Good morning. Sources for these stories always posted at the end of the letter which you can read. And as usual we ask you don’t just read this letter once, but please subscribe for free!
Afghanistan
Violence in Afghanistan is escalating it seems by the day. Last night a bus bombing in Southern Zabul province killed 11. But by far one of the worst attacks occurred earlier on the weekend in an area of Kabul, which targeted school girls. Tragically 50 dead mostly children. The government blamed the Taliban for the attack outside a girls’ school in Dasht-e-Barchi, a suburb of the capital largely populated by the Shia Hazara community, which is often targeted by extremist Sunni Islamist militants.
The U.S. is leaving, and the Taliban will try to retake the country that NATO Countrys fought for 20 years to make into a democratic nation, and to snuff out terror including Al Qaeda.
On Back Story we talk to former U.S. Commander, Retired Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, who has just written a book called Marathon War. This is a podcast audio link:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/8376339
But if you want to WATCH that interview here is a youtube version;
Scotland
Scotland is bound to leave the UK, after new elections have given Scottish independence party’s their biggest election victory paving the road to break away from English rule.
How did it happen? You have to have read British newspapers to understand how newspaper owners have torqued the debate, about and against Europe for years. English nationalists have been fed disinformation for a generation or more, about how anything that didn’t go well in England was because of the European Union. Even now, the tabloids delight in rubbing the EU’s nose in the slow vaccine rollout, and trade issues because of Brexit, are always because of France or Germany or… you get the idea.
But, the fact is while P.M. Boris Johnson came to power, campaigning like Donald Trump on division and half truths, most young people see their future in Europe. The Brexit campaign was full of lies. And, flag waving and dreaming of the old English Empire’s glory days is generally the stuff of an older decaying demographic with anti immigration foundations or worse.
So as the ‘leave campaign’ was unfolding, Scotland was and is firmly against leaving the EU, and was dragged into Brexit. The last time Scotland held an independence referendum was 2014, and it was narrowly defeated 55% to 45%. And, the Brexit vote came about two years later in 2016.
This past weekend votes were counted in Scotlands Parliamentary election giving pro separatist Scottish Nationalists a majority with the SNP and Green party candidates firmly winning the day. The coming weeks and months will focus on a covid recovery plan driven by the notion “we Scots would be better in the EU” and the campaign to hold a new referendum will unfold.
The British P.M. has said he won’t give Scotland another opportunity to hold a referendum. The Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said "Yet we are facing many more years of right-wing Brexit-obsessed Tory governments that we don't vote for, taking us in a direction we haven't chosen."
So Scotland will vote to hold a referendum and P.M. Johnson will have to challenge Scotlands desires in courts, which Scotland could ignore. Boris Johnson was warned his Brexit could bring the break up of the United Kingdom and endanger peace in Northern Ireland. Violence has already been rekindled in N Ireland, and now Scotland’s independence drive is underway.
Jerusalem Riot’s
Today Jews celebrate Jerusalem Day, the reunification of the City which is deeply divided. Israeli settlers have always tried to force the sale of Palestinian land in and around Jerusalem as part of their design to push Arabs out of Jerusalem, especially East Jerusalem which used to be part of Jordan until the war in 1967.
Now Jewish settlers have tried to claim the predominately Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheik Jarrah with the obvious and expected result. Palestinians rioted over the weekend with 200 Palestinians injured and 2 dozen Israeli police hurt. A heavy hand by Jerusalem police included storming into the Temple Mount complex, where thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers but also throwing rocks down to Jewish worshippers the Western wall.
Violence has started to spread in other parts of the West Bank and rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Covid Origins and Lab Escape
We have had a huge response to the Back Story with Dana Lewis podcast, on new evidence the pandemic was caused by a leak from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Did you know the lab was doing ‘gain of function’ experiments with coronavirus’ some of which were taken from a bat cave in China. And the low level of lab safety standards has been described as similar to a dentists office!
Share this link and listen! And please subscribe to the podcast.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/8471236
If you want to see a video version of the podcast interviews my youtube channel address is here;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGsCJXzt7AA3suxpzBETpPw
U.S. Vaccines
Millions of Americans are saying no to Covid vaccines and States find themselves with unused doses they don’t know how to use. That’s despite the fact 43% of Americans have not been vaccinated and officials have been left to target groups that may have missed out on shots because they are too poor, isolated or hard to reach, or because they’re either skeptical of the shot or convinced they don’t want it.
Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia implored residents, particularly younger people, to “really step up.”
“If you can stand seeing one of your loved ones die, fine. I can’t stand that,” Mr. Justice said. “This thing’s a long way from being over.”
Have a good morning everyone. We need your help to make this letter grow. Share it!
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-police-show-glaring-lack-of-judgment-amid-clashes-in-jerusalem-1.9786184
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-57038039
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/09/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases#covid-vaccine-surplus