/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 19:49

📖 How Dostoevsky became a social media sensation

White Nights, the author’s 1848 novella, sounds an unlikely candidate to go viral, but the story of lovelorn loneliness is now a favourite among TikTok and Instagram users

In 2024, the Penguin Classics little black book edition of Dostoevsky’s White Nights was the fourth most sold work of literature in translation in the UK. “We have a member of staff who has worked here for 25 years and he said we’d sell the odd one,” Amy Wright, a bookseller at Pritchards in Liverpool told me, “but the last two years there’s definitely been an upsurge.”

The celebrated 19th-century Russian writer’s novella has become “a phenomenon”, says Francis Cleverdon, general manager of Hatchards Picadilly bookshop in London. “We’ve sold 190 copies of the little paperback in the last year.”

Since about December of last year, White Nights has been all over BookTok and its Instagram parallel, Bookstagram. Searching for the 1848 tale on these platforms will result in page after page of reviews, quotes, and moody shots of the book next to cups of coffee. There are White Nights Spotify playlists full of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Social media users from all over the world have rhapsodised about the beautiful love story it tells, and bewailed getting their hearts smashed into pieces by it. “Everyone wants to fall head over heels in love. Then they read Dostoevsky’s White Nights,” read one viral tweet.

There’s one prosaic but important reason: it’s just over 80 pages long. “White Nights appealed to me partly because of its shorter length. On BookTok, a short book is often an appealing one, because it allows people to add an easy notch to their annual reading goal – many BookTokers set themselves a target number of books to get through per year, using tracking platforms such as Goodreads. White Nights’ length also makes it an easy first dip of the toe into the somewhat daunting pool of classic Russian literature.

It’s a story about someone who feels things very keenly, and lives in his own head. “It begins to seem to me at such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all touch, all instinct for the actual, the real,” the narrator laments.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a story about someone who has built an elaborate life of fantasy should become popular on social media, where users intentionally romanticise their lives. The tendency to think of oneself as the protagonist of a fictionalised version of life has been termed “main character syndrome”, and boy does the narrator of White Nights have a bad case.

🔗 https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/17/white-nights-fyodor-dostoevsky-social-media-instagram-booktok-tiktok

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 19:17

🇨🇦 Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau to face no confidence vote from NDP, Conservative, and CPC coalition.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ndp-say-they-will-vote-no-confidence-in-liberal-government-as-pm/

https://archive.ph/7EL5o

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 18:39

🇲🇩🇲🇩🚨🇺🇦 "Transnistria has enough coal reserves to run its' power plant for 50 days after January 1st"

⚫️ The Cuciurgan Power Plant (MGRES), a 2520 MW gas/coal/oil fuel behemoth, is surpassed in Europe only by Poland's Kozienice and Bełchatów Power Stations. It was designed to run on coal from the Donbas and can only run on similar types of coals (anthracite bituminous coal).

⚫️ One region that's nearby and could supply the plant is the Jiu Valley in Romania, but don't worry, those in power in Romania have been very careful for the past 3 years not to derail the EU's Green New Deal plans and demands. Coal has a relatively low energy density compared to other fuels, so transporting it over long distances adds costs.

⚫️ In fact Romania has been mining less coal than it consumes and we have become a net importer of coal because what kind of responsible politician would reopen the coal mines, which were closed down after threats of economic sanctions from the EU, because the planet ”might be dying” in 20 years?

⚫️ Russian gas coming through Ukrainian pipelines is thus essential to keeping the MGRES alive and running, but without it, blackouts will follow in Transnistria, Moldova and very much likely, parts of Ukraine and Romania too.

🔗 https://tvrmoldova.md/article/0c82418ef30edb84/doc-cum-si-a-facut-transnistria-rezervele-de-carbune-si-cat-poate-sa-supravietuisca-in-cazul-unei-posibile-crize-de-gaze.html

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 18:36

🇷🇺🇺🇦🇪🇺 Ukraine to cut off Russian gas transit on 1 January 2025, Prime Minister says

Ukraine will permanently halt Russian gas transit through its territory on 1 January 2025, while remaining open to transporting non-Russian gas, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The current transit agreement was established in December 2019 and was designed to last for five years with options for extension. It required Gazprom to pay for minimum guaranteed transit volumes regardless of actual shipments. However, due to ongoing war and geopolitical shifts, Ukraine has been preparing for this transition away from Russian gas dependency since the escalation in 2022

The Prime Minister also said Ukraine must continue transiting Russian oil to Europe under the EU Association Agreement and Energy Charter Treaty when requested by the European Commission.

Thus transit technically continues at the European side’s request, Shmyhal said.

🔗 https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/12/20/ukraine-to-cut-off-russian-gas-transit-on-1-january-2025-prime-minister-says/

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 17:22

🇺🇸❌🇪🇺 Trump ramps up EU trade war threat unless bloc buys American oil and gas

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!

European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill did not provide clarity on who was involved in the conversation Trump alluded to, but said: "The EU and US have deeply integrated economies, with overall balanced trade and investment. We are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector."

The Republican figurehead campaigned for the 2024 U.S. election on a pledge to impose tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all imports. He has also threatened to slap a 60 percent levy on all goods coming from China.

During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, sparking a trade war with the EU, which hit back with tariffs on American goods worth around $6 billion.

During an EU leaders' meeting in Budapest in the days after November's seismic U.S. election, von der Leyen told reporters that the EU could increase purchases of American liquefied natural gas in a bid to keep Trump sweet.

“Why not replace [Russian gas] by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices? It’s something where we can get into a discussion, also [where] our trade deficit is concerned," von der Leyen said.

But the EU's ambassador to the U.S., Jovita Neliupšienė, last month said the bloc was also ready to retaliate if Trump follows through on his tariff threats. "If there are some new frictions for the trade, the European Union will be ready, actually, to react to that," she said.

The EU exported $576.3 billion worth of goods — nearly 20 percent of its total exports — to the U.S. in 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, making the U.S. the bloc's second-largest trading partner.

🔗 https://archive.ph/B1InB

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 15:53

🇩🇪❌📱 Germany politicians criticize Musk backing for far-right AfD

After Elon Musk posted his support for Germany's far-right AfD, the party's leader Alice Weidel expressed her gratitude. Other German lawmakers have criticized "interference" in the country's upcoming federal elections.

Musk, a prominent supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump, opined on his platform X (formelry Twitter) on Friday morning that "Only the AfD can save Germany."

Other German lawmakers from across the political spectrum criticized both Musk's post and Weidel's response, slamming "interference" and insisting that no other party will form a government with "fascists bought by billionaires."

"I was a bit surprised because we usually hear that Elon Musk is this gifted wunderkind, but when I hear these comments, I have to doubt that," the CDU's Alexander Throm told DW in Berlin.

"Change can only be made by those who govern. And the AfD will not govern. Because no other party will form a government with them."

Anton Hofreiter from the Green Party called the AfD "traitors bought by billionaires" and "a band of fascists who have not only been bought by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin but are now being supported by a multi-billionaire-turned-right-wing-extremist."

🔗 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-politicians-criticize-musk-backing-for-far-right-afd/a-71117414

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 07:07

White House Press Release confirms that Harris cancelled her trip to LA and will remain in DC

📎 intelFromBrian

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 06:09

🇨🇳 For Xi Jinping, 'Made in China 2025' has been worth every penny

Bill for technology upgrades and increased self-reliance reaches trillions of yuan: https://s.nikkei.com/49KGL5W

📎 NikkeiAsia

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 22:11

The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from the 2020 election interference case against Trump in a bombshell decision

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/georgia-appeals-court-removes-prosecutor-fani-willis-from-trump-election-case

📎 Insider Paper

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 20:38

Nick Fuentes on X:

"According to police, the would-be assassin committed a triple homicide in southern Illinois early yesterday before he arrived at my doorstep with his pistol drawn, calling my name.

I am grateful to God that I am still alive today.

Tragically, the gunman broke into a neighbors home to evade police & killed two of their dogs.

While heartbreaking, it could have been so unimaginably worse. God have mercy.

Doxing is not a game. This nihilistic lynch mob behavior must end before anyone else is killed."

📎 Nick J. Fuentes

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 20:38

The Berwyn Police Department confirms that the attacker was fatally shot by officers after fleeing the scene.

Prior to this, the suspect was linked to a triple homicide and responsible for killing two dogs.

📎 AF Post

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 19:11

Charlie B on X:

"Annual DoD China Military Power Report has a section on 🇨🇳 Energy strategy & a table of the top suppliers of their oil 🛢

Report claims 🇲🇾 Malaysia is 4th largest supplier and 10% of their supply at 1.1 mil barrels per day.

Malaysia does not export even close to this much oil at all.

This is really almost all 🇮🇷 Iranian 🛢 from Dark Fleet tanker Ship-to-Ship StS transfers ops in South China Sea off Eastern Johor.

How does the entire Intel community miss this glaring fact?

These StS ops pose great risk to the environment & legit shipping.

See recent Bloomberg article:
https://bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-iran-south-china-sea-oil-trade/

And Bloomberg video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9NpgzsTrW78"

📎 Charlie B

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 18:06

Middle East: political violence

📎 José Luengo-Cabrera

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 15:46

🇹🇷/🇪🇹🇸🇴 The new Turkish-mediated deal between Ethiopia and Somalia will likely benefit Ethiopia and Turkey while possibly undermining the Somali government's popular legitimacy.

The agreement could lead to future tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia as it does not address Ethiopia’s naval ambitions, Somalia’s military cooperation with Egypt that was intended to counter Ethiopia, or the feasibility of ensuring safe passage between Somali ports and Ethiopia given al Shabaab’s threat throughout southern Somalia.

Ethiopia will likely withdraw from or at least pause its controversial naval base agreement with the breakaway Somaliland region because of the new agreement with Somalia, which is known as the Ankara Declaration.

Ethiopia’s withdrawal from the Somaliland agreement would likely lead the Somali Federal Government (SFG) to reverse its decision to exclude Ethiopian troops from the new African Union mission in Somalia to combat al Shabaab in 2025.

Ethiopian commercial access to the Red Sea would significantly benefit Ethiopia’s economy by reducing Ethiopia’s reliance on Djibouti. The Ankara Declaration also benefits Turkey by protecting Turkey’s investments with Ethiopia and Somalia and bolstering Turkey’s status as a powerbroker in the region.

The Ankara Declaration could cause political backlash against the SFG and undermine the SFG’s legitimacy to the benefit of al Shabaab because the deal contradicts the SFG’s earlier stances on Ethiopian access to Somalia’s coast.

📎 Critical Threats

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 14:53

👶 Update for the year ending Q3 2024 (TFRs):

USA 1.6245

Non-Hisp White 1.534
Non-Hisp Black 1.5335
Hispanic 1.975

What was already anticipated by some happened now. For the first time, the Black fertility rate dropped below the White fertility rate by a tiny margin.

📎 BirthGauge

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 19:41

🇷🇴🇷🇺 Russian election meddling ‘nearly impossible’ to prove, says Romanian president

EU countries are at risk of Russian election meddling that can be “nearly impossible” to prove, Romania’s president has warned weeks after Bucharest cancelled its presidential vote over alleged foreign interference.

Klaus Iohannis said he would tell his EU counterparts at a summit on Thursday that foreign interference posed a threat to all European democracies.

“All countries are exposed to this risk,” Iohannis said on Wednesday evening, urging colleagues to develop joint “measures and procedures . . . to combat foreign interference and hybrid attacks from Russia”.

Călin Georgescu, an ultranationalist who admires Russian President Vladimir Putin and is hostile towards the EU and Nato, topped the first round of the presidential vote on November 24 after benefiting from what Romanian authorities said was an illegal social media campaign orchestrated by Moscow.

Iohannis pointed to how Georgescu’s posts on TikTok were boosted by “accounts from Russia”, and highlighted “co-ordinated cyber attacks on servers used to count the votes”. Such actions, he said, “cannot be carried out by individual actors or by a group or a party. They are so broad and complex that only state actors can do that . . . And here it was Russia.”

He explained that Russia’s involvement was very hard to prove, because “they hide perfectly in cyber space”, using servers in many different locations around the world. “Don’t imagine that these attacks are signed ‘from the East, with love’.”

🔗 https://archive.ph/Q6mzS

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 18:52

🇲🇽🇺🇸 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says they are prepared to take back illegal immigrants in response to Trump’s plan for mass deportations.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sheinbaum-ready-receive-mexicans-trump-184820270.html

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 18:39

🇲🇩🚨🔌🇷🇴 A state of emergency was reintroduced in the Republic of Moldova today in the background of an energy crisis due to the massive incompetence of the Recean cabinet.

The news was followed by thousands of fake posts on Moldovan social medias about looming blackouts and general doomerism. Of course those posts are fake.

Moldovans should not worry because Romania, with all of her problems in terms of electric energy demand, is stepping up to bail out Chișinău once again like so many times before.

Authorities in Moldova urge citizens to ration the use of electric energy and save up on energy to avoid volatility in the power grid. Blackouts, say the authorities, are the worst case scenario, that should not happen unless Russia was to strike part of the Isaccea-Vulcănești line which crosses Ukrainian territory for a few km.

The Isaccea-Vulcănești line is the biggest line from which Romania exports electric energy to Moldova and has so far avoided becoming a target for Russian loitering munitions drones.

There are other, smaller, power line connecting Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Currently, more than half of Moldova's electric energy is produced by one single power plant inside Transnistria, the Moldavsakaya GRES (MGRES for short). It burns mainly natural gas but can also use coal to generate electricity, however with the end of gas supplies from Russia by pipelines over Ukraine, MGRES risks shutting down and it will doom not just Moldova, but Transnistria itself.

Electric energy exports from Romania will not be able to save Moldova from blackouts if MGRES shuts down. A solution for this must come fast.

@Wallachian_Gazette

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 17:24

🇪🇺❌🇬🇪 EU imposes visa restrictions on Georgian citizens who wish to travel to the Union's countries.

🔗 Kaja Kallas

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 17:06

🇮🇱❌🇹🇷Israel vs. Turkey: The Intensifying Middle-East Power Struggle

The collapse of the Syrian regime destroyed Iran’s ‘axis of resistance,’ and brought Turkish-backed Islamists to Israel’s doorstep instead

Turkey and Israel are the main strategic beneficiaries of the collapse of the Syrian regime, an event that has capped the dramatic decline of Iranian influence in the Middle East.

But now these two American allies, whose already poisoned relations have been strained to the breaking point since the war in Gaza began last year, are on a collision course of their own, in Syria and beyond.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/syria-us-ally-tension-israel-turkey-a8706228

https://archive.ph/BOaLf

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 08:28

🇸🇷🇬🇾 ExxonMobil’s Exit from Suriname Raises Pressure on Guyana Amid Natural Gas Concerns

By some estimates, there might be 2.4 billion barrels of oil deep below the waters of the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Suriname, South America’s smallest country.

The problem for multinational oil companies seeking to extract that oil is what’s mixed in with it: trillions of cubic feet of methane, often referred to as natural gas.

In May, the U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil and its partner, the Malaysian oil company Petronas, announced their latest well in Suriname’s waters had struck oil. The find — their third fossil fuel discovery in the region — stirred speculation about the potential for a floating oil production platform off Suriname’s coast, and even the possibility of a floating liquified natural gas (LNG) export project.

ExxonMobil has already established itself in neighbouring Guyana, where for the past decade the company has discovered increasing amounts of oil under a partnership with Hess Corp. (pending acquisition by Chevron) and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) — amid legal challenges from environmental advocates.

But last month, just six months after announcing its latest discovery in the region, ExxonMobil pulled up its anchors and left Suriname, closing out its only remaining foothold in the nation’s waters. The third — and final — offshore well drilled by the partnership, known as the Fusaea-1 well, had produced more natural gas than expected, oil industry analysts noted in May.

https://www.desmog.com/2024/12/18/exxonmobils-exit-from-suriname-raises-pressure-on-guyana-amid-natural-gas-concerns/

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

20 Dec 2024 07:05

Kamala Harris suddenly cancels a trip to California to rush to the White House, while Biden cuts his Delaware stay short and returns to D.C. before Christmas.

📎 AF Post

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 23:24

Luigi Mangione faces new federal charges, including one that could carry the death penalty, according to an unsealed criminal complaint.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/nyregion/luigi-mangione-federal-death-penalty.html

https://archive.ph/GYmz0

📎 News Wire

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 21:05

"If anybody would like to contribute to defray the cost ($13,000/week) of private security and rebuilding my studio, here is a donation link.

I can only accept cryptocurrency because I am banned from banking services and CC processing. Thank you.

https://nicholasjfuentes.com/donate"

📎 Nick J. Fuentes

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 20:38

- Political commentator Nick Fuentes recently claimed he was the victim of an assassination attempt, stating that an "armed killer," who is "now dead," arrived at his house with a crossbow.

The white nationalist livestreamer, has stated he's "okay."

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 20:08

🇮🇱 IDF prepares for extreme scenarios: Fall of Jordanian regime, multiple terror attacks in parallel on Israeli communities in West Bank, mass infiltration in dozens of locations resembling Oct 7; terror groups in area increasingly operate like military orgs

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-and-jordanians-said-to-meet-secretly-amid-worries-over-rebel-surge-in-syria/

📎 Israel Radar

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 18:26

FAA bans drones over parts of New Jersey, threatens ‘deadly force’ for ‘imminent security threat’

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drone operations over parts of New Jersey until mid-January and warned that the government may respond with “deadly force” against drones that pose a threat.

Beginning on Wednesday and through Jan. 17, unmanned aircraft are barred from flying within a nautical mile of specified airspace outlined in an FAA Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM.

The government may use “deadly force” against the drones if they present an “imminent security threat,” the NOTAM said.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/19/us-news/faa-bans-drones-over-parts-of-new-jersey-threatens-deadly-force-for-imminent-security-threat/

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 17:21

🇨🇳 China’s amped-up nuclear power ambitions at core of energy security amid safety concerns

China is leading the world in nuclear power installations and projects under construction as Beijing amps up investment efforts to decarbonise its energy mix.

The country – the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases, accounting for more than a third of global emissions – will kick off construction of more nuclear plant projects in coastal regions in 2025, with more in the state-planning pipeline.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3291041/chinas-amped-nuclear-power-ambitions-core-energy-security-amid-safety-concerns

📝 James Hopf on X: "When China finishes its reactors currently under construction, it will pass the US and be the nation with the most nuclear capacity. They plan to have 150 GW of nuclear by 2030, and 380 GW by 2050."

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 15:14

🇷🇺🇸🇾🇱🇾 Exclusive: Russia transfers fighters, arms from Syria to Libya

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has obtained information from monitoring and surveillance units of the new Syrian government confirming that Russia has transferred former Syrian soldiers and officers from the army of the deposed Bashar al-Assad regime to Libya.

The sources said the objective is to integrate them into Russian military bases located in areas controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA) under Khalifa Haftar.

https://www.newarab.com/news/exclusive-russia-transfers-fighters-arms-syria-libya

/CIG/ Telegram | Counter Intelligence Global

19 Dec 2024 14:20

🇹🇷 Commenting today on events in Syria, President Erdogan of Turkey revealed his irredentist ambitions, declared that his country cannot confine itself to its current borders, and vowed to continue military involvement in other countries.

📎 Abdullah Bozkurt