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☆ Opinion: Juneteenth, Haiti and the power of reinvention
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Opinion Nadine Pinede | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Juneteenth is a celebration of that hard-fought Black freedom, observed in honor of June 19, 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, first learned from Union soldiers that they were free. Like my parents growing up in Haiti, she was used to seeing Black people in positions of power. She had freed herself from unjust rules meant to restrict education for Black Americans. Mark Felix/AFP/Getty ImagesIn Haiti, Hurston’s creative powers had the time and freedom to unfurl. As the author of “Barracoon,” a book based on interviews with one of the last enslaved Black Americans, Hurston almost certainly understood the significance of Juneteenth.

Persons: Nadine Pinede, ”, Nadine Pinede Sophie Kandaouroff, Lincoln, Juneteenth, “, Jim Crow, Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston, Lynne Sladky, she’d, Little, Barnard, Langston Hughes, Hurston unapologetically, Zora, Mark Felix, Lucille, Toussaint Louverture, Jean, Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, Alice Walker, Walker Organizations: Scholastic Education, Haiti Noir, CNN, Union, Black, Black American, La Force, Howard University, Barnard College, Harlem Renaissance, verve, Guggenheim Fellowship, Guggenheim, Getty, La, Magazine Locations: Haiti, ”, Haitian, Galveston , Texas, Africa, Texas, Caribbean, France, United States, Black, American, Eatonville , Florida, Miami , Florida, Little Haiti, Baltimore, Washington, New York City, Jamaica, AFP, Long

☆ How Taiwan could depend on one of the cheapest naval tactics to stop a Chinese invasion
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An element of that strong defense, experts argue, could be one of the cheapest naval tactics: sea mines. Experts say that naval mines could be very useful for stopping China's People's Liberation Army Navy or, at the very least, creating major headaches during an invasion. "Naval mines are such a capability, complementing various other weapons." AdvertisementThat speaks to larger problems naval mines pose. But, additional capabilities would be required to fully employ a naval mine defense.

Persons: —, China's, Jonathan Dorsey, Kelly Grieco, Jennifer Kavanagh, Scott Savitz, Bernd von Jutrczenka, Hsu Shu, Dorsey, Grieco, Kavanagh Organizations: Service, Business, China's People's Liberation Army Navy, PLA, RAND, Getty, Second Mining Operations Squadron, Taiwan Locations: China, Taiwan, Baltic, Latvia, Tamsui, Azov, Ukraine, Russia, Taipei

☆ Ecuador’s drug kingpin José Adolfo ‘Fito’ Macías lived ‘like a king’ while locked up. His jailbreak shines a light on the country’s lawless prisons
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Tara John | David Culver | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Macías’ prison cell is seen in these videos filmed by members of the military last year. Los Choneros and their main rival, Los Lobos, are believed to be allied with Mexican drug cartels in a war for dominance over Ecuador’s drug trade. Los Lobos saw an opening amid a violent power struggle in Los Choneros when Macías became its leader in 2020, say experts. In a music video shared online last year, the Los Choneros leader can be seen petting a rooster, apparently inside Guayaquil prison complex. But the press secretary of Ecuador’s president reckons the Los Choneros leader was told about an impending prison transfer.

Persons: José Adolfo Macías, Adolfo Macias, Fito, ”, Pablo Escobar, Macías, ” Jean Paul Pinto, Glaeldys, Julio Cesar Ballesteros, SNAI, Lenín Moreno, Ballesteros, Diana Salazar, “, ” Jeremy McDermott, it’s, Choneros, González, Mariachi Bravo, Macías ’, Michelle, Bravo, Fito ’, Daniel Noboa, Noboa, Patricia Bullrich, reckons, ” Roberto Izurieta, jailbreak, Fabricio Colón Pico, Ecuador’s Organizations: CNN, Ecuadorean, Forces, Ecuadorean Armed Forces, AFP, roosters, Prisons, Crisis, Los, Los Lobos, US Treasury Department, Ecuavisa, Marriott, Argentina’s, Argentine, Teleamazonas, Police Locations: La Regional, Colombian, Latin America, Ecuadorian, Ecuador, Colombia, SNAI, America, Americas, Los Lobos, Mexican, Choneros, Guayaquil, Guayaquil –, Argentine, Córdoba, Argentina, CNN Ecuador

☆ Captured Hamas weapons hint that if Israeli forces invade Gaza, they could face a deadly improvised bomb that US troops feared in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A video released by the IDF shows captured Hamas weapons from the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel. EFPs were some of the deadliest explosives US forces faced in Iraq, ripping through troops and armor. That could be a problem for IDF troops in a ground offensive in the strip. Israeli forces could still face EFPs hidden in the rubble, complex tunnel networks, or roads. That could spell trouble for IDF troops, of which hundreds of thousands have volunteered or been called up to serve over the past weeks.

Persons: —, John Spencer, Spencer, Qassem Soleimani, Benjamin Lowy, Israel Organizations: IDF, Service, Israel Defense Force, Israel Defense Forces, MSNBC, US Army, Urban Warfare, Modern, Twitter, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Pentagon, Quds Force, Air Force, Washington Post, Getty, United Nations Locations: Israel, Iraq, Gaza, Iranian, Iran, EFPs, Hawr Rajab, Lebanon

[1/4] A view shows smoke in the Gaza Strip as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel October 18, 2023. Israeli officials have said that they don't have a clear idea for what a post-war future might look like, though. Trips to Israel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this past week had stressed the need to focus on the post-war plan for Gaza, the source added. Israel's coming offensive is set to be much bigger than past Gaza operations that Israeli officials had previously referred to as "mowing the grass", degrading Hamas's military capabilities but not eliminating it. "Whatever worst-case scenario you have, it will be worse," a second regional source said about the potential for the conflict to spread beyond Gaza.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Bidens, Joe Biden's, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Israel hasn't, Israel doesn't, Biden, Aaron David Miller, Biden's, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel's, They're, Hossein Amir, Abdollahian, Blinken, Washington, Miller, Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Saul, Andrew Mills, Crispian Balmer, Pravin Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Carnegie Endowment, International, National Security Council, National Security, Communist, Hamas, Brigades, Hezbollah, Iran, Iranian, Palestinian Authority, U.S . Middle, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, DUBAI, WASHINGTON, Washington, Israeli, New York, U.S, Vietnam, Iran, Hamas, Israel's, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem

☆ Cocaine cartels encroach on Unification Church’s Paraguayan paradise
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Puerto Casado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +20 min

Many of the runways are on land owned by the Unification Church of South Korea, founded by Rev. The Unification Church is a major power in this unruly region. Byun, the Unification Church lawyer, provided Reuters with an April 2022 document the church sent to Paraguayan anti-narcotics prosecutors, urging an investigation into potential illicit activity. Trouble in paradiseThe alleged drug-running on its land isn’t the only trouble the Unification Church has faced in the Chaco. Byun, the church lawyer, acknowledged the tensions with locals in Puerto Casado but declined to comment on the Myungs or the fire.

Persons: Sun Myung, Michelle Byun, ” Byun, “, Moon, God, ”, Miguel Ángel Servín, Servín, Rodrigo Alvarez, Elva Cáceres, Marco Alcaraz, Cynthia Tarrago, Tarrago, Raimundo Va, Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes, Byun, Alvarenga, “ Alvarenga, Rodrigo Álvarez, Álvarez, Pedro Juan Caballero, ‘ Lawless, –, Marcelo Pecci, José Carlos Acevedo, ” Acevedo, Pecci, Acevedo, Mario Abdo Benítez, James Laverty, Hak Ja, ” –, Carlos Casado, Anger, Locals, Lorenzo Myung, Martin Rodriguez, Rodriguez, Dora Irrazábal, Irrazábal, Alberto David Gauto, Gauto, Emilio Camacho, Moon’s, Hyun Jin, Preston, Hak, Hyung Jin, Sean, Massimo Introvigne, Sean Moon, Preston Moon, Puerto Casado, Virgilio Chamorro, Gabriel Stargardter, Daniela Desantis, Feilding, Tomas Bravo, John Emerson, Brian Thevenot Organizations: Unification Church of, Rev, Authorities, Reuters, Unification Church, Holy Spirit Association, South Korea’s Unification, Belgian, Sting, South, International Association of Parliamentarians, Peace, U.S . Federal Bureau of Investigation, Colorado Party, Yorker, U.S, Attorney, FBI, Capital Command, PCC, United Nations Office, Drugs, U.S . Drug, Carlos Casado SA, Salesian, Supreme, FARC, Peace Foundation, Center for Studies, New, Iron Ministries, Preston, Tomas Bravo Graphics Locations: Paraguayan, Unification Church of South Korea, SENAD Paraguay, Chaco, Paraguay, Korea, Bolivian, Peruvian, Atlantic, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Europe, Argentine, Manhattan, “, Antwerp, Europe’s, Servín, Asunción, Seoul, New York City, United States, New Jersey, Tarrago, Va, U.S, Byun, Alvarenga, Chile, Ecuador, Colombian, Bolivia, American, South America, America, Puerto Casado, Gauto, Preston, Turin, Italy, Pennsylvania, Puerto

☆ Chinese military’s three-day show of force increases headache for Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) activity has a range of implications, none of them positive for Taiwan or cross-strait stability, analysts say. The PLA aircraft detected this week included fighter jets, H-6 bombers, anti-submarine warning aircraft and reconnaissance drones, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said. Their response underscores the problem that increased PLA activity poses to Taiwan, said Carl Schuster, a Hawaii-based analyst and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. “Beijing hopes Taipei will just accept unification as inevitable and allow Chinese forces in without resistance. A Chinese fighter jet refuels during military exercises near Taiwan on April 12, 2023.

Persons: CNN —, China’s, Carl Schuster, ”, “, –, Joe Biden, ” Schuster, hasn’t, Defense Lloyd Austin Organizations: CNN, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, Communist Party, Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, Taiwan Relations, Washington, PLA buildups, US, AP, ” “ Forces, Times, US Navy, Fleet, United, Eastern Theater Command, Defense Locations: Taiwan, Beijing, Hawaii, Taipei, Washington, Xinhua, Taiwan Strait China, Japan, States, United States, China

☆ A US Green Beret drill with fake guerrilla fighters shows how Sweden has been preparing for an 'unconventional' clash with Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In May and June, US Army Green Berets conducted unconventional warfare training in Sweden. In the US military, unconventional warfare is the bread and butter of the Green Berets of US Army Special Forces. Winning wars unconventionallyUS Army Green Berets demonstrate detainment procedures during training in Kalix, Sweden on May 29. Unconventional warfare can still play an important role in that kind of war, but it would be a supporting role. Cadets talk to role-players during West Point Irregular Warfare Group's Unconventional Warfare Exercise in April 2019.

Persons: Anthony Bryant, Patrik Orcutt, Anthony Bryant Sweden, refocusing, Erwin Rommel, Stavros Atlamazoglou Organizations: US Army Green Berets, Service, NATO, US Green Berets, Swedish Home Guard, US Army, Staff, Green Berets, US Army Special Forces, US Army Special Operations Command, Green, US Special Forces, 10th Special Forces Group, Sweden's, Guard, Home Guard, Operations Command, Green Beret, US Army Green, EU, Army Green Berets, Pentagon, Al, Delta Force, US Military, British Special Air Service, Commonwealth, Group, Hellenic Army, 575th Marine Battalion, Army, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins, School, International Locations: Sweden, Soviet Union, Russia, Wall, Silicon, Kalix, Europe, Soviet, Swedish, Stockholm, Al Qaeda, China, North Africa, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Johns

☆ Opinion: What Putin must be dreading
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech Saturday condemning the mutiny by the Wagner group, comparing the uprising to the events sparked by Russia’s 1917 revolution. Putin claimed that the Russians were stabbed “in the back” by nameless enemies towards the end of World War I, which he said is why the Russians lost that war and that in turn led to “a civil war” in Russia, Putin said. The Russians were not stabbed in the back during World War I, as Putin suggested during his remarks on Saturday. During the 1917 revolution, a Marxist party known as the Bolsheviks seized power. A year later, Nicholas II and other members of the ruling Romanov family ended up on the wrong end of a firing squad.

Persons: Peter Bergen, Peter Bergen ”, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Putin, “, Nicholas II, Romanov, Josef Stalin’s, Mark Twain, Putin doesn’t Organizations: CNN, New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, Peter Bergen CNN, Communist, Russo, Marxist, Communist Party, KGB, Soviet, Twitter, Facebook Military, Romanovs Locations: New America, Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Soviet Union, Dresden, East Germany, Afghanistan, Japanese, Soviet

☆ Ethiopia deputy finmin: rumour of FX devaluation "completely unfounded"
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rachel Savage | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"There is widespread rumour that devaluation is in the making. loading"A sensible macro reform is always our agenda but there should not be any concern about mere devaluation." Ethiopia currently operates a managed exchange rate for the birr, allowing it to depreciate gradually against the dollar. In 2020, the IMF recommended moving to a market-clearing exchange rate regime, to deal with an overvalued currency and FX shortages. "So the exchange rate unification remains one important policy goal, but we are just doing it gradually."

☆ Ethio Telecom posts H1 growth in revenue, financial service subscribers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ethio Telecom employees serve a customer inside their call centre in the Bole neighborhood branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa NegeriADDIS ABABA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's state-owned Ethio Telecom on Thursday reported a 20% rise in half-year revenue to 33.8 billion birr ($633 million). Subscribers to its mobile phone-based financial service Telebirr, launched in May 2021, grew to 27.2 million out of its 70 million total subscribers, CEO Frehiwot Tamiru told a news conference. That was up from 21.8 million Telebirr subscribers in June 2022. Efforts to attract investment have been hampered, however, by a two-year war in the northern Tigray region, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

☆ China's military has been spending a lot more time working on how to forcefully capture an island, Pentagon says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

China's military has been increasingly practicing seizing islands, the Pentagon says. The US has accused China of engaging in aggressive behavior around Taiwan and in the South China Sea. As an extensive assessment of China's military might, the report outlines the threat that China poses to the self-ruled democratic island of Taiwan. In addition to Beijing's longstanding focus on Taiwan, China also holds competing claims to islands and reefs in the South China Sea, where China has been building military outposts and strengthening its position. Earlier this month, Vice President Kamala Harris made a rare trip to a South China Sea hotspot, specifically the Philippine island of Palawan, which overlooks contested areas in the strategic waterway.

☆ An embarrassing defeat 73 years ago is a preview of the problems China would face in an attack on Taiwan today
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Chinese Communist troops who stormed Kinmen island in October 1949 expected a quick victory. The planChinese Communist troops take prisoners at bayonet point after heavy fighting in Shanghai on May 21, 1949. Kinmen Island, 59 square miles in size and home to some 40,000 people, was essential to this plan. A model of a soldier in a bunker near the Hujingtou Battle Museum in Little Kinmen, Taiwan in April 2018. By day's end, the PLA troops who had retreated to the beaches had also surrendered.

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