UFO’s
This balloon mystery has deepened as three objects were shot down over the weekend near Dead Horse Alaska, another over the Canadian Yukon, and another over Lake Huron.
Originally it was a balloon sent by China that stole the show, but now these objects have so far not been linked to China.
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” General VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) and Northern Command, said as he refused to rule out any explanation, no matter how far-fetched.
The objects were flying at roughly 40,000 feet. The object on Sunday was flying at 20,000 feet beore being shot down by U.S. jets.
Note - those altitudes put these objects within the path’s of commercial aircraft.
They are being detected now because the U.S. and Canada has focused radars on slower moving objects are higher altitudes, they say.
What are they? Sent by whom? All now huge questions and yes they are ‘unidentified flying objects’, until they are not flying and until they ARE identified. Searches are under way to recover debris.
Turkey Aftermath
After thousands of buildings collapsed in last weeks tragic earth quake in Turkey, anguish has turned to anger, as people are blaming Government for shabby construction standards and corruption.
President Erdogen was right when he referred to the earthquake as an act of god saying ‘such things have always happened. It’s part of destiny’s plan,’ on a visit to the disaster zone, while admitting rescue operations were initially not as fast as they should have been.
But the problem is, who was in charge of inspecting buildings and new construction in Turkey and as Erdogen heads for reelection in May, and the answer will present a major obstacle in politics.
Erdogen is attempting to position himself on the side of people, ordering prosecutions of construction firms and even Government inspectors who has a role in building and not enforcing earthquake construction codes.
The government agency responsible for building code enforcement acknowledged in 2019 that over half of all buildings in Turkey — accounting for some 13 million apartments— were not in compliance because owners could pay fines instead of bringing buildings up to code.
Dozens of officials and builders have already been arrested and there is more to come as the death toll from the two major quakes surpassed 33,000 people.
The situation in Syria is said to be even worse, but rescue efforts have largely not reached the war torn country.
Russian Advance?
Russia has been pressing harder into Eastern Ukraine, trying to push back well dug in Ukrainian forces on the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Have Russian troops advanced in the last week? They claim they have with one Russian Commander stating; “The Russian servicemen broke the enemy’s resistance and advanced several kilometres deeper into it’s echeloned defense.”
The advance was said to be by 2 kilometres (1.5 miles) while the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said it’s forces were able to reclaim some of the lost territory.
One video showed the Wagner Group has advanced around a village known as Krasna Hora near Bakhmut.
On Back Story here is the video link to our interview with the Soufan Center’s Colin Clarke, on what is Wagner and the risk it poses in Africa, and in Ukraine.
Have a good Monday!