them. Why? Well, more on that later. Let's just say the Khanate was good for business in the European Union in general and the United Kingdom in particular because the Khanate was prepared to economically befriend the British. Ireland was being treated in a promising manner too. The United States,the United Nations?Let's just say that in the two months following the cease-fire, the Khanate bloodily and brutally solved the ISIS conundrum and the Donbass Crisis. When the smoke cleared, the Khanate had reintroduced the practice of impalement to the modern battlefield, driven the separatists from the Ukraine and was on the border with Israel and Jordan.Sure, the Ukrainians were stun-fucked by the Khanate's 'peace-keepers' going on a bloody rampage through the eastern rebellious regions, but they had delivered up peace by mid-September. Yes, the Russians were in an uproar about the impalements.As the Khanate spokesperson said, 'if they aren't your people, then it is not your problem' and 'there are no more Russians left alive in the Ukraine'. In fact, fewer than a thousand people, all armed insurgents, were executed in such a manner, but the terror created by the highly publicized killings had the effect of sending a hundred thousand people stampeding over the frontier into Russia proper.Next, the Khanate said it wanted to 'reexamine' the Crimean situation. There were Turcoman in that area and they weren't being treated well, or so it was claimed.Even as Russia and the Khanate were posturing in the Donbass, the Khanate struck in the Middle East. By the end of September, Syria and Lebanon had ceased to exist as organized entities. Most of those two countries as well as portions of western Iraq became Turkish provinces in the Khanate infrastructure. Northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq became the Khanate state of Kurdistan.It was a campaign reminiscent of the 13th century Mongol conquest, not a modern military struggle. Whole villages were eradicated. The entire Arab population of Mosul was exiled to the new territories in the East. The city was repopulated with Kurds from Turkey. Back in Turkey, those Kurds were replaced by Armenians from Azerbaijan, cauterizing another internal issue within the Khanate.Jordan was cautiously hopeful. Israel? "We don't seem to be having problems with Hezbollah anymore," with a shrug and "it could be worse." As for ISIS; there really was an Islamic State controlling more than half of Iraq and all of Syria now and it allowed no other pretenders to that distinction. By the time the world woke up to that reality though, the Great Hunt had happened and I was dealing with the consequences of that.A larger ideological and political matter was occurring in the United States, the United Kingdom (and to a limited extent Australia and Canada). The Ramshackle Empire (aka the Khanate) was just that ~ a Frankenstein nation fueled more by nationalistic pride and nostalgia for a Super-State (that only two living people had firsthand experience with) than an integrated armed forces and infrastructure.It may have been built upon more than a 13th century creation and two hundred years of real and imagined oppression. It did have long term planning and real genius driving it forward. Having throttled the PRC into giving them six precious months of peace to 'tidy up the backyard' (aka the Middle East and Russia) and forge a true nation, the Khanate was now hiring experts to aid them in the task.First and foremost, Temujin and the Earth & Sky had envisioned an armed state built upon military principles and discipline. Fate had delivered to them the means of their own salvation in the form of NATO's policy of disarmament and 'Reduction-In-Force' levels (RIFed).The US and UK had trained tens of thousands of male and female volunteers in their Armed Forces in infrastructure creation and management for the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. From 2010, those militaries had informed those experts that their services were no longer required. Unlike the shrinking militaries of the 1990's, there was no private sector to 'soak up' the majority of those personnel.The Earth & Sky had been working on the problem of nation-building on a time table and they kept coming up short. They had to fight to create their state first, so the all-important after-battle had been something their leaders dreaded. Temujin had been understanding about not everything being 100% ready. Few wars were fought that way.Then a young male Amazon of mixed Magyar ancestry talked history with the Earth & Sky representative to a seemingly inconsequential personage's funeral. A few critical E&S leaders (a minority, to be sure) immediately sought ways to cultivate this man into what was a ten year plan to open doors to the Amazons. Then that man saved the Great Khan's life and everything changed.Before the E&S had even remotely considered directly approaching the Amazons for help, the Amazons came knocking on their door. The Seven Pillars of Heaven had tried to kidnap a camp full of Amazon children ~ an assault on their future. The two secret societies were bound by one unique, fortunate idiot and a mutual thirst for vengeance.They were also directed by two incredibly foresighted, ambitious and brilliant people. In Katrina of Epona, the E&S elders found someone who equaled their hope to see the Seven Pillars humbled and humbled immediately. Moreover, these were the Amazons they were dealing with. Amazons always sought both lightning decisions and long term solutions.From the moment Iskender left his third meeting with Cáel Nyilas, Katrina put the fruits of the First Directive (the Amazons efforts to recruit militant outsider women) into overdrive. Havenstone had the apparatus in place to screen potential inductees. All they had to do was add a "can you suggest any other people who might be interested in this line of work" box to their employment forms.That brought men into the process in surprising numbers. The market was flush with military veterans having trouble readjusting to the civilian community. The Khanate wasn't hiring killers. They wanted ex-military and civilian police officers to create a national police force.They also wanted engineers and builders, cadres for their cadet corps and a whole range of specialist in jobs most of the Western World took for granted. The money came from off-shore accounts funded by Havenstone International. The employment opportunities came from Earth & Sky front companies operating in the UK and the US (and Israel, but that was another matter).They had already started hiring scores of civilian English-speaking experts to help build their newborn nation's infrastructure before the first blow landed. English hadn't been chosen out of any cultural bias. Relying on Russian and Chinese sources wasn't feasible, the Khanate wasn't overly linguistically gifted where distant tongues were concerned and, as pointed out, the English-speaking world had a glut of applicants.Now to the problem, there were people in the US and UK who weren't happy with their citizenry going to the Khanate and helping them to survive and thrive. These power groups wanted the Mongol-Turkish Empire to keep the resources flowing to the West, without any reciprocal commitment on their part.Imagine their surprise when some wonks at the State Department and Foreign Ministries found bundles of expedited passport requests to the (former) nations of Turkmenistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Mongolia (and later Afghanistan and Iraq). The Department of Defense  Ministry of Defense were discovering their former military personnel and civilian contractors with Security Clearances were heading the same way.Of all those destinations, only Mongolia and Kazakhstan were under any kind of 'Restricted Travel' advisories. Barring any coherent anti-Khanate strategy from their administrations, the bureaucracies were doing their jobs, with Havenstone exerting just enough influence to get the job done while flying beneath the radar.After JIKIT was created, the group had a US Senator greasing the wheels to get the requests expedited. In England, Lady Worthington-Burke shamelessly used the people at the other end of the O'Shea hotline to get the job done overseas. She did have to sell out a teammate, but that was what good boys were for ~ taking one for the team. (That would be me, if there was any misunderstanding.)When Cáel Nyilas was kidnapped under the watchful eye of the FBI (I wasn't sure how they got that bum-wrap), the whole situation exploded. The PRC didn't have me, yet promised they might produce me if certain concessions were made. According to Addison, I was worth 5,000 barrels a day of refined fuel oil and 50 tons of coal a month, and the Great Khan agreed to pay! Woot! I was loved by somebody who was a somebody.All that attention drove home some salient points. I was a noble scion of Ireland, Romania, Georgia and Armenia (in no particular order) and they all wanted to know why the US had let me be kidnapped. Didn't my president know I was a sacred national treasure? After JIKIT tracked down the bribes and clandestine activities to Chinese shell corporations, those powers wanted to know what sanctions would be applied.'But wait, wasn't I a private citizen?' my national leaders pleaded. Then the PRC made a case which boiled down to 'I had it coming for being a fiancé to Hana Sulkanen and a brother to the Great Khan', while ignoring me being snatched in the territorial US of A. Of course, they didn't claim to have actually done the kidnapping.Javiera was waiting on that one; 'What was their excuse for kidnapping a little US girl to force my compliance?' The furious Federal authorities even found two dead adult bodies and two digits from said child to add to the media frenzy. To prove I had migrated to fantasy land, the CNN journalist got it right ~ they had tortured the girl and I had killed two of them for it. Just ask the Romanian Army how lethal I could be.In a rare comment, Temujin informed the international press that he believed I was still alive. Why did he believe that? If I wasn't, they would have been able to spot the pile of dead enemy around me and my 'boon companion' (go Aya!) from orbit. Until they discovered this carnal pit from Hell, I was surely still alive.Just at the cusp of turning publically against the Mongol barbarians, the world suddenly got angry with their enemy, the PRC. The principal two Western regimes were paralyzed with indecision until my miraculous cry for help from the middle of the Pacific showed the world I was alive, had punished my enemies and rescued others from under the opponent's cruel thumb.Clearly if I started ranting against the People's Republic of China, my government would be rather peeved with me. I hadn't screwed a dozen poli-sci majors to miss out on that obvious situation. I behaved and hoped they wouldn't make me die from an embolism, or some other equally implausible cause.(DC is a marvel. 9 pm, Monday, August 18th. 21 days)I'd been dragged to DC, to honor promises made in Rome a week ago. I had another choice; I could have justifiably said I was still getting over my kidnapping ordeal. But that choice fucked over Javiera Castello, my boss at JIKIT (Joint International Khanate Interim Task force).That was how I ended up in a 'secret and secure' meeting with Tony Blinken, Deputy National Security Advisor (DNSA) and his experts. He was someone I didn't know. The rest, I'd had a verbal run-in with them after the Romanian bloodbath. I'd been cranky. I would hardly consider us to be on good terms now.All four experts were from the US State Department. They were foregoing their usual group of flunkies because this meeting wasn't really happening. All the participants were officially somewhere else, mostly not even in D.C. Had this soiree 'really happened', the Congressional sub-committees would have been able to request the minutes of Tony's meeting with members of JIKIT and:·         Victoria Nuland, Ass. Sec. of State for European & Eurasian Affairs (ASSEEA)·         Robert O. Blake Jr., Ass. Sec. of State for S & C Asian Affairs (ASSCAA)·         Daniel R. Russel, Ass. Sec. of State for E. Asian and Pacific Affairs (ASSEAP)·         Bill A. Miller, Director of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) (aka Big Willy)We made stiff, formal introductions (which signaled the utter lack of trust in the room.) Javiera hadn't wanted to put me through an interrogation this soon after my near-death experience, considering my snarky nature when stressed. The White House was putting the squeeze on her. The main player was Tony, who talked with the Leader of the Free World on a weekly, if not daily, basis.The Diplomatic Security Service people had successfully peeled off Pamela and my SD Amazons only after they agreed I could keep Aya. They tolerated me keeping the nine-year old girl despite the obvious fact she had gone through worse hardships than I had endured and was still packing her Chinese QSW-06 suppressed pistol.I had already fabricated and submitted my report on how I'd overcome a plane-full of rogue delinquents from the Forumi i Rinis  Eurosocialiste t  Shqip ris  (Euro-socialist Youth Forum of Albania) bent on recruiting impressionable European socialites by accessing my Twitter account.That's right, the Albanians had it out for me. I reiterated that critical bit of data to the Department of Homeland Security when they questioned me on the veracity of my memories. The two ethnic Chinese I was found with? I thought they were from Taiwan, and they both appeared to be suffering from amnesia.I was already suffering repercussions from my pathological refusal to take life seriously. Javiera believed I was about to get a formal apology from Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations. Damn it! Now I had to do something nice for the Albanians. Maybe I'd offer them membership in the Khanate, full-statehood with an economic package to sweeten the deal.Yes, that was how Albania and Kosovo joined the Khanate, a product of my love for exaggeration and a little post-Ottoman solidarity over Tarator (cold soup made of yoghurt, garlic, parsley, cucumber, salt and olive oil with a side of fried squids), Tav  Kosi (lamb meatballs) and Flia & Kaymak (a dessert I highly recommend).We had toasted the Pillars of Kanun (Albanian oral law and tradition): ~ Nderi (honor), Mikpritja (hospitality), Sjellja (Right Conduct) and Fis (Kin Loyalty), ~ and he promised to tell his people that I had Besa which was an Albanian-ism for being a man who would honor his word of honor (despite us being brought together by my lie). The shit-ton of financial and military aid I asked the Great Khan to sweeten the pot with might have helped as well.Later, Lady Yum-Yum told me that the military leaders of NATO called it a 'master-stroke' in neutralizing Comrade Putin's Russian-backed 'Greek threat

Both the biblical narrative and church history are full of examples of the gospel being proclaimed in the "open-air." Nevertheless, many today claim such an approach is outdated and counterproductive. The guests on this episode of The Lancaster Patriot Podcast beg to differ. Listen in as Chris Hume asks three seasoned open-air preachers about their work and the reason they believe there is still a place to proclaim the gospel of Christ in the open-air.About the guests:Bill Adams is the overseer for SFOI.org, an organization with a vision is to "Mobilize the Next Generation of George Whitefields to Saturate the Western World with the Gospel." Bill has preached at and often led evangelism teams to 24 Super Bowls, 12 NBA & 13 MLB All-Star Celebrations, 16 Final Fours, 2 World Cups, 4 Summer and 3 Winter Olympic Games and 3 Rugby and 3 Cricket World Championships.Scott Smith heads up Schoolmaster Ministries and has preached on numerous college campuses across the nation. Originally from New England, God sovereignly converted Scott in October, 1979 when he was in Hawaii on his way to Australia.Ryan Denton is a church planter, open air preacher, and evangelist under Vanguard Presbyterian Church. He is author of seven books, as well as a contributor to DesiringGod, Founders Ministries, Ref21, The Confessional Presbyterian, Heidelblog, and others. He has a Th.M from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and lives in Texas with his wife and 3 sons. For more information about Ryan, visit RyanDenton.com.

Send us a textUnveiling The Veil: Not Your Average Medium#writer #psychic #medium #voiceactor #tutor #podcast Ann is an International Psychic Medium, Award-Winning Writer, Tutor, Voice Artist & Host of the Psychic Matters podcast, investigating psychic development, mediumship techniques, and paranormal science.  Listen to her show and you'll not only learn how to develop your spiritual gifts, but you'll also investigate the teachings of experts across the globe and gain their wisdom, advice and spiritual wealth.In the Western World, even in this very modern 21st century, there are very few good teachers who uphold and advance psychic teaching. Ann has trained at some of the best psychic institutions in the world and with some of the best tutors and modern-day paranormal pioneers.  She is a respected Tutor at Tony Stockwell's Soul Space, the world-renowned London College  of Psychic Studies and the esteemed The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, Edinburgh and she is extremely proud to be a Certificate holder of the Spiritualists National Union (CSNU): https://www.anntheato.com/online-courses-and-events/Website: https://www.anntheato.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychicmattersX: https://x.com/Psychic_MattersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychicmatters/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anntheato/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@UCHtxtxTaCVZeG0Cy4giSJmA Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHtxtxTaCVZeG0Cy4giSJmAThanks for tuning in, please be sure to click that subscribe button and give this a thumbs up!!Email: thevibesbroadcast@gmail.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/listen_to_the_vibes_/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevibesbroadcastnetworkLinktree: https://linktr.ee/the_vibes_broadcastTikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeuTVRv2/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheVibesBrdcstTruth: https://truthsocial.com/@KoyoteSupporters of the channel:Matthew Arrowood Host of The ONLY Brocast podcast:https://youtube.com/channel/UCsfv1wWu3oUg42I2nOtnMTADon Hahn of In the Margins: https://www.youtube.com/c/InTheMarginsBukas Siguro: https://www.youtube.com/c/BukasS%C4%ABgur%C3%B8Will Scoville of Ranch Rehab DIY: https://www.youtube.com/c/RanchRehabDrew Lee Nicholas of DN-TV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8TVqL9mn6NzPkXOLOZSX-AFor all our social media and other links, go to: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_vibes_broadcastPlease subscribe, like, and share!

We open with another piece of information that reveals the UK was aware of the Wuhan lab leak in 2020. That means all of the Western World along with China conspired to keep the truth from the world. The Autopen issue just hit a new snag. Seems the J6 Reality TV Show folks got their pre-emptive pardons on a day when President Biden was no where close to Washington, D.C. Three female administrators at a middle school barricaded the doors to the girls locker room, forcing the girls to have to change in front of yet another confused boy. This goes beyond simple Transgenderism into borderline sexual assault. Border Czar Tom Homan suggests the Pope should work on fixing issues with the Catholic Church while he focuses on the border and public safety. As a group of TdA gang members/terrorists is flown to El Salvador to face prison, another activist judge wants to protect the rights of those animals over Americans. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) as spokesperson for the DNC says they are squarely in the camp of being pro-illegal/pro-terrorist rather than America First. We once again give you another moment to digest some comments from the original DOGE team. This time we hear from Joe Biden and how much waste is found in Social Security and other entitlements. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has no functioning brain. He tried to make a point by comparing the fixed incomes of those on Social Security to the government signed contracts Elon Musk has with the U.S. government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on Face the Nation Sunday, once again putting the empty-headed Margaret Brennen in her place, first on Trump's decision to take away the Houthi terrorists ability to harm shipping lanes, followed by the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil. As fellow independent broadcaster Erin Molan recently said on 69X Minutes, look how much energy the Democrats are putting in defending a pro-terrorist green card holder, versus actual Americans who have been held hostage by Hamas terrorists for well over 500 days. Batya Ungar-Sargon was on with Bill Maher and explained why she is a MAGA lefty. While Maher was taking cheap shots, she was making phenomenal points. On the flipside, Leftists strategist Molly Jong-Fast was beclowining herself on MSNBC suggesting everyone loves Democrat policies. Well, that's not what the polling of both CNN and NBC finds. It's exactly the opposite. Let us remember that only 7% think Democrats are doing really well, which is the exact same percentage of adults who believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and then share the episode on social media. You can find me on Facebook, X, Instagram, GETTR and TRUTH Social by searching for The Alan Sanders Show. And, consider becoming a sponsor of the show by visiting my Patreon page!!

To celebrate St Patrick's Day here is another chance to hear this interview with legendary guitarist Eric Bell from the equally iconic and legendary Irish hard rock band, Thin Lizzy.This episode was originally released in March 2023.Episode photo attributed with thanks -  By Klaus Hiltscher - https://www.flickr.com/photos/khiltscher/3141138463/in/faves-24788065@N02/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15531140With it's haunting and mesmerising guitar intro many listeners will be familiar with the Thin Lizzy hit, Whisky in the Jar which reached no. 6 in the UK charts in 1973.My guest today is the legendary former lead guitarist and founding member of Thin Lizzy, Eric Bell.  As well as playing on that famous song, Eric recorded 3 albums with Thin Lizzy,  'Thin Lizzy,' ' Shades of a Blue Orphanage' and 'Vagabonds of the Western World.'In our conversation Eric talks about;1) His introduction to the guitar2) Playing in Irish Showbands3) How a chance meeting with Phil Lynott and Brian Downey led to the formation of Thin Lizzy4) How the trio wrote songs5) The story of how Whisky in the Jar was never intended to be a single!6) Reaching success and how Phil Lynott developed his enigmatic stage persona7) His career after Thin Lizzy, including playing with Jimi Hendrix's bassist Noel Redding8)The Eric Bell Trio9) Valuable lessons about performing for other musicians10) Eric's autobiography, 'Remembering'11) Songwriting  and much more.If you are a Thin Lizzy fan I hope that you will enjoy this episode and for those listeners who may not be too familiar with the band but would like to hear a captivating tale from a true gentleman and one of the worlds greatest  guitarists, this is for you. Enjoy!Eric's links;https://www.facebook.com/EricBellOfficialhttp://www.oftheedgeproductions.com/index.htmlQuestion or comment? Send us a text message.www.undercurrentstories.com

Growing up amid the war-torn Lebanon during civil war, Gus finished medical school and moved to the US and became a practicing MD.  He grew his own practice and then eventually franchised and sold his chain of practices and became on entrepreneur working on developing cell therapies to improved lives.  Paralleled with his professional success, Gus is a happily married father of two and prioritizes first principles thinking. 0.00:    Gus's background in civil war-torn Lebanon 5.00:    How 15 years of civil war shaped Gus' perspective 13.00:  Gus entering medical field as a fertility doctor 18.00:  Dreaming of America 24.00:  Finding his career in Fertility 30.00:  Why Fertility is falling in the Western World 40.00:  The Pitfalls Money and Success can have 48.00:  Navigating Parenthood and Fears of Complacency 56.00:  How Gus's views on “Western Medicine”, as an MD, have changed and how he used    natural healing with his mother 1.09.00:  Changing your mind through your Diet 1.20.00:  Gus's health falling from his bad diet            Until next time, love and good vibes.  Podcast Website: https://enterthelionheart.com/ Check out the latest episode here: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enter-the-lionheart/id1554904704 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tD7VvMUvnOgChoNYShbcI

Become a Client: https://nomadcapitalist.com/apply/ Get our free Weekly Rundown newsletter and be the first to hear about breaking news and offers:https://nomadcapitalist.com/email Join us for the next Nomad Capitalist Live event: https://nomadcapitalist.com/live/ In this episode, Mr Henderson details the increasing hatred of the rich in the Western World and explains the faulty reasoning being used to target the wealthy in legacy brand countries. He covers proposals to “abolish the rich” via net worth and income caps and also delves into looming tax hikes on entrepreneurs. Nomad Capitalist helps clients "go where you're treated best." We are the world's most sought-after firm for offshore tax planning, dual citizenship, international diversification, and asset protection. We use legal and ethical strategies and work exclusively with seven- and eight-figure entrepreneurs and investors. We create and execute holistic, multi-jurisdictional Plans that help clients keep more of their wealth, increase their personal freedom, and protect their families and wealth against threats in their home country. No other firm offers clients access to more potential options to relocate to, bank in, or become a citizen of. Because we do not focus only on one or a handful of countries, we can offer unbiased advice where others can't. Become Our Client: https://nomadcapitalist.com/apply/ Our Website: http://www.nomadcapitalist.com/ About Our Company: https://nomadcapitalist.com/about/ Buy Mr. Henderson's Book: https://nomadcapitalist.com/book/ DISCLAIMER: The information in this episode should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Nomad Capitalist can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.

Psychologists John Gartner and Harry Segal take a close look at that disastrous meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office before turning to the big picture with George Conway, constitutional lawyer, political activist, and one of the leading lights warning the country about Trump. Make sure you join us here on Patreon to support our work and gain access to exclusive perks: patreon.com/ReallyAmericanMedia Our site: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/shrinking-trump  Subscribe on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shrinking-trump/id1745797271 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xuuqHxzruLEsQXtTuJjP4 Subscribe on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a101a15a-8b18-49c8-b556-c201aece30ee/shrinking-trump Subscribe on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shrinking-trump-175213669/ In this newest episode of Shrinking Trump, our hosts analyze the signs of cognitive decline and severe personality disorder seen in Trump's increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior. And our guest George Conway, a well-known figure in the "Never Trump" movement, shares his insights into the global implications of Trump's psychopathy and inherent sadism.  We'll kick off the show with a reflection on the exhausting chaos of Trump's second term, six weeks in. And we take a hard look at the recent meeting between Trump and Zelensky, a pivotal moment when America betrayed its allies and continued its descent into authoritarianism. Dr. Siegel describes how, in that meeting, Trump's grandiosity, narcissism, and pathological need for recognition played out with disastrous consequences in real-time. Dr. Gartner breaks down the erratic display—marked by grandiosity, followed by sudden deflation and aggression.  The hosts expertly explain how Trump's impulsivity and lack of foresight clearly manifests itself when Trump is threatened, leaving him open to manipulation by figures like J.D. Vance. And the duo emphasizes how Trump's penchant for authoritarian leaders, like Vladimir Putin, is undoing long-standing alliances and destabilizing the Western World. Dr. Gartner and Dr. Siegel close out the show with powerful words, urging our listeners to remain vigilant, active, and informed in this fight against tyranny. Be sure to join us next week for another all-new episode, where we continue our mission of Shrinking Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alastair Campbell writer, communicator, consultant, strategist, mental health campaigner joined Pat on the show this morning. Up for discussion Trump, Putin and how European leaders have got to understand that this is now a real crisis for Europe and for the Western world.

Some thinkers claim that by casting God out of its thinking, the Western world has finally entered maturity. Today, R.C. Sproul shows that our culture is actually in a state of juvenile rebellion. Listen on Apple Podcasts or your podcast platform of choice. Read the transcript: https://ligonier.org/podcasts/ultimately-with-rc-sproul/the-enlightenment-of-the-western-world/ A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://donate.ligonier.org/ Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

(Conversation recorded on January 2nd, 2025)     When looking at our global challenges, it can be easier to focus on the external factors that could be different. Yet a critical part of creating impactful change is turning the scope of reflection inward towards how our patterns of thinking influence the way we contribute to our surroundings. Is it possible that a path toward a better future begins in our own heads?  Today Nate is joined by psychiatrist and neurologist Iain McGilchrist for a deep dive on the implications of western society's over-reliance on analysis and categorization on the quality and expectations of our leadership and governance systems. Iain emphasizes the need for a shift in perspective, advocating for wisdom over power and a deeper understanding of the impact of technology on our values and attention. How can spiritually healthy and aware individuals lead the way towards societal change rooted in wisdom? How can focusing on the well-being of our closest communities create ripple-effects of emergence for broader humanity? Finally, how can embracing wonder and humility throughout our lives – in the face of our scariest challenges – guide us towards a more interconnected and sentient humanity?    About Iain McGilchrist: Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London.  Iain has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry.  Iain is the author of a number of books, but is best-known for The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (2009); and his book on neuroscience, epistemology, and ontology called The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (2021).   Show Notes and More Watch this video episode on YouTube   Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.   ---   Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future Join our Substack newsletter Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners  

Good and bad unintended consequences.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.The highest cost of losing a war is the rage of your children."Maybe the Canadian is not so much an 'ex' girlfriend?" Orsi leered. It was the old 'if he is so good that she still wants him back after a colossal screw up, I wanted a taste' expression."Do you think she will help you?" Katalin inquired."She'll help," Pamela huffed playfully. "My grandson has plenty of ex-girlfriends. Most of them want him back, despite his colorful lifestyle. It is one of his more amusing qualities.""Let's get something to eat," I tried to turn the conversation away from my past sexcapades."You are engaged?" Jolan didn't miss a beat."It is complicated," I sighed. "Let's just say I really like her, but she's seven years older, divorced with one young daughter and has a father who hates that I live and breathe.""Do you have any male friends?" Monika joined the Cáel Quiz Bowl."Yes," I replied with confidence. "My roommate Timothy and I are great friends.""He's gay," Pamela pierced their disbelief. "He and Cáel are true brothers-in-arms, I'll give Cáel that much.""Do you have any straight male friends?" Orsi was enjoying taunting me."Do Chaz or Vincent count?" I looked to Pamela."They are straight males, but they don't really know you yet," Pamela failed to be of much help. "I think Vincent insinuated he'd shoot you if you dated any of his three daughters. It was friendly of him to warn you. I supposed that could be construed as liking you.""Are all your acquaintances violent?" Anya seemed worried."Vincent isn't violent. He's with the US FBI," I retorted. Pause. "Okay, he carries a gun and shoots it, he's a law officer. They can do that.""You seem to be stressed," Orsi put an arm around my waist. "Let us ease your worries." Hallelujah!Note: One of History's LessonsIn the last 75 years of military history, airpower had been a decisive factor in every major conflict, save one. Most Americans would think the one exception was US involvement in Vietnam and they'd be wrong: right country, wrong time. Indochina's War of Independence against France was the exception. There, the French Air Force was simply inadequate to the task.Yes, the United States and its allies eventually lost the struggle in Vietnam. But it was their airpower that kept the conflict running as long as it did. For the most part, the Allied and Communist military hardware on the ground were equivalent. While the Allies had superior quantities of supplies, the Communists countered that with numbers, and therein lies the rub.Airpower allowed the Allies to smash large North Vietnamese formations south of the Demilitarized Zone and thus prevented the numerical advantage from coming into play. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong made one serious stab at a conventional militarily challenge to the Allies, the Tet Offensive, and after initial successes, they were crushed.With the NVA unable to flex their superior numbers, the Allies were able to innovate helicopter-borne counter-insurgency operations. The North Vietnam's Army (NVA) was forced to operate in smaller units, so the Allies were able to engage them in troop numbers that helicopters could support. The air forces didn't deliver ultimate victory, but air power alone had never been able to do so on land. It was only when the US lost faith in achieving any positive outcome in Viet Nam and pulled out, that the North was finally able to overrun the South 20 months later. But every major power today understands the lesson.End of Note(Big Trouble in Little China)The military importance of airpower was now haunting the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Their problem wasn't aircraft. Most of their air fleet consisted of the most advanced models produced during the last two decades. The problem was that 80% of their pilots were dead, or dying. Their ground crews were in the same peril. Even shanghaiing commercial pilots couldn't meet the projected pilot shortfall.Classic PLA defense doctrine was to soak up an enemy (Russian) attack and bog down the aggressor with semi-guerilla warfare (classic small unit tactics backed up with larger, light infantry formations). Then, when the invaders were over-extended and exhausted, the armored / mechanized / motorized forces would counter-attack and destroy their foes. This last bit required air superiority through attrition.The twin enemies of this strategy were the price of technology and the Chinese economic priorities. With the rising cost of the high-tech equipment and a central government focus on developing the overall economy, the Chinese went for an ever smaller counter attack striking force, thus skewing the burden of depth of support far in favor of their relatively static militia/police units.So now, while the PLA / PLAAF's main divisions, brigades and Air Wings were some of the best equipped on the planet, the economic necessities had also meant the militia was financially neglected, remaining little more than early Cold War Era non-mechanized infantry formations. To compensate, the Chinese had placed greater and greater emphasis on the deployment capabilities of their scarcer, technologically advanced formations.When the Anthrax outbreak started, the strike force personnel were the first personnel 'vaccinated'. Now those men and women were coughing out the last days and hours of their lives. Unfortunately, you couldn't simply put a few commercial truck drivers in a T-99 Main Battle Tank and expect them to be anything more than a rolling coffin. The same went for a commercial airline pilot and a Chengdu J-10 multi-role fighter. The best you could hope for was for him/her to make successful takeoffs and landings.A further critical factor was that the Khanate's first strike had also targeted key defense industries. The damage hadn't been irreparable. Most military production would be only a month to six weeks behind schedule. But there would be a gap.It was just becoming clear that roughly 80% of their highly-trained, frontline combatants were going to die anyway. Their Reserves were looking at 30~40% attrition due to the illness as well. In the short term (three months), they would be fighting with whatever they started with. Within the very short term (one week), they were going to have a bunch of high-priced equipment and no one trained to use it. With chilling practicality, the Chinese leaders decided to throw their dying troopers into one immediate, massive counter-offensive against the Khanate.Just as Temujin predicted they would. Things were playing out according to plan.Note: World Events SummaryRound #1 had seen the Khanate unite several countries under one, their, banner. Earth  and  Sky soldiers had rolled across the Chinese border as their Air Force and Missile Regiments had used precision strikes to hammer Chinese bases, sever their transportation network and crippled their civilian infrastructure.Next, the frontier offensive units had been obliterated, the cities bypassed and the Khanate Tumens had sped forward to the geographic junctures between what the Khanate wanted and from whence the PLA had to come. In the last phase of Round #1, the Khanate prepped for the inevitable PLA / PLAAF counter-strike.Round #2 had now begun:Step One: Declare to the World that the Khanate was a nuclear power. As history would later reveal, this was a lie, but no one had any way of initially knowing that. Hell, the Khanate hadn't even existed 72 hours ago. Satellite imagery did show the Khanate had medium-range strategic missiles capable of hitting any location in the People's Republic. In Beijing, a nuclear response was taken off the table.Step Two: Initiate the largest air-battle in the history of Asia. Not just planes either. Both sides flew fleets of UCAV's at one another. It wasn't really even a battle between China and just the Khanate. Virtually all of the UAV technology the Khanate was using was Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese in origin, plus some US-Russian-shared technology thrown into the mix.When the South Korean design team saw the footage of their bleeding-edge dogfighting UCAVs shooting down their PRC opponents, they were thrilled (their design rocked!), shocked (what was their 'baby' doing dominating Chinese airspace?) and anxious (members of South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration, DAPA, were rushing over to chat with them).Similar things were happening in Japan, Taiwan, Russia and the United States. The Communist Party leadership in Beijing were beginning to seriously consider the possibility that everyone was out to get them. Of course, all the Ambassadors in Beijing were bobbing their heads with the utmost respect while swearing on the lives of their first born sons that their nations had nothing to do with any of this.These foreign diplomats promised to look into these egregious breaches of their scientific integrity and were saying how sorry they were that the PLA and PLAAF were getting ass-raped for the World's viewing pleasure. No, they couldn't stop the Khanate posting such things to the internet, something to do with freedom. Paranoia had been creeping into the Potentates' thoughts since the Pakistan/Aksai Chan incident.As they watched their very expensive jets and UCAV's being obliterated, distrust of the global community became the 800 pound gorilla in the room. To add habaneros to the open wounds, the United States and the United Kingdom began dropping hints that they had some sort of highly personal communication conduit with the Khanate's secretive and unresponsive leadership. Yes Virginia Wolfe, the Western World was out to get the People's Republic.'Great Mao's Ghost', all that claptrap their grandfathers had babbled on about (1) the Korea War, (2) the Sino-Soviet grudge match, (3) the Sino-Vietnamese conflict and (4) the persistent support for the renegade province of Formosa all being a continuous effort by the liberal democracies and post-colonial imperialist to contain Chinese communism, didn't sound so crazy anymore.Step Three: Plaster all those PLA ground units that had started moving toward them when the air war began and the Chinese envisioned they would control the skies. The T-99 was a great tank. It also blew up rather spectacularly when it was stuck on a rail car (you don't drive your tanks halfway across China, it kills the treads).As Craig Kilborn put into his late night repertoire:"What do you call a Khanate UCAV driver who isn't an ace yet? Late for work.""What's the difference between me coming off a weekend long Las Vegas bender and a Khanate pilot? Not a damn thing. We've both been up for three days straight, yet everyone expects us to work tonight."Some PLA generals decided to make an all-out charge at the Tumens. Genghis's boys and girls were having none of that. They weren't using their Russian-built Khanate tanks to kill Chinese-built PLA tanks. No, their tanks were sneaking around and picking off the Chinese anti-air vehicles.The Chinese tanks and APCs engaged the dismounted Khanate infantry who, as Aksai Chin had shown, possessed some of the latest anti-tank weaponry. In the few cases where the PLA threw caution to the wind, they did some damage to the Khanate by sheer weight of numbers. For the rest, it was death by airpower.With their anti-air shield gone, the battle became little more than a grisly, real-life FPS game. It wasn't 'THE END'. China still had over 2,000,000 troops to call upon versus the roughly 200,000 the Khanate could currently muster. The PLA's new dilemma was how to transport these mostly truck-bound troops anywhere near the front lines without seeing them also exterminated from the air.After the Tumens gobbled up the majority of the PLA's available mobile forces, they resumed their advance toward the provincial boundaries of Xinjiang and Nin Mongol. There was little left to slow them down. The Chinese still held most of the urban centers in Xinjiang and Nei Mongol, yet they were isolated. And Khanate follow-up forces (the national armies they'd 'inherited') were putting the disease-riddled major municipalities under siege.All over the 24/7 World Wide News cycle, talking heads and military gurus were of two minds about the Khanate's offensive. Most harped on the fact that while the Khanate was making great territorial gains, it was barely making a dent in the Chinese population and economy. Uniformly, those people insisted that before the end of November, the Khanate would be crushed and a reordering of Asia was going to be the next great Mandate for the United Nations.A few of the braver unconventional pundits pointed out the same thing, but with the opposite conclusion, arguing:1.There were virtually no military forces in the conquered areas to contend with the Khanate's hold on the regions.2.Their popularity in the rural towns and countryside seriously undercut any hope for a pro-PRC insurgency.3.Driving the Khanate's forces back to their starting points would be a long and difficult endeavor that the World Economy might not be able to endure.When the PLAAF was effectively castrated after thirty-six hours of continuous aerial combat, a lot of experts were left with egg on their faces. One lone commentator asked the most fearful question of all. Where was the Khanate getting the financing, technical know-how and expertise to pull all of this off? There was a reason to be afraid of that answer.And while I was entertaining my six sailor-saviors, there were two other things of a diplomatic nature only just revealing themselves. Publically, Vladimir Putin had graciously offered to mediate the crisis while 'stealthily' increasing the readiness of his Eastern Military District. If there was any confusion, that meant activating a shitload of troops on the Manchurian border, not along the frontiers of the former nations of Mongolia and Kazakhstan.After all, Mongolia was terribly poor. Manchuria/Northeastern China? Manchuria was rich, rich, rich! From the Kremlin, Putin spoke of 'projecting a presence' into the 'lost territory' of Manchuria, citing Russia's long involvement in the region. By his interpretation of history, the Russians (aka the Soviet Union) had rescued Manchukuo (the theoretically INDEPENDENT Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchuria) from the Japanese in 1945. They'd even given it back to the PRC for safekeeping after World War II was concluded.Putin promised Russia was ready and willing to help out the PRC once again, suggesting that maybe a preemptive intervention would forestall the inevitable Khanate attack, thus saving the wealthy, industrialized province from the ravages of war. Surely Putin's Russians could be relied on to withdraw once the Khanate struggle was resolved? Surprisingly, despite being recent beneficiaries of President Putin's promises, the Ukraine remained remiss in their accolades regarding his rectitude.In the other bit of breaking news; an intermediary convinced the Khanate to extend an invitation to the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the WHO to investigate the recently conquered regions in preparations for a humanitarian mission.That intermediary was Hana Sulkanen; for reasons no one could fathom, she alone had the clout to get the otherwise unresponsive new regime to open up and she was using that influence to bring about a desperately needed relief effort to aid the civilians caught up in that dynastic struggle. A Princess indeed. No one was surprised that the PRC protested, claiming that since the territory wasn't conquered, any intervention was a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty.End of Note(To Live and Die in Hun-Gray)Orsi may have been the troupe leader, but Anya needed me more, so she came first."I need a shower before we catch some dinner," I announced as we meandered the streets of Mindszent. My lady friends were all processing that as I wound an arm around Anya's waist and pulled her close. "Shower?" I smiled down at her, she was about 5 foot 7. It took her a few seconds to click on my invitation."Yeah, sure, that would be nice," she reciprocated my casual waist hold. Several of her friends giggled over her delay. We were heading back to the Seven Fishermen's Guest House."Do you do this, picking up strange girls you've barely met for, you know?" she said in Bulgarian, as she looked at me expectantly."Yes and no," I began, in Russian. "I often find myself encountering very intriguing women, for which I know I am a fortunate man. I embrace sensuality. That means I know what I'm doing, but I'm not the 'bring him home to meet the parents' kind of guy.""What of your fiancée? Do you feel bad about cheating on her?" Anya pursued me."Hana is wonderful. I've met her father and it went badly both times," I confessed."How?" Anya looked concerned for me."Would you two speak a language the rest of us can understand?" Monika teased us."Very well," I nodded to Monika, and turned back to Anya, "The first time, his son raped a girl and I threatened the young man's life," I revealed. "Jormo, Hana's father, wasn't happy when I did so. The second time, he hit me twice, once in the gut and once in the head," I continued."Why did he hit you?" Orsi butted in."I'd rather not say. You may think less of me," I confessed. Pamela gave me a wink for playing my audience so well. I'm glad she's family (kinda/sorta)."The boy, he is dead?" Magdalena guessed. "Hana's brother?""I really shouldn't talk about that," I evaded. "It is a family matter." That's right. The family that my grandmother had brought me into as her intern / slayer-in-training. There is no reason to create a new lie when you can embellish a previous one."Do you ever feel bad about what you do?" Katalin asked Pamela. We love movies."As I see it, if I show up looking for you, you've done something to deserve it," Pamela gave her sage philosophy behind being an assassin."Are you, bi-sexual?" Jolan murmured. Pamela smacked me in the chest as I laughed. "Did I say something wrong?" Jolan worried. Pamela was a killer."No, you are fine," Pamela patted Jolan's shoulder. "I'm straight and happily so. It just so happens that most of my co-workers are women. Day in, day out, nothing but sweaty female bodies working out, sparring and grappling together, and afterwards, the massages."That was my Grandma, poking all the lesbian buttons of the women around me. Best of all, she did it with the detached air of a sexually indifferent matron. She was stirring up the lassies while keeping them focused on me. We walked into the courtyard of our guest house."Don't take too long, you two," Orsi teased us."Ha!" Pamela chuckled. "That's like asking the Sun to hurry up and rise, the Moon to set too soon, or the sea to stay at low tide forever.""Anya," I whispered into her ear. "How many orgasms do you want?" Anya's eyes expanded. Her eyes flickered toward her friends, then back to me. She held up one finger, I grinned speculatively. Anya held up two fingers. I kissed her fingers.

Send us a textWe explore the reality of Christian persecution in the West, reminding listeners that those who seek to live godly lives will face challenges for their faith. Through stories of real-life persecution, we highlight the importance of standing firm in conviction and the significance of supporting those who suffer for their beliefs. • Discussing the expectation of persecution as part of the Christian walk • Sharing compelling stories of individual persecution experiences • Highlighting the case of Tina Peters and her unjust imprisonment • Examining the subtleties of persecution in the West • Encouraging listeners to remember and advocate for the persecuted • Reflections on the opportunity for ministry amid trials • Emphasizing the need for inner strength and resilience in faith • Calling for deeper reflection on personal faith in the face of adversity • Ending with a poignant prayer for persecuted Christians worldwideSupport the show

Errol Musk joins The Michael Anthony Show for Episode 185 in which he discusses a wide variety of cultural and historical topics. The South African also opens up on his personal journey including his relationship with his son Elon Musk, as he details what it was like raising the man who would go on to be the most powerful in the Western World.Tune in.Support the show

Welcome, friends!Soap- humble yet essential- has cleansed, healed, and even defined social status for millennia. But have you ever wondered where it all began? In this episode, we explore the history of soap in the Western world, from its ancient origins in Mesopotamia to the luxurious soaps of Marseille and the transformative innovations of the Industrial Revolution. Join me as I uncover the fascinating -and sometimes dirty- history behind one of humanity's most vital creations. Tune in, and you'll never look at soap the same way again! Are You Ready?***************Sources:Marseille soaphttps://www.marseille-tourisme.com/en/discover-marseille/traditions/marseille-soap/The dirty history of soapWritten By: Judith RidnerProfessor of History, Mississippi State Universityhttps://theconversation.com/the-dirty-history-of-soap-136434A Brief History of Soap Makinghttps://www.cosycottagesoap.co.uk/blogs/news/the-history-of-soap-making?srsltid=AfmBOoqp7VRglQpbrfNQ8ivrXOvx04zMCP_Jfr1aBPEdaahD8oKQnJWL***************Leave Us a 5* Rating, it helps the show!Apple Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beauty-unlocked-the-podcast/id1522636282Spotify Podcast:https://open.spotify.com/show/37MLxC8eRob1D0ZcgcCorA****************Follow Us on Social Media & Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!TikTok:tiktok.com/@beautyunlockedthepodYouTube:@beautyunlockedspodcasthour****************Intro/Outro Music:Music by Savvier from Fugue FAME INC

Camille James Harman, MFA, is an actress and UFO experiencer. Her credits include the Oscar winning film Vice, for which she was interviewed by The Advocate for her role as Mary Matalin. Her credits also include Shameless, the Lifetime movie A Daughter's Deceit and numerous films, web series, commercials, and music videos. Harman was Executive Producer on the award winning short film Toro de Oro. In 1992, she won the Storer Boone Award in New Orleans for Best Supporting Actress in The Playboy of the Western World. In 2022 she won three international Best Actress Awards for the short film Tigerlilly. In December 1995, soon after moving to Los Angeles from New Orleans, Harman had her first UFO sighting. Abduction experiences followed. She underwent hypnosis sessions with Barbara Lamb and Yvonne Smith, which revealed medical experiences with presumed aliens and human military as well as positive light beings of pure love. Harman attended the 50th Anniversary of the Roswell crash in 1997 then traveled to England in 1998 to see the crop circles. She wrote for UFO magazine from 2000-2004, which allowed her to meet many legendary UFO researchers. She has presented at MUFON Orange County, Tucson and Phoenix chapters and has appeared as herself in several paranormal television shows. She was interviewed in the Los Angeles Times about her UFO experiences and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, astrologer and UFO experiencer, Jeff Harman. Camille James Harman is a founding member of Hollywood Disclosure Alliance. https://camillejamesharman.com/ https://twitter.com/camille_harman/ https://www.instagram.com/camillejamesharman/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/camille-james-harman-696bba23/ https://camillejamesharman.com/https://www.youtube.com/@camillejamesharmanactress https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcast

Hey,Pastor Willy and I explore immigration and DEI in the Western World from a conservative Christian perspective! - Pastor DanLINKS:Jim Cymbala Prayer Service (skip to 34:25)Support the showFind us at! Calvary.us

Film reviews - The Playboy of the Western World - Alice Sara Ott

Hey,We are thrilled that you are joining us! This episode is divided into two parts due to technical issues with our podcast equipment. Pastor Willy and I explore immigration and DEI in the Western World from a conservative Christian perspective.  - Pastor DanSupport the showFind us at! Calvary.us

In this interview, I'm joined by two leading thinkers who are helping to reshape our understanding of consciousness, the nature of reality, and the pursuit of meaning in life: Dr Iain McGilchrist and Dr Bernardo Kastrup. Iain is a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, author, and philosopher perhaps most well known for his Hemispheric Hypothesis and his books: The Master and his Emissary and The Matter with Things. Bernardo is an author, scientist, philosopher, and the Director of the Essentia Foundation. He holds two PhDs - one in philosophy and the other in engineering. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. In this conversation, we explore: — Their views on what consciousness is, the common ground in their thinking, and the differences — The extent to Iain and Bernardo believe we live in a purposeful and intelligent universe, and their perspectives on the question of God — Why they both consider truth to be the most important thing in life — Where they see human life fitting into the larger whole and what case can be made that each of our individual subjective experiences do matter. I hope you get as much from this fascinating discussion as I did from recording it. You can learn more about Iain's work at https://channelmcgilchrist.com, and Bernardo's at https://www.bernardokastrup.com. -- Dr Iain McGilchrist is a Psychiatrist and Writer. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. He was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist of the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Trust in London, where he was Clinical Director of their southern sector Acute Mental Health Services. Dr McGilchrist has published original research and contributed chapters to books on a wide range of subjects, as well as original articles in papers and journals, including the British Journal of Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times. He has taken part in many radio and TV programmes, documentaries, and numerous podcasts, and interviews on YouTube, among them dialogues with Jordan Peterson, David Fuller of Rebel Wisdom, and philosopher Tim Freke. His books include Against Criticism, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning, and Ways of Attending. He published his latest book: The Matter With Things, a book of epistemology and metaphysics. You can keep up to date with his work at https://channelmcgilchrist.com. Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another Ph.D. in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence). As a scientist, Bernardo has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the ‘Casimir Effect' of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). Formulated in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured on Scientific American, the Institute of Art and Ideas, the Blog of the American Philosophical Association and Big Think, among others. Bernardo's most recent book is Science Ideated: The fall of matter and the contours of the next mainstream scientific worldview. For more information, freely downloadable papers, videos, etc., please visit https://www.bernardokastrup.com. --- Interview Links: — Dr McGilchirst's website - https://channelmcgilchrist.com — Dr Kastrup's website - https://www.bernardokastrup.com

Iain McGilchrist is a Consultant Emeritus of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, London, a former research Fellow in Neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Baltimore, a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a former Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He has published original research on neuroimaging in schizophrenia, the phenomenology of schizophrenia, and other topics. Some of his many books include "The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" (2009), The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning; Why Are We So Unhappy? (2012), and "The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World" (2021). Full Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UEXDs4mouU Title: "Iain McGilchrist: Why Are Our Brains Divided? Hemispheric Differences And Its Impact On The Mind" CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com - Podcast: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/mindbodysolution - YouTube: https://youtube.com/mindbodysolution - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu ============================= Disclaimer: The information provided on this channel is for educational purposes only. The content is shared in the spirit of open discourse and does not constitute, nor does it substitute, professional or medical advice. We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of listening/watching any of our contents. You acknowledge that you use the information provided at your own risk. Listeners/viewers are advised to conduct their own research and consult with their own experts in the respective fields.

Between the Texas towns of Denton and Copper Canyon lies Goatman's Bridge, a haunted relic steeped in sinister legends of lynching, black magic, and a red-eyed demon said to terrorize all who dare to cross.Darkness Syndicate members get the ad-free version. https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateInfo on the next LIVE SCREAM event. https://weirddarkness.com/LiveScreamInfo on the next WEIRDO WATCH PARTY event. https://weirddarkness.com/TVIN THIS EPISODE: Legend has it that a brutal lynching and a series of Satanic rituals transformed Goatman's Bridge in rural Texas into a paranormal hotspot. (The Haunting of Goatman's Bridge) *** Over six decades later, the brutal, unsolved murders at Lake Bodom continues to haunt Finland... and beyond. (The Lake Bodom Murders) *** A man finds his neighbor laying in the snow, frozen solid – yet somehow she survives. I'll tell you the miraculous story of Jean Hilliard! (The Hibernating Woman) *** We like to think that 21st Century medicine has brought us more into science and further away from superstition and magic – and that's mostly true, for the Western World. But in South Africa they've not given up the chanting, the dancing, and in some cases… the sacrificing of human lives… all in the name of healing. (Muti Medicine: Ritual Human Sacrifice) *** For anyone who has used a ride-share service like Uber or Lyft, it's probably happened to you at least once. You're waiting on your ride to pick you up, you see a car coming your way and you think it's there for you – only to find out a few seconds later that it's not. One college girl had this same experience – only she got in to that wrong vehicle, and ended up being murdered for her mistake. (An Uber Mistake) *** The history of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is wrapped up in Chicago's wealthiest families having their summer homes there. But even as early as 1912, when people were writing about the city, they said the second most significant thing about this town was the sanitariums. (The Lake Geneva Sanitariums) *** Some old documents were found recently that tell the story of the first time in recorded history that someone was struck by a meteor! (Hit By a Meteor)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Disclaimer and Lead-In00:00:52.799 = Show Open00:03:17.838 = Haunting of Goatman's Bridge00:10:51.802 = Lake Bodom Murders00:19:44.701 = Hibernating Woman00:22:04.310 = An Uber Mistake00:28:43.906 = Lake Geneva Sanitariums00:34:39.570 = Hit By A Meteor00:37:53.528 = Show CloseSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…Sources Page at WeirdDarkness.com: https://weirddarkness.com/GoatmansBridge=====“The Haunting of Goatman's Bridge” by Natasha Ishak for All That's Interesting: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/46y57wxy“The Lake Bodom Murders” by Orrin Grey for The Line Up: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/kv7njmn8“The Hibernating Woman” from Anomalien.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/574j9pmb“An Uber Mistake” by Chrissy Stockton for Thought Catalog: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y8pj9db6“The Lake Geneva Sanitariums” from American Ghost Walks: https://americanghostwalks.com“Hit By a Meteor” by Jan Bartek for Ancient Pages: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/wj3wbavk=====(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: September 22, 2021TRANSCRIPT: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8ar234

Our guest today has found himself becoming a specialist in the greatest human evil. He faces horror with courage, persistence, and hard work despite having Congress, the media, and just about everyone else turn their backs on him.   I was inspired during our preshow chat to observe, “Where there is great power, there is great evil. And where there is great evil, it's turning out that systematic child abuse is a hallmark.” The two are inextricably intertwined, great power and great evil, and the combination of enormous power and evil seems inevitably to spawn the greatest perversity known to human beings: extreme child abuse involving sexual, emotional, physical, and spiritual domination and torture. The abuse appears systematic, compulsively driven like a satanic-like impulse.   A man who has our greatest admiration is J. J. Carrell, a 54-year-old retired Deputy Patrol Agent in Charge of the United States Border Patrol who served for 24 years. As I unraveled my idea of how pederasty of the most unimaginable kind seems to go along with great power, J.J. Carrell said to me and Ginger: “And the United States government is the greatest trafficker in the child sex trade in the world today.” Ginger and I stopped chatting and said, “J.J., you've got to talk about this on the air.”   Can you bear to think about that — violent, vile pederasty and America as the world's greatest sponsor of it? I have struggled against thinking about the whole subject. Within the past year, I have said to Ginger, “I'm not ready now, but when we meet again in our next lifetime together, let's take on the global sex trade in children.”     It feels unbearable to think about how the Biden Administration has allowed hundreds of thousands of children to be snuck across our open borders so that adults can inflict the worst possible living conditions and abuses on them, committing them to a life of sexual slavery, often ending in torture and murder. But there is great importance to accepting, facing, and fighting against rampant child abuse. It confirms once again that we are facing unmitigated evil in the world that grows in proportion to the growing power of global predators.   Well, Ginger has not waited until our next lifetime. She has felt the necessity to dive into the subject, and that is in part how we got to J. J. Carrell, who feels very much the same way as Ginger… and now me. When you hear J. J. Carrell, you will be struck by his incredibly sincere eloquence and his command of the facts. Your faith in humanity will be reaffirmed.   You will seldom see or listen to a discussion as genuine and unique as this one. I learned from listening to J. J. and Ginger, and then I even learned from my own observations, as I remembered an uncanny connection toward the end. Consistent with pederasty being associated with men in power, I remembered how one of the greatest philosophers of the Western World, Plato, the man who laid the philosophical basis for totalitarianism, also advocated pederasty. He may be among the earliest advocates of child abuse when he described how wise men like himself could take young boys as their lovers.   Having further researched the subject after the show, I find that while Plato described pederasty as a serious preoccupation of the people surrounding him, even being openly discussed in a convivial drinking session among his associates, it's not clear what Plato himself specifically thought or did, other than it was going on around him, he did not reject it, and he gave it thoughtful consideration. None of that is good.   I will be surprised if this show does not sharpen your thinking about good and evil, about how the abuse of the most innocent among us, the children, is perpetrated by people in power, and how the Biden Administration has enabled the massive unsupervised release of hundreds of thousands of children to fates too unbearable to fully imagine.   Primary author: Peter R. Breggin, MD     ______   Learn more about Dr. Peter Breggin's work: https://breggin.com/   See more from Dr. Breggin's long history of being a reformer in psychiatry: https://breggin.com/Psychiatry-as-an-Instrument-of-Social-and-Political-Control   Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, the how-to manual @ https://breggin.com/a-guide-for-prescribers-therapists-patients-and-their-families/   Get a copy of Dr. Breggin's latest book: WHO ARE THE “THEY” - THESE GLOBAL PREDATORS? WHAT ARE THEIR MOTIVES AND THEIR PLANS FOR US? HOW CAN WE DEFEND AGAINST THEM? Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey Get a copy: https://www.wearetheprey.com/   “No other book so comprehensively covers the details of COVID-19 criminal conduct as well as its origins in a network of global predators seeking wealth and power at the expense of human freedom and prosperity, under cover of false public health policies.”   ~ Robert F Kennedy, Jr Author of #1 bestseller The Real Anthony Fauci and Founder, Chairman and Chief Legal Counsel for Children's Health Defense.

Cutting Through the Chaos with Wallace Garneau – Those on the political left claim that right-wing extremism is raising its ugly head, but the truth is that there is nothing extreme about the movement back toward the right that has been occurring over the past few years. The public of the Western World has, instead, watched country after country fall over the abyss into left-wing extremism and has watched...

Konstantin Kisin is a podcaster, a speaker and an author. With Trump's historic victory in the books, the implications of his policies and promises could send shockwaves worldwide. So what does this mean for the future of the West and Trump's impact on the global stage? Expect to learn whether Konstantin is actually right wing or not, if the Trump victory will inspire a broader movement across the globe, what happens if Trump is not able to deliver the big changes he promised, Konstantin's take on the current state of the UK, what the future of legacy media will look like, whether the mass exodus of users from X is a big deal and much more... Timestamps: (00:00) Is Konstantin Right-Wing? (06:31) Why Politics Prioritises Optics Over Outcomes (19:39) Will Trump's America Inspire Confidence? (37:22) What Happens if Trump Fails to Deliver? (44:00) What Will Happen to the Right-Wing Snowflakes? (49:35) The Trajectory of the Progressive Movement (53:54) The Downfall of the UK (1:12:11) Why British People Aren't as Happy as Americans (1:18:40) Can the UK Government Actually Make Positive Change? (1:30:19) Is Social Media Becoming More Divided? (1:40:40) Civilisations Don't Last Forever (1:49:34) Konstantin's Adjustment to Being a Father (2:07:59) Where to Find Konstantin Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get $350 off the Pod 4 Ultra at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get the best bloodwork analysis in America and bypass Function's 400,000-person waitlist at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get a 20% discount on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with any purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: https://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:Chassidus Applied to Yud Daled Kislev  What is its significance?   History and stories  What did the Rebbe say about meriting the 60th anniversary?  Why did the Rebbe not edit his blessing on the 60th anniversary?  What personal lessons do we learn from the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin's marriage?  What did Yud Tes Kislev accomplish?  How did it affect the larger world?  What is its message today?  Why did the Alter Rebbe laud the impact his liberation had on the nations of the world?  Is Yud Tes Kislev connected to Tanya and the verse it is based on: Korov eilecho ha'dovor m'eod?  Why is it important to know and discuss all the details of the Alter Rebbe's arrest?  Why did the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe wear their finest white garments at their trials?  Why was the Alter Rebbe arrested for teaching chassidus – what can possibly be wrong with that?  After he was exonerated, were the prosecuting angels held accountable?   Why did chassidim do somersaults after the Alter Rebbe was freed?  If the geulah of Yud Tes Kislev indicated permission from heaven to teach and spread chassidus, why was the Rebbe apprehensive about publishing Hemshech Ayin Beis?  What lesson do we learn from the Alter Rebbe's opposition to Napoleon winning the war?  How is the Alter Rebbe's opposition to France consistent with his teachings that we need to transform, not avoid, the material world?  Are we still meant to avoid engaging with France and the freedoms of the Western World?  What did the Alter Rebbe mean when he explained why G-d asked Adam, ayekah? Did G-d not know where Adam stands spiritually?   What is the connection between this story and the message of Yud Tes Kislev?  Are we still required to teach others the chassidus we learn?  Yud Tes Kislev 

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Dr. Chuck Missler, a widely recognized Biblical authority, explores the background, and myths, surrounding our favorite holiday. What really happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Who were the "Magi?" Why a virgin birth? What does a Christmas Tree have to do with it? Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since. It is disturbing to discover that much of what we have been taught about the Christmas season seems to be more tradition than truth. Santa Claus isn't the only myth or legend that has arisen out of this season. On what "loophole" does the Messianic hope rest? This study contains 2 hours of teachings. Copyright © 10-01-2007

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:Chassidus Applied to Yud Daled Kislev  What is its significance?   History and stories  What did the Rebbe say about meriting the 60th anniversary?  Why did the Rebbe not edit his blessing on the 60th anniversary?  What personal lessons do we learn from the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin's marriage?  What did Yud Tes Kislev accomplish?  How did it affect the larger world?  What is its message today?  Why did the Alter Rebbe laud the impact his liberation had on the nations of the world?  Is Yud Tes Kislev connected to Tanya and the verse it is based on: Korov eilecho ha'dovor m'eod?  Why is it important to know and discuss all the details of the Alter Rebbe's arrest?  Why did the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe wear their finest white garments at their trials?  Why was the Alter Rebbe arrested for teaching chassidus – what can possibly be wrong with that?  After he was exonerated, were the prosecuting angels held accountable?   Why did chassidim do somersaults after the Alter Rebbe was freed?  If the geulah of Yud Tes Kislev indicated permission from heaven to teach and spread chassidus, why was the Rebbe apprehensive about publishing Hemshech Ayin Beis?  What lesson do we learn from the Alter Rebbe's opposition to Napoleon winning the war?  How is the Alter Rebbe's opposition to France consistent with his teachings that we need to transform, not avoid, the material world?  Are we still meant to avoid engaging with France and the freedoms of the Western World?  What did the Alter Rebbe mean when he explained why G-d asked Adam, ayekah? Did G-d not know where Adam stands spiritually?   What is the connection between this story and the message of Yud Tes Kislev?  Are we still required to teach others the chassidus we learn? 

Legendary drummer Willie Cantu is on the show today, the sole surviving member of the ultimate lineup of one of the greatest ensembles of all time - Buck Owens' Buckaroos. I've talked about the Buckaroos on this show a number of times - they keep coming up in discussions with various folks, and I'll say it again that I think that mid to late 60's lineup is as electrifying a band as any band of that era, no matter what genre. That lineup of Buck, Willie on drums, Don Rich on guitar, fiddle and vocals, Tom Brumley on steel and Doyle Holly on bass were like a finely tuned Ferrari in their heyday. They looked slick and they played and sang like no one else, anywhere. Songs like “Together Again”, “I Don't Care”, “Open Up Your Heart”, “Sam's Place” and so many classic albums defined the sound of Bakersfield country which was in stark contrast to the smooth sounds coming out of Nashville in those days. Their influence can be heard directly on everyone from the Beatles to CCR, Gram Parsons to Dwight Yoakam. Willie is an accomplished jazz drummer, and while he was in one of the great country bands of all time, it's very evident that jazz is his real love. He's from Corpus Christi, Texas, and joined the Buckaroos when he was 17 in 1964. We had an epic visit and I did have to edit it way down, even though this sucker still clocks in at about 2 hours. Maybe we'll do a part 2 somewhere down the line! For some essential listening, be sure to check out the 2 Buck Owens live albums that feature Willie - The Carnegie Hall Concert and Live in Japan! They are both amazing documents of a band in their prime. After the Buckaroos, Willie has been involved in some very interesting jazz and improvisational music, which you can check out here. Willie doesn't have a website and is being more selective about his gigs these days, but if you're in Nashville, keep your ear to the ground and maybe you'll catch him playing at a jazz club or Robert's Western World. you never know! So now, please enjoy my conversation with Willie Cantu!This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman AmplificationYou can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodesThe show's website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day 987.Today, as Ukraine, and the world, waits with bated breath for the results of the US presidential election, we look at the situation on the battlefield as Moscow seeks to strengthen its foothold, and hear more about how ordinary Russians view the war.Contributors:Francis Dearnley (Assistant Comment Editor). @FrancisDearnley on X.Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.James Kilner (Moscow Desk). @jkjourno on X.Content referenced:'To Avoid Another Munich, Europe Must Act to Secure Ukraine' (100+ Experts' Letter):https://www.democratic-strategy.net/_files/ugd/dcfff6_bc38b0fbac1b473bb5b0989446c08f67.pdfChina's Xi Jinping poses as hunky Putin sidekick in FSB calendar (The Telegraph):https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/01/chinas-xi-jinping-poses-hunky-putins-sidekick-calendar/ Instruction manual for digging mass graves given to Russian troops (The Telegraph):https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/03/instruction-manual-digging-mass-graves-russian-troops/Google Maps ‘reveals location' of secret Ukrainian military positions (The Telegraph):https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/03/instruction-manual-digging-mass-graves-russian-troops/Russia Suspected of Plotting to Send Incendiary Devices on U.S.-Bound Planes (Wall Street Journal)https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-plot-us-planes-incendiary-devices-de3b8c0aStolen Cheese! (BBC)https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ygw9ye90poSubscribe to The Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/ukrainethelatestEmail: ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.