#Secret Cable (Cypher)

[xtruss]

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses supporters during a march in Gujranwala on November 1, 2022. (Photo: Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images)

Secret Cable Reportedly Shows US Urged Pakistani Government to Oust Imran Khan

The Intercept reported that the leaked document shows the U.S. promised "warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not."

— Jake Johnson | August 10, 2023

A secret cable obtained by The Intercept suggests that a U.S. diplomat—with the approval of the Biden White House—urged the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan, who was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote last year and later imprisoned on corruption charges that he says are politically motivated.

According to the March 7, 2022 cable, which The Intercept published in full but acknowledged it could not authenticate, U.S. diplomat Donald Lu told the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. that "people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position" on the Ukraine war.

The U.S. had publicly criticized Khan for going ahead with a previously planned trip to Moscow and meeting with President Vladimir Putin as Russian forces began invading Ukraine in February 2022. The cable says Lu reiterated the Biden administration's concerns but added, "I think if the no-confidence vote against the prime minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the prime minister."

"Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead," Lu added.

The cable states that Lu "could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly."

Strained relations between the U.S. and Pakistan during Khan's tenure were public knowledge, but The Intercept's Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain wrote Wednesday that the cable "reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not."

Pakistan's Former Prime Minister Imran Khan talks with reporters regarding the current political situation and the ongoing Fake Cases against him at his residence, in Lahore, Pakistan, August 3, 2023.

"One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan's removal from power," Grim and Hussain noted. "The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan's powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S."

On Tuesday, an order from Pakistan's election commission barred Khan from public office for five years. Khan is expected to challenge the decision, and he is currently appealing his three-year prison sentence.

Pakistan dissolved its parliament on Wednesday, setting the stage for a new election in the wake of Khan's arrest.

"The U.S. has spent decades interfering in Pakistani democracy and perpetuating poverty and political dysfunction in the country as a result."

During a press briefing following The Intercept's report, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller denied that the U.S. had any "preference on who the leadership of Pakistan ought to be."

When urged to address Lu's specific comments, which appear to express a preference for Khan's ouster, Miller said he couldn't speak to the veracity of the cable but suggested that Lu's reported comments might have been "taken out of context."

Grim and Hussain reported Wednesday that the State Department "has previously and on repeated occasions denied that Lu urged the Pakistani government to oust the prime minister."

"On April 8, 2022, after Khan alleged there was a cable proving his claim of U.S. interference, State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter was asked about its veracity," the pair wrote. Porter replied, "Let me just say very bluntly there is absolutely no truth to these allegations."

Hussain wrote on social media that The Intercept obtained the secret cable from "a source within Pakistan's military establishment who said they had been disillusioned by the impact of the crisis on the institution and wished to alert the public and fellow servicemembers of the documented truth of the story."

Imran Khan had Accused US of Orchestrating his Removal as PM by Collaborating with ‘Corrupt to their Cores Military Establishment’. Photo: Reuters

As Grim and Hussain reported:

While the drama over the cable has played out in public and in the press, the Pakistani military has launched an unprecedented assault on Pakistani civil society to silence whatever dissent and free expression had previously existed in the country.

In recent months, the military-led government cracked down not just on dissidents but also on suspected leakers inside its own institutions, passing a law last week that authorizes warrantless searches and lengthy jail terms for whistleblowers. Shaken by the public display of support for Khan—expressed in a series of mass protests and riots this May—the military has also enshrined authoritarian powers for itself that drastically reduce civil liberties, criminalize criticism of the military, expand the institution's already expansive role in the country’s economy, and give military leaders a permanent veto over political and civil affairs.

Sunjeev Bery, director of the advocacy group Freedom Forward, wrote in response to The Intercept story that "the U.S. has spent decades interfering in Pakistani democracy and perpetuating poverty and political dysfunction in the country as a result," citing past U.S. support for Pakistan's military dictatorships.

"It is deeply depressing to me that the Biden administration continues this path today," Bery added.

— Jake Johnson is a Staff Writer for Common Dreams (CommonDreams.Org)

[metamatar]

On March 2, just days before the meeting, Lu had been questioned at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing over the neutrality of India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan in the Ukraine conflict. [...]

The day before the meeting, Khan addressed a rally and responded directly to European calls that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine. “Are we your slaves?” Khan thundered to the crowd. “What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us?” he asked. “We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance.” [...] The day after the meeting, on March 8, Khan’s opponents in Parliament moved forward with a key procedural step toward the no-confidence vote.

[...] In recent months, the military-led government cracked down not just on dissidents but also on suspected leakers inside its own institutions, passing a law last week that authorizes warrantless searches and lengthy jail terms for whistleblowers. Shaken by the public display of support for Khan — expressed in a series of mass protests and riots this May — the military has also enshrined authoritarian powers for itself that drastically reduce civil liberties, criminalize criticism of the military, expand the institution’s already expansive role in the country’s economy, and give military leaders a permanent veto over political and civil affairs.

[...] On balance, the text of the cypher strongly suggests that the U.S. encouraged Khan’s removal. According to the cable, while Lu did not directly order Khan to be taken out of office, he said that Pakistan would suffer severe consequences, including international isolation, if Khan were to stay on as prime minister, while simultaneously hinting at rewards for his removal. The remarks appear to have been taken as a signal for the Pakistani military to act.

[heckcareoxytwit]

Although Genocide the son of Apocalypse had been defeated, it was a hollow victory for the remaining Chosen Mutants. The remaining Chosen Mutants turn on Mister Sinister as they are angry with him for betraying others and causing the "deaths" of Exodus and even Lin Li. However, they cannot kill Mister Sinister on the spot yet because the crowd of bystanders are watching them. Dani Moonstar talks to the distraught Emma Frost while Cypher tries to calm the crowd of Egyptian bystanders by speaking in Arabic language. Then, Gorgon calls them over as he finds the hidden tunnel underneath the street. Gorgon and Laura Kinney figure out that the hidden tunnel is another part of the secret passage to Apocalypse's hideout.

As the Chosen Mutants move on in the secret passage, Cypher tries to read the code but he unwittingly activates a booby trap under the floor. Cable snaps at Cypher for nearly endangering them with his curiosity. Just before Gorgon could clear away the spiky trap, Mister Sinister throws a control disk at him. Laura Kinney notices Sinister's trick and stabs him but it was too late, the control disk hits Gorgon at the side of his head and it makes him go berserk. Cypher is knocked off the bridge by the mind-controlled Gorgon. Fortunately, Forge is there to pull Cypher up. Laura and Cable fight the mind-controlled Gorgon until Dani subdues him by firing a psionic arrow. Emma Frost and the others try to go after Mister Sinister but he throws a grenade near them and it blows up the bridge. Emma, Laura and the unconscious Gorgon are caught in the blast and they fall off the crumbling bridge. Just when Mister Sinister thought he could get away with his nasty schemes, the falling Emma Frost uses her telepathy to force him to jump off the bridge. Meanwhile, Apocalypse and Archangel are in the secret lair where he reveals something. It turns out that Lin Li, Rictor, Monet, Exodus, Gorgon, Emma, Laura and Sinister are kept in stasis and they are alive all along! Apocalypse explains to Archangel that he teleported them to the stasis pods when they failed (or "died") in their tests.

X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #3, 2024

[sweetsova]

Deja Vu - CyberOwl Slowburn (Chapter 2)

Summary: Cypher's getting closer, but he isn't sure what to. Words: 1875

------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Chase Me

You’re chasing me and we’re getting close But I’m not that easy to catch … Chase me, keep chasing me Like you’re out of breath [Chase Me - Dreamcatcher]

Sasha’s ghost is wandering the Valorant Protocol headquarters.

Cypher snaps back into focus and snatches his communicator from its charging point on the desk. His fingers are calling Brimstone before he can even begin to calculate what to say about this situation. Should he be calling Brim at all over this? If this is really happening then what becomes of the whole thing?

What can even be done about the ghost of a colleague? Should anything even be done? He’s blurting down the call to Brimstone that there’s an emergency and to come quick before he can process these questions, which, he reasons, might be for the best.

Sage and Jett finally exit Sasha’s room. Sage is still upset, but Jett’s arm is around her, comforting her as they brush past Brimstone. He nods to the two, but they don’t notice.

Sasha is still getting his emotions in line when he sees Brim come around the corner, walking with purpose towards what he now remembers is the direction to Cypher’s lair. Calling it a bedroom felt too generous.

The man had turned that lodging into a nightmare of cables, monitors, and random mechanical bits. Sasha had only been into the room once and it nearly made him short circuit with stress. To his memory, the only saving grace of the surveillance cave was the sweet smell of the imported teas that Amir seemingly could not live without.

Why he’d made himself a second surveillance cave when he already had an office, Sasha had never understood.

For no reason other than a lack of direction, Sova follows Brim down the hall. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself now. He can’t really do anything, he can’t speak to anyone, he’s just left behind to watch his former friends and teammates prepare for battles that he can’t follow them into. 

He pushes the thoughts down - plenty of time for internalised doom and gloom later. For now he can finally do something he’s always secretly wanted to: invade Cyphers privacy and uncover some of those secrets of his.

The man’s tendency to hoard information on others while hiding behind a mask had always frustrated Sasha. It felt cowardly and sly. He perks up slightly at the thought of filling at least some of his eternity by beating Amir at his own game. He’s now the ultimate, undetectable secret stealer.

“I saw Sova on camera a few minutes ago.”

The words stop Sasha’s thoughts in their tracks. He’d completely zoned out on the short walk, mind so focused on potential petty revenge on Amir that he hadn’t even noticed that Brim had entered the room. If Sasha still had a physical heart, it’d have flatlined with those words.

“Amir, you’re not sleeping again.” It’s not a question from Brim, it’s a statement. Sasha looks past Brim to Amir, who’s put his mask back on before Brim’s entrance. 

“I’m rested enough to know I’m not seeing things.” Amir motions to one of the monitors where the proof video was paused just before Sasha had appeared on screen. He hits play and allows the clip to run before pausing it again when Sasha is centred on the screen.

There is no good word to describe the feeling the silence that followed left in any of them.

“You see? I’m not making this up. I’m not hallucinating. Sova is in that video.” 

A few more beats of silence pass.

“Sova is dead.” Brim states, voice much less steady than before. “We recovered his remains from the site and made visual and DNA confirmation that it was him - not the other Sova.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“So your camera is wrong.” Brim begins to turn around. Sasha can visibly see how shaken he is.

“It isn’t! You know that it isn’t. Brim, I don’t understand-”

“Delete it.” 

“No!” Amir’s voice raises at the command. “No. I do not ever delete footage and I’m not going to just pretend this isn’t happening.”

“Amir I-” Brim interrupts himself with a long, deep breath. “Don’t show it to anyone. I mean anyone - do you understand me?”

“I just think-”

“Do. You. Understand?” Brim’s voice does not waver. He is lethally serious with his demand.

“Yes. I understand.”

“Good. Now put it away or encrypt it or whatever. Let it go.”

Brim nearly stomps out of the room - face still showing his sour mix of emotions. Sasha remains standing in place as Brim walks through him - it makes him shiver.

“Put it away.” Amir mocks. “Absolutely not.” His hand returns to his communicator. It’s to his ear before Sasha can even consider trying to see who he’s contacting.

“Hello. If you have a moment can you please come to me? I have something urgent to ask you about.” He keeps his voice as level and casual as possible, but returns to being outright distraught after ending the voicemail.

Silence returns to the room again as he fights to slow his breathing. He stands and cleans up the spilled tea leaves from the floor with unsteady hands. Amir begins pacing - it makes Sova anxious. 

“Sasha- Sova…” The archer jumps at Amir’s words. “If you’re here, like really- no, no no no no, no no. No. No!” Amir interrupts himself. “No, you’re not talking to the walls like your dead coworker is going to respond, Amir. Shit.”

An idea pops into Sasha’s mind. It’s entirely hair-brained, but he attempts nonetheless. Sova takes a deep breath and lets out a long, loud scream. It lasts for several seconds and is nearly loud enough to make his ears ring, but it evokes no reaction from Cypher.

He does it again, more of a shrill yell than a shout like the last time. Again, it isn’t heard. Amir just continues randomly picking up or moving things around the room while muttering to himself in an obvious attempt to distract himself. 

“Amir!” Sasha shouts. “Amir, I’m here! I’m still here!” 

No response.

As a last ditch attempt, Sasha looks over to the shelf of teas and books beside the desk. He walks over and reaches out, grabbing at a box of fancy tea from the shelf. He focuses on it with intensity and moves his arm. The box moves with him.

When he drops it, it’s due equally to intention and surprise. The box bounces off the shelf and topples to the ground, popping open and spilling just as the last one had. Amir jerks to face the direction of the sound, terror visible even through the mask.

“What the fuck-” Amir jumps again as a knock comes from his door. “Shit!”

He steps past Sasha (and over the spilled tea leaves) to open the door. He’s met with Fade.

She looks rough, but that’s nothing particularly new. Her arms are crossed, practically holding herself, and her eyes are a dark purple underneath. 

“You needed something, Amir?” 

He nods and opens the door for her, stepping aside to make room. “It needs to stay between us. I’ll deal with the cameras so no one sees you come or go.”

“That dire? Damn, couldn’t have been an email then?” She jokes, eyes scanning the room. Cypher shuts the door and sits back behind the desk, completely ignoring her.

“Your connection with Nightmare and your dream-walking or whatever, it makes me think you might be the best person to ask about this.”

“Shoot.” Hazal responds, not yet looking towards the monitor out of sheer habit. Everyone within the protocol knew better than to try to sneak a peek at the man’s screens. 

“I think I saw a ghost - Sova’s, specifically.”

Fade’s heart sinks and her head snaps to face Cypher. It’s then that she notices the paused image of Sasha on the screen. Her jaw drops and she moves to stand to the side of Amir’s chair, eyes glued to the image. Amir hits play and loops it, allowing her to see the clip several times.

“Fuck.”

“My thoughts as well.” Amir means for it to be a joke, but it comes out dead serious. “Do you know anything about this sort of thing?”

“I saw him. In Nightmare.”

A beat of silence. It’s not the response he’d been expecting, at all.

“Is he alive, then? Is that possible?”

“No. Sasha is dead.” Fade confirms, eyes dull, but glued to the looping clip. Cypher hums in understanding. 

“So ghosts are real then? The ghost of our teammate- our friend- is pacing these walls?”

Sasha’s eye twitches at the word “friend”, but he steps closer to the two at the desk.

“Is that so hard to believe?” Fade asks with a chuckle, finally looking away from the screen. She turns her back to Amir, heading for the door.

“Wait- Fade- what do you know?” Amir’s voice nearly whines.

Hazal pauses at the door. “That Sasha is dead.”

She leaves Cypher alone in the glow of his monitors and a version of Sasha he didn’t fully believe exists. A version of Sasha he didn’t even realise was beside him.

Amir sits with his thoughts for only a moment before setting up alerts on the cameras that Sova would have passed most if he were alive and going about his day. He ups the sensitivity of the microphones and the definition of the cameras - server space be damned. 

Sasha stands by him, watching with interest as Cypher ups what can only be called his ghost hunting efforts. It makes Sasha’s chest feel warm. He brings his hand to his chest - it’s the first time he’d felt that since he’d died. It’s familiar in a way that leaves him feeling a bit empty.

Amir finishes his setup and leans back in his chair before letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again. He clears his throat and sits up, mind reeling.

“Okay… Sasha - if you’re here - if you can hear me - I’ve, uh, I’ve changed some camera settings.” His voice is uneven and uncomfortable. Sasha can tell he feels stupid as he speaks. “I’m not sure how this works, but I think that if you walk around some I might be able to see you.”

He stops and clears his throat. “I- I hope that I see you. I miss having you around. I miss our little rivalry.” 

“Strange to say that now, Amir.” Sasha mutters. Amir doesn’t hear it. His eyes droop to the floor where he’s met with the sight of more of his precious tea leaves ruined on the floor. A moment passes before he connects some dots.

“You threw my tea on the ground…” Amir sits up and starts scrambling to find something on his desk. “You can touch stuff, I don’t understand how and maybe that was a coincidence, but it doesn’t seem like it.”

He slaps a piece of paper on the desk and draws a line down the middle. On one side he writes “YES” and the other “NO” before balancing the pen directly on the line. Sasha immediately understands the point of the setup.

“Sasha - can you hear me?” Amir’s voice is trembling, his eyes glued to the pen. After a few tense moments the pen shifts.

YES.

------------------------------------------------------------------

hihi! thanks if you made it to the bottom of this new chapter lol, i'm pretty sure there's only like, 1 person reading, so hello person :)

anyways, i already had this one like 98% done when i posted the first one so while i wait for my ao3 invite i'm gna just post chapter 2 on here haha.

see you for chapter 3 <3

[blogynews]

"Unveiling a Hidden Secret: Imran Khan's Shocking Revelation in the Mysterious Cypher Case, Right from Behind Bars!"

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently serving a three-year jail term, has admitted to misplacing a confidential diplomatic cable during an interrogation session conducted by Pakistan’s top investigative agency at the Attock Jail. This case was filed against Khan under the Official Secrets Act for wrongful use of the classified document. Media reports on Sunday revealed this latest…

[blogynewz]

"Unveiling a Hidden Secret: Imran Khan's Shocking Revelation in the Mysterious Cypher Case, Right from Behind Bars!"

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently serving a three-year jail term, has admitted to misplacing a confidential diplomatic cable during an interrogation session conducted by Pakistan’s top investigative agency at the Attock Jail. This case was filed against Khan under the Official Secrets Act for wrongful use of the classified document. Media reports on Sunday revealed this latest…

[blogynewsz]

"Unveiling a Hidden Secret: Imran Khan's Shocking Revelation in the Mysterious Cypher Case, Right from Behind Bars!"

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently serving a three-year jail term, has admitted to misplacing a confidential diplomatic cable during an interrogation session conducted by Pakistan’s top investigative agency at the Attock Jail. This case was filed against Khan under the Official Secrets Act for wrongful use of the classified document. Media reports on Sunday revealed this latest…

[synthient]

Okay, here’s a blow-by-blow of differences in the earlier draft of the script (note: I’m comparing it with the published version of the script, which also has some differences from the final movie. so I won’t be mentioning stuff like the beta 6th One reveal)

[Main changes:]

When Trinity meets Neo at the club, she says “I know why you left your family and friends, why you left your home to come to this city.”

The “IRS d-base” she hacked was apparently in Kansas City

Neo explicitly lives in Chicago. Morpheus spends his construct speech talking about "this is Chicago as it existed in the 20th century, and this is Chicago now" instead of "the world" (which has the funny side effect of making it sound like the apocalypse was localized to Chicago. the rest of the world is fine, maybe)

Choi and Apoc are the only two characters whose races are described (Chinese and Black, respectively). Both were cast as white guys in the actual movie

In the woman in red scene, it’s revealed at the very beginning that they’re in a training simulation, so there’s no twist. Morpheus is more cynical about everyone in the Matrix being the enemy, and doesn’t mention wanting to save them. The description of the pointed shot of the cop is also missing

Mouse doesn’t go on his tangent about tasty wheat, and doesn’t try to be a “digital pimp”

Morpheus comes off as pushier about getting Neo to accept that he's the One. A lot of the intensity was dialed back in the next draft

The scene where Cypher and Smith meet for dinner is absent. Cypher's betrayal isn't revealed until right up when he shoots Tank

Oddly, the Agents say "Reagan has failed" instead of "the informant has failed," which would have been confusing without the earlier Mr. Reagan scene

Cypher's villain monologue is shorter, and doesn't really focus on his bitterness at Morpheus/belief that he was tricked into taking the red pill

Cypher talks about Neo's "pretty blue eyes"

There’s an odd mention of Zion’s mainframe being “only accessible through the Matrix”

There’s a small, cut exchange where the soldiers start panicking and wanting to evacuate as Neo and Trinity shoot up the building, while the Agents order them to remain at their posts (making it clearer that the cops and soldiers were human)

Smith is the first Agent to get mowed down by the helicopter instead of the last

Smith’s shots at the helicopter miss. The helicopter doesn’t crash, and Neo doesn’t save Trinity by holding onto the cable. They just land safely on a roof

There’s a slightly extended version of Neo’s race to room 303 (including Jones popping out of a girl scout troop)

Neo is described as taking over Smith like a reverse Agent-assimilation, rather than exploding him (which might have looked a little less goofy)

Neo's phonebooth monologue is shorter, explicitly aimed at whoever "built" the Matrix, and pretty basic and unphilosophical

[Small but extremely funny changes:]

Secret service sphincter (secret service sphincter)

The bug extraction descriptions were edited to make them marginally less horny (it’s still described as a speculum in both versions)

We end up banging the GET IT. DO YOU GEDDIT. IT’S WOMB IMAGERY pots and pans a little less loudly

[Walks up to semi-conscious patient in a hospital bed and puts a Sick Pair Of Shades on him]. Also implies there was going to be less difference between the Matrix and real world costumes designs. Also food for the norpheus shippers

[with Laurence Fishburne gravitas] lmao wild right

Everyone Says Fuck. a lot. all the fucks (and some of the shits) were tragically lost in the edit

DODGE THIS MUTHERFUCKER

[multiversecarnavep]

Nimrod is a mutant-hunting Sentinel from an alternative future and was created by the Sentinels ruling that timeline. When Rachel Summers travels backwards in time to the present, he follows Rachel. Although not capable of time travel by himself he was transported back in time by Doctor Strange and Magik using their powers to change time to prevent Kulan Gath's occupation of New York. Thus Nimrod saves the life of construction worker Jaime Rodriguez by slaying a mugger (Kulan Gath's destined host), who would have otherwise killed Rodriguez. In gratitude Rodriguez offers Nimrod a job and a home with his family, not realizing who or what the shape-shifting Sentinel truly is.[2]



Nimrod in Uncanny X-Men #194 (June 1985); art by John Romita Jr.

After gathering information about the timeline in which he finds himself, Nimrod eventually changes his prime directive from the extermination of all mutants, having determined that such widespread destruction is not necessary in this era, to only the extermination of mutants who were regarded as outlaws by the government, such as the X-Men. He fights the Juggernaut. He hunts Summers and the X-Men, but is defeated by Rogue when Rogue absorbs the mutant powers of Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Colossus. Based on a plan that Kitty conceives before losing consciousness, Rogue uses Nightcrawler's teleportation to teleport part of Nimrod's body away, with Rogue's and Colossus's combined invulnerability protecting Rogue from the resulting physical strain in a manner that Nightcrawler could not have handled.[3] Some time after this, Nimrod garners a reputation with the public of New York City as a heroic vigilante, assuming he is simply a man in powered armor. He also adopts the more human personality Nicholas Hunter as part of a cover alias as a construction worker.[4]

Nimrod later faces the combined forces of the X-Men and the Hellfire Club and proves himself as a powerful threat, killing Black Rook Friedrich Von Roehm, causing Harry Leland's fatal heart attack, nearly killing Nightcrawler and badly injuring Rogue and Sebastian Shaw.[5]

When Nimrod comes across a piece of the gigantic Sentinel Master Mold while working on a construction site, his programming is immediately co-opted; Master Mold merges with Nimrod, using its systems to rebuild Nimrod in its own image. The X-Men are initially hard pressed to defeat the reborn Master Mold, but Nimrod comes to their aid, claiming he has evolved as well and no longer views them or mutants as a threat. Nimrod asserts enough control over Master Mold to render it immobile, and even convinces it that it has become a mutant as well. Thus, to fulfill its prime directive to exterminate mutants, it must self-destruct. The remains of both robots are pushed through the Siege Perilous, a mystical gateway that causes all who passed through it to be reborn with new bodies.[6] Though the exact moment is unclear, Nimrod and Master Mold are merged into the being Bastion, a man who had absolutely no memory of his former existence.[7]

In X-Force, a modern-day version of Nimrod appears. Created by an offshoot of Project Wideawake, this version is based on the technology derived from the Nimrod from the future.[8] In truth, between the time of Nimrod's first arrival and its apparent destruction when it merged with the Master Mold and had traveled through the Siege Perilous, it had taken precautionary measures to ensure its survival. By downloading a self-awareness program into the base's military computer cybernet, the program served as a sleeper virus that awaited the opportunity to access a Sentinel development program so it could use it to re-create Nimrod itself. Nimrod's detection of the invading X-Force had caused it to act before it had originally intended to fulfill its imperative. It deactivates itself when Cable convinces Nimrod that its earlier creation in the timeline would cause a paradox and incalculable damage to the timestream.[9]

Reverend William Stryker later found a damaged Nimrod as it enters the Marvel timeline from an alternate one.[10] Immobilized, Stryker secretly uses Nimrod's memories of future events to give him the appearance of precognition to his followers and to help plan an attack on the X-Men and other mutants, but Nimrod alters its memories to facilitate its own escape, and Stryker is defeated. During the New X-Men[11] story arc "Nimrod", it searches for Forge, whom it believes is its creator. Nimrod believes Forge can repair its damaged body, but Forge instead transfers Nimrod's programming into a new chassis which Forge can control. Believing Forge to be in danger, the New X-Men travel to his workshop to help him. This eventually leads to Nimrod gaining control over his body and attacking Forge and the New X-Men. Nimrod is defeated when Surge overloads Nimrod's temporal unit, blasting Nimrod out of the timestream. Nimrod survives and travels back in time to March 1985, where the events involving Jaime Rodriguez and Kulan Gath's amulet play out exactly as they had originally[12] with its memory corrupted, resulting in its existence in the 'true' timeline — with Rachel's history erased — becoming a temporal paradox.[13]

The series X-Force reveals that the Purifiers held on to most of Nimrod's original body and fuse it with Bastion's head to reform Bastion.[14] He then, using the Technarch transmode virus, revives numerous villains that have destroyed many mutants.[15]

During the events of Second Coming, he personally confronts Hope Summers, Rogue and Nightcrawler, leading to the death of the latter. Bastion appears to be reverting more and more to fully being Nimrod. Some time later, Bastion unleashes an endless horde of Nimrods from an unknown future to destroy the X-Men. However, X-Force, Cypher and Cable go to that future and destroy the Master Mold controlling them. At the end of the crossover, the original Nimrod (Bastion) takes his original form but is destroyed by Hope. The chest and head of Nimrod are later shown to be exhibited in X-Force Headquarters. Deathlok identifies it as version 32.1 and the possibility for its future to come to be is 1.34%.[16]

During a brief glimpse three months into the future seen in Uncanny Avengers, Havok, Scarlet Witch and Sunfire are shown fleeing from a new model of Sentinel. Havok refers to the machines as Nimrod units, and mentions that they were built by Tony Stark.[17]

Dawn of XEdit

In this new X-Men timeline, "Nimrod the Lesser" is seen 90 years in the future, along with "Nimrod the Greater" seen 990 years in the future.[18] It was soon revealed that a human coalition of scientists and espionage agents from various secret agencies have joined forces to form Orchis, the ultimate mutant-fighting organization. Along with the former X-Man Omega Sentinel and built on the remains of Sol's Hammer, they have created the Orchis Forge solar orbiting space station which serves as a construction platform for the Mother Mold, a Master Mold capable of creating other Master Mold Sentinels. After intel provided by Moira MacTaggart suggests that this event is the probable origin of the Nimrod Sentinels, a team of X-Men invade the Orchis Forge and successfully decouple the giant Sentinel before it fully awakens, sending it plummeting into the sun.[19]

Later, on the Orchis Forge, it is discovered by Mystique during an infiltration mission that Director Killian Devo has completed work on an unknown component that Dr. Alia Gregor installs inside the torso of a Nimrod unit that is in the initial stages of construction.[20]

At the behest of Xavier and Magneto, Mystique returns for a final desperate mission in the Orchis Forge to detonate a mini-black hole bomb designed by Forge capable of annihilating the entire station. Her mission coincides with Dr. Gregor preparing to resurrect her husband, Captain Erasmus Mendel, who was killed in the original Orchis raid, into the chassis of her newly constructed Sentinel prototype. The activation succeeds and the crystalline memory transfer is successful, but the Erasmus persona prototype immediately detects the disguised Mystique as a Mutant and sacrifices itself to save the Orchis base by teleporting into space with the bomb she has triggered, leaving two emotionless duplicates without Erasmus' memory core yet uploaded to subdue Mystique before she can escape the station, and to protect Dr. Gregor. Executing Mystique through the entrance of her Krakoa escape portal, the fearsome Sentinel announces his existence as "Nimrod, The Hunter" to the X-Men, who have failed once again in their attempt to destroy Orchis, vowing to hunt down and kill all Mutants.[21]

Aware of Nimrod's creation by Orchis, Bishop, who refers to the prototype as "Nimrod 2.0", advises the X-Men, the Hellfire Club and X-Force about the formation of a highly specialized strike team that has experience fighting Nimrod Sentinels in the past and to create unorthodox weapons and strategies to deal with Orchis' new threat.[22]

[multiverseforger]

Selene is the oldest known human mutant. Functionally immortal, her millennia-long life is attributed to her ability to drain the life essence from other beings to extend her own existence indefinitely. Her name derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Claiming to have already been old when modern mankind was just emerging, Selene was born over 17,000 years ago somewhere in what is now Central Europe, "after the Oceans swallowed Atlantis and before the rise of the Aryas". Her tribe's elders recognized her for what she was and commanded the entire tribe, including her own mother, to sacrifice their lives to feed her.[3]

Hyborian AgeEdit

Selene was revealed to have been an old enemy of the sorcerer Kulan Gath.[4] Kulan Gath was active during the Hyborian Age (before any recorded civilizations) and is known to have faced both Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja. In fact, Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern era.[5] Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian age.

Rome and EliphasEdit

Selene came to reside in Rome during the height of its empire. She approached Eliphas, a well-respected senator whose wife had left him for a general named Mascius. Selene offered him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and absorb every soul in Rome. Eliphas went about drawing pentagrams and performing rituals at several locations in the city, but warned a small girl to get her family out. The girl's father alerted the authorities and Eliphas and Selene were captured before the spell could be carried out. Just before they were burned at the stake Selene killed the guards. She then cursed Eliphas for his perceived betrayal with an eternal life of torture, transforming him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas was buried alive for 700 years until a farmer discovered him in his field.[6]

Nova RomaEdit

In relatively recent times, Selene was trapped for centuries in the Amazon in the Romanesque town of Nova Roma. She was worshipped as a goddess and worked to maintain the isolation of the town so she could maintain control. Eliphas, having at some point in time changed his name to "Eli Bard," finally locates Selene in Nova Roma. Still in love with her despite her curse, Bard realizes that he must make an offering to her before he approaches her. She also was able to marry several times and have descendants, including Amara Aquilla. Her most recent known husband was Marcus Domitius Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma.

In Nova Roma, Selene attempted to kill Amara Aquilla. She knocked Amara into a lava pool, thereby releasing her latent mutant powers, as Magma. Selene fought and defeated Magma, and plotted to turn Danielle Moonstar into a psychic vampire like herself and conquer the world. Selene fought the New Mutants, and was cast into lava and buried alive.[7]

Becoming the Black QueenEdit

Selene directed her worshippers to undertake tasks that eventually allowed her to leave Nova Roma. She made her way to New York City, where she encountered Juggernaut at a bar. Selene planned to seduce and murder him, but was prevented when Wolverine manipulated a bar-room brawl between Juggernaut and Colossus. She then discovered the existence of Rachel Summers, whom she sought to turn into a slave only to be defeated by the X-Men. Prior to the X-Men saving her, Selene had tracked Rachel down to the home of a young man named Nicholas Damiano who had let the homeless Rachel spend the night at his place. Selene savagely murdered the young man, resulting in Rachel swearing revenge against Selene.[8]

With help from one of her worshippers, Friedrich Von Roehm, Selene made contact with the Hellfire Club and forced the group to take her on as the new Black Queen. She became critical in the X-Men's attempt to stop Kulan Gath, after he conquered New York City with a reality-altering spell though she ultimately attempted to doublecross the X-Men in order to steal Gath's talisman of power.[9]

Selene's time with the Hellfire Club was a turbulent time, due to her contempt for Sebastian Shaw and quite open desire to rule the Hellfire Club as its sole leader. This led Shaw and Emma Frost to conspire to kill Selene by manipulating and training the young mutant Firestar to assassinate her. This failed when Firestar realized what their plan.[10]

Selene and the Hellfire Club's relationship with the X-Men came to a head with Rachel Summers making an unauthorized assassination attempt on Selene. Wolverine felt honor-bound to prevent Rachel from becoming a murderer, and so, saved Selene's life by severely injuring Summers. Selene herself was enraged, and used the incident to force the Lords Cardinal to agree to hunt and kill Rachel. A battle over this issue immediately commenced between the X-Men and Lords Cardinal, but it was unexpectedly halted when it drew the attention of Nimrod, the super-sentinel who had murdered Selene's assistant Rhoem,[11] and was as bent on killing the X-Men and the Lords Cardinal. The Lords Cardinal and the X-Men hastily agreed to a truce, fighting well-enough to cause Nimrod to flee.

After this battle, in the pages of New Mutants, much was made about Selene having secret plans involving Nova Roma and Magma. Due to her love for Empath, Magma left the New Mutants to join the Hellions, only to be called home by her father to enter into an arranged marriage with a resident there. Magma's escort back home to Nova Roma turned out to be Empath, who ultimately decided to stay in the city with her. The two became lovers and Magma was freed from her arranged marriage plans so that she could be with him.[volume & issue needed]

Writer changes and the book's transition into X-Force caused the storyline to be aborted.[citation needed] Furthermore, it was revealed in New Warriors #31, via Empath, that Nova Roma was nothing more than an elaborate lie, concocted by Selene several decades prior. In a desperate bid to relive happier days in which she lived in ancient Rome, Selene arranged for hundreds of people to be kidnapped and taken to the jungles of the Amazon, to a city constructed per her designs. There she was somehow able to utterly brainwash her prisoners to believe themselves descendants of ancient Romans living in the Amazon. Magma was one of these kidnapped and brainwashed souls, according to Empath. The city was disbanded and the residents returned to their regular lives across the globe.

Years later, due to Chris Claremont wishing to undo writer Fabian Nieciza's dismantling of the concept of Nova Roma,[citation needed] Claremont ignored said story and wrote Magma as she had been originally. He later had Magma make cryptic references to having been manipulated into believing Nova Roma was a lie by parties unknown that sought to hurt Magma. Furthermore, the five-issue mini-series "New Mutants Forever" revealed that Claremont originally planned on revealing Magma to be Selene's granddaughter. This family connection would be stated as well (with no build-up) in New Mutants V3 #6-8, which had Selene resurrect Magma's teammate Cypher to try to kill Magma. Furthermore, it was strongly implied during "Necrosha" that Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost manipualted the Empath/Magma relationship in order to get Empath inside Nova Roma.[volume & issue needed] In the event that Selene struck first and eliminated both, Empath would then use his powers to dismantle the city via convincing the residents that their lives were lies concocted by Selene.

Selene ultimately was the deciding vote to vote Sebastian Shaw out of the Hellfire Club, when tension between Shaw and the newly recruited White King Magneto came to blows.[12] Unknown to Magneto or Emma Frost, however, Selene had decided that she no longer had any need for the Club and began plotting its destruction by gathering an army of young mutants, with help from the mutant omnipath known as the Gamesmaster, calling them the Upstarts. Under her authority, the Upstarts engaged in a killing spree that led to many presumed deaths (Magneto, Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, and the Reavers), mortal injuries (Emma Frost), and outright deaths (the Hellions). Selene manipulated her young followers with the promise of a game, where each murder committed would land them points that would ultimately lead to them being granted a prize, described as "being the next best thing to immortality" by the Gamemaster. However, with another writer change, Selene's involvement with the Upstarts was cut short as she herself was betrayed by Trevor Fitzroy. Selene was kept in a torture device that repeatedly ripped her flesh from her body (to attract the attention of the Gamesmaster, who took advantage of the situation to proclaim himself the new leader of the Upstarts). She would be freed by Amanda Sefton, though the torture left her weak and scarred.[volume & issue needed]

Needing to replenish her power, Selene first attacked and killed the other surviving Externals. Though she was opposed by X-Force, she managed to complete the slaughter and knock out the mutants, until Cable arrived. Selene's attempt to absorb Cable's life backfired when she touched his techno-organic arm and she was forced to flee to maintain her power. Shortly afterwards, she tried to access the power of a mystical convergence using a Runestaff made from the roots of Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree. She came to the Exploding Colossal Man festival in New Mexico, but was again opposed by X-Force, who managed to wrest the Runestaff away from her and destroy the Colossal Man mannequin it activated. Selene missed her opportunity for ultimate power and vowed vengeance on X-Force.[volume & issue needed]

She next appeared back in Brazil, where she had tracked Sunspot, along with Deviants posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. She lured Sunspot to her defense, and offered him a position of power in the Hellfire Club, which he refused, regardless of the illusions with which she tempted him. However, Sunspot went along with Selene to stop the Deviants in the Damocles Foundation from activating a Celestial Gatherer. Selene herself was attacked by the Sword strike team, but she managed to cast a spell that devolved them back to lizards. Along with the rest of X-Force, Selene was able to usurp control of the machinery that activated the Gatherer, but Moonstar and Arcadia destroyed the Celestial artifact before Selene could access its power.[volume & issue needed]

Selene then returned to her post as the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, after striking a deal with the demon Blackheart and seemingly throwing out the rest of the Inner Circle. She offered Sunspot the position of Black Rook, which he initially refused but then accepted when Selene and Blackheart revealed that his doing so would allow them to resurrect the spirit of Juliana Sandoval, the girl who died saving Sunspot's life when he first joined the New Mutants. Sunspot had no choice to accept and become Selene's protégé.[volume & issue needed]

However, with Sebastian Shaw's return to the Hellfire Club, Selene was somehow trapped inside the catacombs under the Club. However, she gained limited mobility from an alliance with Donald Pierce. When the X-Men, including Rachel Summers arrived, during a membership change in the Hellfire Club, Selene plotted to use Rachel to completely free herself. She followed Rachel to Hong Kong via a transport portal and saved her from being corrupted by a telepathic agent of Courtney Ross, who was trying to become the next White Queen. This move was only a prelude to Selene taking over Rachel's mind, but Marvel Girl was too strong for Selene and expelled her, keeping Selene trapped for a time beneath the Hellfire Club headquarters.[volume & issue needed]

After M-DayEdit

Selene was one of the few mutants to retain her powers after the events of M-Day.[13]

Selene, disguised as an old woman, befriends Wither and they live together in Mutant Town.[14] She encourages him to use his powers and not be afraid of his natural gifts. She then asks him if he would use his powers to save his or her life. She had been killing a large number of people by draining their life-forces, and during her last feeding her disguise was spotted by a witness. She reveals to Wither that Laurie has died, while he was away. Later she is attacked by the police and managed to kill two of them before being shot multiple times. Wither arrives and kills the other two officers, only for Selene to drop her disguise, telling him she is immortal and that they are two of a kind and should be together. She tells Wither that she will be his queen if he agrees, then kisses him, and he consents.[15]

Eli Bard's offeringEdit

Selene's relationship with Eli Bard is explained by Warpath to the other members of X-Force. It is revealed he had originally planned to sacrifice the Purifiers to Selene but changed his plans upon seeing Bastion reprogram an offspring of Magus. Using the Technarch transmode virus he reanimated the corpses in the burial grounds of the Apache tribe that he had decimated decades earlier along with Caliban. He presented them to Selene for the purpose of finding other dead mutants and resurrecting them by the same means, so that Bard can sacrifice them and their powers to her.[16]

NecroshaEdit

Main article: Necrosha

One week before the event of Necrosha, Selene has the recently resurrected Destiny brought before her where she asks what her future holds.[17]

Selene returns to the place of her birth in central Europe, accompanied by new Inner Circle, consisting of Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Wither, and Eli Bard. She sets her plan into motion of becoming a goddess with her Inner Circle; they go to the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, where they slaughter everyone present. Selene then targets others who she feels have obstructed, or otherwise failed, her in her quest for divinity, namely Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost (against whom she especially holds a grudge because of Frost's use of the "Black Queen" codename when working for the Dark X-Men), the X-Men, and Magma. Caliban and Thunderbird then lead her to the ruins of Genosha. Selene dubs the ruins Necrosha and swears that her journey will end here.[18] While most of the resurrected mutants attack the X-Men and Utopia, Selene is seen with Eli Bard resurrecting the massacred residents of Genosha, with Cerebro detecting the rise of mutant numbers in millions (the first life-signs detected by Bastion's computers include Spoor, Katu, Unus, REM-RAM, Static, and Barnacle).[19] There is a major problem though: a lot of the deceased have been depowered, despite having been killed BEFORE M-day. Wither and Mortis explain what happened and the Coven begins to set up base at Necrosha. It turns out that Selene can't do the ritual yet, because Eli Bard lost the knife that was required to do it. She then dispatches her crew and they end up taking the knife back, capturing Warpath in the process. Once Bard gives Selene the knife and proclaims his eternal love for her, Selene stabs Eli, killing him (much to Wither's delight). Warpath is eventually rescued by the Vanisher but Selene absorbs the many souls around her, turning light blue and growing in size. She finally becomes the goddess she had sought to be for so long. Turning to her followers, she commands them to get her more souls.[20] Warpath was able to destroy Selene by plunging his dagger into her chest, after teaching X-Force the Ghost Dance, a ritual meant to kill evil spirits such as Selene. Shocked that her moment of godhood was taken away so quickly, Selene explodes into rays of light.[20]

Sometime after Selene's death, Blink attempted to resurrect the Black Queen. Blink was eventually stopped by Emma Frost and a small team of X-Men (consisting of Blindfold, Pixie, Husk, Warpath) along with former Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange who managed successfully to purge Blink of Selene's corrupted influence.[21]

ReturnEdit

It was later revealed that Selene's body and soul had been preserved as airborne particles and somehow stored in stasis in a vault located somewhere in New York City. Lady Deathstrike and the Enchantress gained access to the vault and through the newly enhanced magic granted to her by the sentient virus, Arkea, she was able to fully restore Selene to physical life for the purpose of adding her to the newly formed Sisterhood of Mutants.[22]

Power EliteEdit

In the aftermath of the "Secret Empire," Selene has publicly become head of the White House's "Task Force of Faith-Based Initiatives", and joined the "Power Elite", an alliance of powerful people including Thunderbolt Ross, Baron von Strucker, and Alexa Lukin.[23] She also assisted in the resurrection of Alexa's husband Aleksander Lukin who also joined the Power Elite. Though the side-effect also revived a remnant of the Red Skull's mind that was in Aleksander.[24]

Dawn of XEdit

Selene was eventually welcomed to the new mutant island of Krakoa, created by Xavier, Magneto and Moira. She entered through the teleportation gateway alongside other villainous and fractious mutants, who had been invited to join the nation in order to heal mutantdom and start over as a whole species together.[25]

Selene alongside Emplate, had been tasked by Xavier with measuring the amount of psychic energy that Krakoa would take from its inhabitants. A similar protocol was put in place for them both as they also need to nourish on mutants for survival.[

[bigskydreaming]

Also, I kinda love that Saturnyne is going on and on about the duels and honor and the ritual and ceremonial aspects of all this.....and like, literally every single Krakoan present is just like “yeah no, we’re totally gonna cheat.”

Cyclops: So, although this may not be the most noble approach, as the fate of our people hangs in the balance, I am hereby proposing we cheat. Any objections?

Illyana: Yeah, I mean, I totally was just planning on cheating already, so works for me, boss.

Gorgon: No fight against me is fair anyway, so I don’t really see how cheating is any different.

Logan: I say we just have Braddock sleep with Saturnyne, and if that doesn’t work, I figure I can always just murder her.

Brian: Why am I even here?

Betsy: No but seriously. Why is my brother even here?

Ororo: I have no particular plans of my own - or at least not that I care to reveal at the moment - but I will be over there heartily backing Logan’s murder plan.

Cable: I have a whole shiny new space station I’m definitely NOT planning on sneaking above the battle so I can be like BAM, that’s why you don’t bring a sword to a SPACE STATION FIGHT, but like, the space station is called a S.W.O.R.D. so I mean, technically, is that really even cheating?

Cypher: Oh that’s definitely cheating. But I’m probably Mystique in disguise or something like that anyway, so honestly who cares.

The Hellions from off in the distance: We’re all still totally on board with our top secret nefarious mission to steal all their swords and force them to forfeit. Go team!

Apocalypse: I’m so proud of you all. I think. I’m not sure. This is my first real experience with emotions in four thousand years and I’m just dealing with a lot right now, and everything is just happening so much. But yes, go team.

Cyclops, faintly, not at all sure he’s okay with these responses even though technically they’re all in agreement: ....yay?

[xtruss]

SECRET PAKISTAN CABLE DOCUMENTS U.S. PRESSURE TO REMOVE IMRAN KHAN

“All will be Forgiven,” said a U.S. Diplomat, if the No-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.

— Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain | August 9 2023 | The Intercept

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister, during an interview in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 2, 2023. Photo: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The U.S. State Department encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.

The meeting, between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as supporters of Khan and his military and civilian opponents jockeyed for power. The political struggle escalated on August 5 when Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges and taken into custody for the second time since his ouster. Khan’s defenders dismiss the charges as baseless. The sentence also blocks Khan, Pakistan’s most popular politician, from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.

One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.

The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.

The document, labeled “Secret,” includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.

The document was provided to The Intercept by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party. The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan made a visit to Russia on February 23 to meet President Putin for a two-day visit. Photo: Reuters

“The cable reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Prime Minister Imran Khan.”

The contents of the document obtained by The Intercept are consistent with reporting in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn and elsewhere describing the circumstances of the meeting and details in the cable itself, including in the classification markings omitted from The Intercept’s presentation. The dynamics of the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. described in the cable were subsequently borne out by events. In the cable, the U.S. objects to Khan’s foreign policy on the Ukraine war. Those positions were quickly reversed after his removal, which was followed, as promised in the meeting, by a warming between the U.S. and Pakistan.

The diplomatic meeting came two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which launched as Khan was en route to Moscow, a visit that infuriated Washington.

On March 2, just days before the meeting, Lu had been questioned at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing over the neutrality of India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan in the Ukraine conflict. In response to a question from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., about a recent decision by Pakistan to abstain from a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s role in the conflict, Lu said, “Prime Minister Khan has recently visited Moscow, and so I think we are trying to figure out how to engage specifically with the Prime Minister following that decision.” Van Hollen appeared to be indignant that officials from the State Department were not in communication with Khan about the issue.

The day before the meeting, Khan addressed a rally and responded directly to European calls that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine. “Are we your slaves?” Khan thundered to the crowd. “What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us?” he asked. “We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance.”

In the meeting, according to the document, Lu spoke in forthright terms about Washington’s displeasure with Pakistan’s stance in the conflict. The document quotes Lu saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” Lu added that he had held internal discussions with the U.S. National Security Council and that “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.”

Lu then bluntly raises the issue of a no-confidence vote: “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister,” Lu said, according to the document. “Otherwise,” he continued, “I think it will be tough going ahead.”

Lu warned that if the situation wasn’t resolved, Pakistan would be marginalized by its Western allies. “I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar,” Lu said, adding that Khan could face “isolation” by Europe and the U.S. should he remain in office.

Asked about quotes from Lu in the Pakistani cable, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Nothing in these purported comments shows the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.” Miller said he would not comment on private diplomatic discussions.

The Pakistani ambassador responded by expressing frustration with the lack of engagement from U.S. leadership: “This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored or even taken for granted. There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate.”

“There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate.”

The discussion concluded, according to the document, with the Pakistani ambassador expressing his hope that the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war would not “impact our bilateral ties.” Lu told him that the damage was real but not fatal, and with Khan gone, the relationship could go back to normal. “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective,” Lu said, again raising the “political situation” in Pakistan. “Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”

The day after the meeting, on March 8, Khan’s opponents in Parliament moved forward with a key procedural step toward the no-confidence vote.

“Khan’s fate wasn’t sealed at the time that this meeting took place, but it was tenuous,” said Arif Rafiq, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute and specialist on Pakistan. “What you have here is the Biden administration sending a message to the people that they saw as Pakistan’s real rulers, signaling to them that things will better if he is removed from power.”

The Intercept has made extensive efforts to authenticate the document. Given the security climate in Pakistan, independent confirmation from sources in the Pakistani government was not possible. The Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment.

Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said, “We had expressed concern about the visit of then-PM Khan to Moscow on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have communicated that opposition both publicly and privately.” He added that “allegations that the United States interfered in internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan are false. They have always been false, and they continue to be.”

Top Left: Donald Lu, a Diplomat in Service and Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, waves toward media personnel upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport on July 14, 2023, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Bottom: Pakistani Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan is seen in Ankara, Turkey, on July 6, 2023. Photos: Photo: Abhishek Maharjan/Sipa via AP Images (Left); Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images (Right)

American Denials

The State Department has previously and on repeated occasions denied that Lu urged the Pakistani government to oust the prime minister. On April 8, 2022, after Khan alleged there was a cable proving his claim of U.S. interference, State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter was asked about its veracity. “Let me just say very bluntly there is absolutely no truth to these allegations,” Porter said.

In early June 2023, Khan sat for an interview with The Intercept and again repeated the allegation. The State Department at the time referred to previous denials in response to a request for comment.

Khan has not backed off, and the State Department again denied the charge throughout June and July, at least three times in press conferences and again in a speech by a deputy assistant secretary of state for Pakistan, who referred to the claims as “propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation.” On the latest occasion, Miller, the State Department spokesperson, ridiculed the question. “I feel like I need to bring just a sign that I can hold up in response to this question and say that that allegation is not true,” Miller said, laughing and drawing cackles from the press. “I don’t know how many times I can say it. … The United States does not have a position on one political candidate or party versus another in Pakistan or any other country.”

While the drama over the cable has played out in public and in the press, the Pakistani military has launched an unprecedented assault on Pakistani civil society to silence whatever dissent and free expression had previously existed in the country.

In recent months, the military-led government cracked down not just on dissidents but also on suspected leakers inside its own institutions, passing a law last week that authorizes warrantless searches and lengthy jail terms for whistleblowers. Shaken by the public display of support for Khan — expressed in a series of mass protests and riots this May — the military has also enshrined authoritarian powers for itself that drastically reduce civil liberties, criminalize criticism of the military, expand the institution’s already expansive role in the country’s economy, and give military leaders a permanent veto over political and civil affairs.

These sweeping attacks on democracy passed largely unremarked upon by U.S. officials. In late July, the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, visited Pakistan, then issued a statement saying his visit had been focused on “strengthening the military-to-military relations,” while making no mention of the political situation in the country. This summer, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, attempted to add a measure to the National Defense Authorization Act directing the State Department to examine democratic backsliding in Pakistan, but it was denied a vote on the House floor.

In a press briefing on Monday, in response to a question about whether Khan received a fair trial, Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said, “We believe that is an internal matter for Pakistan.”

Political Chaos

Khan’s removal from power after falling out with the Pakistani military, the same institution believed to have engineered his political rise, has thrown the nation of 230 million into political and economic turmoil. Protests against Khan’s dismissal and suppression of his party have swept the country and paralyzed its institutions, while Pakistan’s current leaders struggle to confront an economic crisis triggered in part by the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on global energy prices. The present chaos has resulted in staggering rates of inflation and capital flight from the country.

In addition to the worsening situation for ordinary citizens, a regime of extreme censorship has also been put in place at the direction of the Pakistani military, with news outlets effectively barred from even mentioning Khan’s name, as The Intercept previously reported. Thousands of members of civil society, mostly supporters of Khan, have been detained by the military, a crackdown that intensified after Khan was arrested earlier this year and held in custody for four days, sparking nationwide protests. Credible reports have emerged of torture by security forces, with reports of several deaths in custody.

The crackdown on Pakistan’s once-rambunctious press has taken a particularly dark turn. Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani journalist who fled the country, was shot to death in Nairobi last October under circumstances that remain disputed. Another well-known journalist, Imran Riaz Khan, was detained by security forces at an airport this May and has not been seen since. Both had been reporting on the secret cable, which has taken on nearly mythical status in Pakistan, and had been among a handful of journalists briefed on its contents before Khan’s ouster. These attacks on the press have created a climate of fear that has made reporting on the document by reporters and institutions inside Pakistan effectively impossible.

Last November, Khan himself was subject to an attempted assassination when he was shot at a political rally, in an attack that wounded him and killed one of his supporters. His imprisonment has been widely viewed within Pakistan, including among many critics of his government, as an attempt by the military to stop his party from contesting upcoming elections. Polls show that were he allowed to participate in the vote, Khan would likely win.

“Khan was convicted on flimsy charges following a trial where his defense was not even allowed to produce witnesses. He had previously survived an assassination attempt, had a journalist aligned with him murdered, and has seen thousands of his supporters imprisoned. While the Biden administration has said that human rights will be at the forefront of their foreign policy, they are now looking away as Pakistan moves toward becoming a full-fledged military dictatorship,” said Rafiq, the Middle East Institute scholar. “This is ultimately about the Pakistani military using outside forces as a means to preserve their hegemony over the country. Every time there is a grand geopolitical rivalry, whether it is the Cold War, or the war on terror, they know how to manipulate the U.S. in their favor.”

Khan’s repeated references to the cable itself have contributed to his legal troubles, with prosecutors launching a separate investigation into whether he violated state secrets laws by discussing it.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party Activists and Supporters of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan clash with police during a protest against the arrest of their leader in Peshawar on May 10, 2023. Photo: Hussain Ali/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Democracy and the Military

For years, the U.S. government’s patronage relationship with the Pakistani Corrupt Military, which has long acted as the real powerbroker in the country’s politics, has been seen by many Pakistanis as an impenetrable obstacle to the country’s ability to grow its economy, combat endemic corruption, and pursue a constructive foreign policy. The sense that Pakistan has lacked meaningful independence because of this relationship — which, despite trappings of democracy, has made the military an untouchable force in domestic politics — makes the charge of U.S. involvement in the removal of a popular prime minister even more incendiary.

The Intercept’s source, who had access to the document as a member of the military, spoke of their growing disillusionment with the country’s military leadership, the impact on the military’s morale following its involvement in the political fight against Khan, the exploitation of the memory of dead service members for political purposes in recent military propaganda, and widespread public disenchantment with the armed forces amid the crackdown. They believe the military is pushing Pakistan toward a crisis similar to the one in 1971 that led to the secession of Bangladesh.

The source added that they hoped the leaked document would finally confirm what ordinary people, as well as the rank and file of the armed forces, had long suspected about the Pakistani military and force a reckoning within the institution.

This June, amid the crackdown by the military on Khan’s political party, Khan’s former top bureaucrat, Principal Secretary Azam Khan, was arrested and detained for a month. While in detention, Azam Khan reportedly issued a statement recorded in front of a member of the judiciary saying that the cable was indeed real, but that the former prime minister had exaggerated its contents for political gain.

A month after the meeting described in the cable, and just days before Khan was removed from office, then-Pakistan Army Chief, Corrupt General Qamar Bajwa publicly broke with Khan’s neutrality and gave a speech calling the Russian invasion a “huge tragedy” and criticizing Russia. The remarks aligned the public picture with Lu’s private observation, recorded in the cable, that Pakistan’s neutrality was the policy of Khan, but not of the military.

Pakistan’s foreign policy has changed significantly since Khan’s removal, with Pakistan tilting more clearly toward the U.S. and European side in the Ukraine conflict. Abandoning its posture of neutrality, Pakistan has now emerged as a supplier of arms to the Ukrainian military; images of Pakistan-produced shells and ammunition regularly turn up on battlefield footage. In an interview earlier this year, a European Union official confirmed Pakistani military backing to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister traveled to Pakistan this July in a visit widely presumed to be about military cooperation, but publicly described as focusing on trade, education, and environmental issues.

This realignment toward the U.S. has appeared to provide dividends to the Pakistani military. On August 3, a Pakistani newspaper reported that Parliament had approved the signing of a defense pact with the U.S. covering “joint exercises, operations, training, basing and equipment.” The agreement was intended to replace a previous 15-year deal between the two countries that expired in 2020.

Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister Imran Khan leaves after appearing at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on July 26, 2023. Photo: Aamir Qureshi AFP via Getty Images

Pakistani “Assessment”

Lu’s blunt comments on Pakistan’s internal domestic politics raised alarms on the Pakistani side. In a brief “assessment” section at the bottom of the report, the document states: “Don could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly. Clearly, Don spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process.” The cable concludes with a recommendation “to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche to the U.S. Cd’ A a.i in Islamabad” — a reference to the chargé d’affaires ad interim, effectively the acting head of a diplomatic mission when its accredited head is absent. A diplomatic protest was later issued by Khan’s government.

On March 27, 2022, the same month as the Lu meeting, Khan spoke publicly about the cable, waving a folded copy of it in the air at a rally. He also reportedly briefed a national security meeting with the heads of Pakistan’s various security agencies on its contents.

It is not clear what happened in Pakistan-U.S. communications during the weeks that followed the meeting reported in the cable. By the following month, however, the political winds had shifted. On April 10, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

The new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, eventually confirmed the existence of the cable and acknowledged that some of the message conveyed by Lu was inappropriate. He has said that Pakistan had formally complained but cautioned that the cable did not confirm Khan’s broader claims.

Khan has suggested repeatedly in public that the top-secret cable showed that the U.S. had directed his removal from power, but subsequently revised his assessment as he urged the U.S. to condemn human rights abuses against his supporters. The U.S., he told The Intercept in a June interview, may have urged his ouster, but only did so because it was manipulated by the military.

The disclosure of the full body of the cable, over a year after Khan was deposed and following his arrest, will finally allow the competing claims to be evaluated. On balance, the text of the cypher strongly suggests that the U.S. encouraged Khan’s removal. According to the cable, while Lu did not directly order Khan to be taken out of office, he said that Pakistan would suffer severe consequences, including international isolation, if Khan were to stay on as prime minister, while simultaneously hinting at rewards for his removal. The remarks appear to have been taken as a signal for the Pakistani military to act.

In addition to his other legal problems, Khan himself has continued to be targeted over the handling of the secret cable by the new government. Late last month, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Khan would be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act in connection with the cable. “Khan has hatched a conspiracy against the state’s interests and a case will be initiated against him on behalf of the state for the violation of the Official Secrets Act by exposing a confidential cipher communication from a diplomatic mission,” Sanaullah said.

Khan has now joined a long list of Pakistani politicians who failed to finish their term in office after running afoul of the military. As quoted in the cypher, Khan was being personally blamed by the U.S., according to Lu, for Pakistan’s policy of nonalignment during the Ukraine conflict. The vote of no confidence and its implications for the future of U.S.-Pakistan ties loomed large throughout the conversation.

“Honestly,” Lu is quoted as saying in the document, referring to the prospect of Khan staying in office, “I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States.”

March 7, 2022 Pakistani Diplomatic Cypher (Transcription)

The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination. The Intercept has removed classification markings and numerical elements that could be used for tracking purposes. Labeled “Secret,” the cable includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.

I had a luncheon meeting today with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu. He was accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Les Viguerie. DCM, DA and Counsellor Qasim joined me.

At the outset, Don referred to Pakistan’s position on the Ukraine crisis and said that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” He shared that in his discussions with the NSC, “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.” He continued that he was of the view that this was “tied to the current political dramas in Islamabad that he (Prime Minister) needs and is trying to show a public face.” I replied that this was not a correct reading of the situation as Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was a result of intense interagency consultations. Pakistan had never resorted to conducting diplomacy in public sphere. The Prime Minister’s remarks during a political rally were in reaction to the public letter by European Ambassadors in Islamabad which was against diplomatic etiquette and protocol. Any political leader, whether in Pakistan or the U.S., would be constrained to give a public reply in such a situation.

I asked Don if the reason for a strong U.S. reaction was Pakistan’s abstention in the voting in the UNGA. He categorically replied in the negative and said that it was due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow. He said that “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.” He paused and then said “I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar.” He then said that “honestly I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States.” Don further commented that it seemed that the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow was planned during the Beijing Olympics and there was an attempt by the Prime Minister to meet Putin which was not successful and then this idea was hatched that he would go to Moscow.

I told Don that this was a completely misinformed and wrong perception. The visit to Moscow had been in the works for at least few years and was the result of a deliberative institutional process. I stressed that when the Prime Minister was flying to Moscow, Russian invasion of Ukraine had not started and there was still hope for a peaceful resolution. I also pointed out that leaders of European countries were also traveling to Moscow around the same time. Don interjected that “those visits were specifically for seeking resolution of the Ukraine standoff while the Prime Minister’s visit was for bilateral economic reasons.” I drew his attention to the fact that the Prime Minister clearly regretted the situation while being in Moscow and had hoped for diplomacy to work. The Prime Minister’s visit, I stressed, was purely in the bilateral context and should not be seen either as a condonation or endorsement of Russia’s action against Ukraine. I said that our position is dictated by our desire to keep the channels of communication with all sides open. Our subsequent statements at the UN and by our Spokesperson spelled that out clearly, while reaffirming our commitment to the principle of UN Charter, non-use or threat of use of force, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and pacific settlement of disputes.

I also told Don that Pakistan was worried of how the Ukraine crisis would play out in the context of Afghanistan. We had paid a very high price due to the long-term impact of this conflict. Our priority was to have peace and stability in Afghanistan, for which it was imperative to have cooperation and coordination with all major powers, including Russia. From this perspective as well, keeping the channels of communication open was essential. This factor was also dictating our position on the Ukraine crisis. On my reference to the upcoming Extended Troika meeting in Beijing, Don replied that there were still ongoing discussions in Washington on whether the U.S. should attend the Extended Troika meeting or the upcoming Antalya meeting on Afghanistan with Russian representatives in attendance, as the U.S. focus right now was to discuss only Ukraine with Russia. I replied that this was exactly what we were afraid of. We did not want the Ukraine crisis to divert focus away from Afghanistan. Don did not comment.

I told Don that just like him, I would also convey our perspective in a forthright manner. I said that over the past one year, we had been consistently sensing reluctance on the part of the U.S. leadership to engage with our leadership. This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored and even taken for granted. There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate and we do not see much U.S. support on issues of concern for Pakistan, particularly on Kashmir. I said that it was extremely important to have functioning channels of communication at the highest level to remove such perception. I also said that we were surprised that if our position on the Ukraine crisis was so important for the U.S., why the U.S. had not engaged with us at the top leadership level prior to the Moscow visit and even when the UN was scheduled to vote. (The State Department had raised it at the DCM level.) Pakistan valued continued high-level engagement and for this reason the Foreign Minister sought to speak with Secretary Blinken to personally explain Pakistan’s position and perspective on the Ukraine crisis. The call has not materialized yet. Don replied that the thinking in Washington was that given the current political turmoil in Pakistan, this was not the right time for such engagement and it could wait till the political situation in Pakistan settled down.

I reiterated our position that countries should not be made to choose sides in a complex situation like the Ukraine crisis and stressed the need for having active bilateral communications at the political leadership level. Don replied that “you have conveyed your position clearly and I will take it back to my leadership.”

I also told Don that we had seen his defence of the Indian position on the Ukraine crisis during the recently held Senate Sub-Committee hearing on U.S.-India relations. It seemed that the U.S. was applying different criteria for India and Pakistan. Don responded that the U.S. lawmakers’ strong feelings about India’s abstentions in the UNSC and UNGA came out clearly during the hearing. I said that from the hearing, it appeared that the U.S. expected more from India than Pakistan, yet it appeared to be more concerned about Pakistan’s position. Don was evasive and responded that Washington looked at the U.S.-India relationship very much through the lens of what was happening in China. He added that while India had a close relationship with Moscow, “I think we will actually see a change in India’s policy once all Indian students are out of Ukraine.”

I expressed the hope that the issue of the Prime Minister’s visit to Russia will not impact our bilateral ties. Don replied that “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective. Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”

We also discussed Afghanistan and other issues pertaining to bilateral ties. A separate communication follows on that part of our conversation.

Assessment

Don could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly. Clearly, Don spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process. We need to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche to the U.S. Cd’ A a.i in Islamabad.

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 3: Writers’ Lists

Joe McPhee 

We wrap up our mid-year feature with writers’ favorites from the first half of the year.  If you missed them, check out Parts One and Two from earlier this week.

Tobias Carroll

SAULT — UNTITLED (Black Is) (Forever Living Originals)

Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (International Anthem)

Cold Beat — Mother (DFA Records)

African Head Charge — Drumming is a Language 1990 - 2011 (On-U Sound)

En Attendant Ana — Juliet (Trouble in Mind)

Positive No — Kyanite (self-released)

Helen Money — Atomic (Thrill Jockey)

Matt LaJoie — Everlasting Spring (Flower Room)

Xetas — The Cypher (12XU)

Alison Cotton — Zener_08 (Sensory Leakage)

Coriky — Coriky (Dischord)

Błoto — Erozje (Astigmatic Records)

Gerycz / Powers / Rolin — Beacon (Garden Portal)

75 Dollar Bill Little Big Band — Live at Tubby’s (self-released)

Slum of Legs — Slum of Legs (Splurge Recordings)

The Soft Pink Truth — Am I Free to Go? (self-released)

 Tim Clarke

Activity — Unmask Whoever (Western Vinyl)

Alabaster DePlume — To Cy and Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 (International Anthem)

Drab City — Good Songs For Bad People (Bella Union)

Fake Laugh — Dining Alone (State 51 Conspiracy)

King Krule — Man Alive! (XL)

Owen Pallett — Island (Domino)

 Andrew Forell

Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (International Anthem)

Wire — Mind Hive (Pinkflag)

Peel Machine Dream — Agitprop Alterna (Tough Love/Slumberland)

Rowland S Howard — Teenage Snuff Film (Fat Possum)

The Wants — Container (Council Records)

Shabaka And The Ancestors — We Are Sent Here By History (Impulse!)

Davey Harms — World War (Hausu Mountain)

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore — Patchouli Blue (Ipecac)

 Ray Garraty

Rio Da Yung Og — City on My Back (#Boyz Entertainment)

Cash Kidd — No Socks (4746 Global)

The Jacka — Murder Weapon (The Artist Records)

Z-Ro — Quarantine: Social Distancing (1 Deep Entertainment)

Ka — Descendants of Cain (self-released)

Bandgang Lonnie Bands — The Scamily (TF Entertainment)

 Jennifer Kelly

Six Organs of Admittance—Companion Rises (Drag City)

Gil Scott Heron and Makaya McCraven—We’re New Again (XL Recordings)

Obnox—Savage Raygun (Ever/Never)

Cable Ties—Far Enough (Merge)

Lewsberg—In this House (12XU)

James Elkington—Ever Roving Eye (Paradise of Bachelors)

Jehnny Beth —To Love Is To Live (Arts & Crafts)

Destroyer—Have We Met (Merge)

Decoy w/ Joe McPhee — AC/DC (otoROKU)

Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers— Vodou Alé (Bongo Joe)

FACS—Void Moments (Trouble in Mind)

Elkhorn—The Storm Sessions (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)   

 Arthur Krumins

Gil Scott-Heron, Makaya McCraven — We’re New Again (XL)

The Giving Shapes — Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere)

Wut — Now (Self-released)

Ranil — Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical (Analog Africa)

Ash Brooks — Temple of Roses (Flower Room)

Chip Langer — Songs for Melissa (Xylem)

Keenan Ahrends Trio — Live at House on the Hills Session (Self-released)

Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

Julius Eastman — Feminine (Frozen Reeds)

White Poppy — Paradise Gardens (Not Not Fun)

Pharoah Sanders — Live in Paris 1975 (Transversales Disques)

Waterless Hills — The Great Mountain (Cardinal Fuzz)

Jim White and Marisa Anderson — The Quickening (Thrill Jockey)

Aoife Nessa Frances — Land of No Junction (Ba Da Bing)

Andrea Cortez — The Secret Song of Plants (Aural Canyon)

 Patrick Masterson

Yves Tumor — Heaven to a Tortured Mind (Warp)

Squirrel Flower — I Was Born Swimming (Polyvinyl)

Black Taffy — Opal Wand (Leaving)

Mint Mile — Ambertron (Comedy Minus One)

Moodymann — Taken Away (KDJ)

Sarah Mary Chadwick — Please Daddy (Sinderlyn)

Andrea — Ritorno (Illian Tape)

Cable Ties — Far Enough (Merge)

Torres — Silver Tongue (Merge)

Russell Ellington Langston Butler —  Emotional Bangers Only EP (self— released)

Tan Cologne — Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico (Labrador)

Future — High Off Life (Epic)

 Ian Mathers

Aidan Baker & Gareth Davis — Invisible Cities II (Karlrecords)

Anastasia Minster — Father (self released)

Helen Money — Atomic (Thrill Jockey)

Holy Fuck — Deleter (Last Gang)

Hum — Inlet (Polyvinyl)

Solar Woodroach — 7 Perversions on Pachabel's Canon (Nilamox)

Spanish Love Songs — Brave Faces Everyone (Pure Noise)

Stars Like Fleas — DWARS Session: Live on Radio VPRO (self released)

Well Yells — We Mirror the Dead (self released)

Yves Tumor — Heaven to a Tortured Mind (Warp)

 Special mention to the incredible Charles Curtis Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 box we talked about here.

 Bill Meyer 

(The last entry is not a record, but a festival of recordings)

Owl — Mille Feuille (SOFA)

Paul Lytton / Nate Wooley — Known / Unknown (Fundacja Sluchaj)

Six Organs of Admittance — Companion Rises (Drag City)

Elkhorn — The Storm Sessions (Beyond Beyond is Beyond)

*Waterless Hills — The Great Mountain (Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube)

Powers / Rolin Duo — s/t (Feeding Tube)

Tashi Dorji / Tyler Damon — To Catch A Bird (Trost)

James Elkington — Ever Roving Eye (Paradise of Bachelors)

Chicago Underground Quartet — Good Days (Astral Spirits)

Steve Beresford and John Butcher — Old Paradise Airs (Iluso)

Irreversible Entanglements (International Anthem)

Sandy Ewen — You Win (Gilgongo)

Various artists — AMPLIFY 2020:quarantine

 Jonathan Shaw

Raspberry Bulbs — Before the Age of Mirrors (Relapse)

Mamaleek — Come and See (The Flenser)

Thou — Blessings of the Highest Order (Robotic Empire)

Sun City Girls — Live at Sky Church (2182 Recording Company)

Gil Scott Heron and Makaya McCraven — We’re New Again (XL Recordings)

Neutrals — Rent/Your House (Domestic Departure)

 Derek Taylor

Twenty from 2020: Jazz and Improv (order entirely arbitrary)

Decoy w/ Joe McPhee — AC/DC (otoROKU)

Stephen Riley — Friday the 13th (Steeplechase)

Damon Smith — Whatever is Not Stone is Light (Balance Point Acoustics)

James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor — Live at Willisau (Intakt)

Jeremy Pelt — The Art of Intimacy, Vol. 1 (HighNote)

Peter Brötzmann/ Maâlem Moukhtar Gania/ Hamid Drake — The Catch of a Ghost (I Dischi Di Angelica)

Patty Waters — An Evening in Houston (Clean Feed)

Whit Dickey — Expanding Light (AUM Fidelity)

Brandon Seabrook — Exultations (Astral Spirits)

John Scofield — Swallow Tales (ECM)  

Paul Desmond — The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)

Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley — Birdland, Neuberg 2011 (Fundacja Sluchaj)

Kidd Jordan /Joel Futterman /Alvin Fielder — Spirits (Silkheart)

Sam Rivers — Ricochet (No Business)

Frank Lowe & Rashied Ali — Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions (Survival)

Dudu Pukwana — and the Spears (Matsuli Music)

Sun Ra — Heliocentric Worlds, Vols. 1 & 2 (Ezz-thetics)

Shirley Scott — One for Me (Arc/Strata-East)

Buddy Collette — The Complete 1961 Milano Sessions (Fresh Sound)

Lennie Tristano — The Duo Sessions (Dot Time)

[aion-rsa]

What’s Happening With Marvel’s X-Men?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for recent Marvel X-Men stories.

A long time ago, back at the beginning of the interminable, endless month of March that the pandemic has trapped us in, Marvel’s X-Men books were barrelling towards their first big post-Dawn of X crossover, X of Swords. And then the world stopped, and plans changed for the X-Men while everything was paused.

Now that we’re back, plans have changed, and books are coming fast and furious. So what’s going on with Marvel’s Merry Mutants? Which book did Storm get sick in? What book should you read for a good Laksa recipe? New Mutants, but we can answer all your other questions on what’s going on with the X-Men below. 

While we won’t rehash the entire thing, House of X/Powers of X reset the entire X-Men line. Mutants can’t die anymore (or rather, if they do, they’re resurrected from clone bodies and emergency backup minds by The Five and Professor X). The X-Men, and all mutants alive, are now living on Krakoa, a living, mutant island in the Pacific that, at some point in the distant past, broke in half, sending one part of it to a dangerous, monster-infested realm with Apocalypse’s first Horsemen standing guard making sure it didn’t return. 

Humans are back to hating and fearing mutants on a wide scale, but this time it’s mostly because the mutants are vehemently anti-capitalism, flooding markets with cheap, life-extending and health-improving drugs and vowing to take down the human world with economic weapons of their own making. This has the humans initiating some pretty intense Sentinel programs, particularly around the sun, where Nimrod – the adaptive Sentinel whose existence dooms mutantkind in one Powers of X future – was very nearly created. 

And amidst all of that, Moira MacTaggert, the secret mutant mastermind with the power of Groundhog Lifeing (when she dies, her consciousness is immediately transported back to her prenatal self to be born again with all her old memories. She’s on life ten now, btw), is frantically trying to manipulate events so that mutants continue to exist in the long run as the next phase in human evolution, averting a future where man-machine hybrids (like Omega Sentinels and the Children of the Vault) develop while humans and mutants are busy fighting among themselves. She’s also not allowing Charles and Magneto to revive any mutants with precognitive powers, expecting them to see her plan and ruin Krakoan civilization.

X-Men

X-Men, by mastermind Jonathan Hickman with art mostly from Leinil Yu, is where big ideas are being seeded for later use.

This is where the story of Krakoa and its estranged, otherdimensional partner Arakko was further developed (following its introduction in Powers of X and setting up X of Swords, the first mutant crossover of the Dawn of X era). X-Men introduced Hordeculture (think the Golden Girls if they were also ecoterrorist botanists); reintroduced the Children of the Vault; showed how depowered mutants get in line to get their powers back; and saw Magneto and Apocalypse threaten humankind with the most terrible weapon of all: finance capitalism.

New Mutants

It also, just prior to the break, X-Men had a spiritual crossover with New Mutants, initially a split book by Hickman and Rod Reis on the space issues, and Ed Brisson, Flaviano, and Marco Failla on the Earth issues. Brisson, Flaviano and Failla’s story follows a group of Earthbound mutant kids (including Glob Herman and Boom Boom) as they track down stragglers to Krakoa, like Beak and Angel.

Hickman and Reis took the original New Mutants plus Chamber and Mondo into space to go pick up Cannonball (who was living on Chandi’lar with his wife, Smasher). On the way there, they stole a King Egg from the Starjammers and brought it back to Earth, where it turns out, we discover in X-Men, the King Egg is a bioweapon created by the Kree to control the Brood for an eventual war with the Shi’ar. Broo, the supersmart mutant Broodling from Wolverine and the X-Men, eats the egg and becomes the Brood King.

Excalibur

Excalibur is the shining star of the line so far. Tini Howard and Marcus To are growing the mythos of mutant magic with a very odd team that includes Betsy Braddock (now back in her original body and the new Captain Britain); Rogue and Gambit; Jubilee and her mysteriously dragonified son Shogo; new earth mage Rictor; and Apocalypse, who is clearly up to some stuff. Apocalypse picks a fight with Otherworld and places a newly resurrected but still batshit Jamie Braddock on the throne of the magical realm.

Excalibur was one of the first books to return from hiatus, and it came back with maybe the best single issue of the entire relaunch in issue #10. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Marauders

Marauders launched as the story about the Hellfire Trading Company, the corporate arm of Krakoa that distributes the miracle drugs around the world while also smuggling mutants in trouble home to Krakoa. But Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s book quickly turned into the mystery of Kitty Pryde – why she’s not able to use the Krakoan gates that allow instantaneous travel around the galaxy, and whether she can be resurrected by The Five. That story has just about come to a head, but it is worth noting that it still contains a great deal of Hellfire Trading Company intrigue between Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, and a lot of drunken pirate antics. The resurrected original Pyro does get a tattoo of the Marauders skull on his face at one point. It’s fun.

X-Force

X-Force, by Ben Percy and Joshua Cassara, immediately killed Professor X. He was resurrected, of course, but it served as both a notice that everyone is fair game, and alongside Marauders, keeps some slight mystery to character death alive post-The Five’s perpetual resurrection machine. It’s also the story of the Krakoan CIA, so it sets up the global threats facing the mutant nation, and then sends Wolverine to get cut in half fighting them. Also, Forge creates a bio-mech loader suit and smashes the two halves of Logan back together at one point. If that’s something you find yourself chuckling at, this book is going to exceed expectations.

Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels focused mostly on resetting the current Psylocke’s status quo. Kwannon was brought back to life and placed in her old body shortly before the reboot (very quickly: Spiral switched Psylocke and Kwannon’s bodies, then before they could be reverted, Kwannon got the Legacy Virus and died, then when Betsy used a villain’s powers to recreate her old body and reinhabit it, Kwannon…uh…got better…). Here, she teamed with X-23 and Cable, with ops backup from Mister Sinister, to track down Apoth, a technological being selling cybernetic drugs to humans.

It’s mostly setup for Psylocke, X-23 (now Wolverine again, I think), and Sinister while adding another technological foe to the mix. It leads almost directly into Zeb Wells and Steven Segovia’s Hellions, a book about Sinister’s team of mutants who are all gleefully, unrepentantly screwed up and are currently on a mission cleaning up some old clones Sinister left lying around.

Cable, Wolverine, and More…

Cable, Wolverine and the Giant Size issues, are still mostly seeding future storylines. Cable, from Duggan and Phil Noto, has only had a couple of issues so far, but it’s brought the Galadorians (the Spaceknights minus ROM, who belongs to IDW now, I think) into mutant orbit and given Nathan a sword for the crossover.

Wolverine, by Percy, Adam Kubert and Victor Bogdanove, has Logan tracking down illicit Krakoan flower dealers, and also Omega Red works for Dracula now. And the Giant Size issues are mysteries piled on mysteries piled on incredible art. Hickman has scripted all three, and so far, Storm caught a technovirus from the Children of the Vault in the Jean Grey/Emma Frost issue (drawn by Russell Dauterman); we find out what’s up with Cypher’s techno-organic arm in the Nightcrawler issue (from Alan Davis); Magneto buys Emma an island from Namor with art from Ramon Perez; and we get actual backstory and incredible Rod Reis art in the Fantomex issue. 

Empyre

The recently wrapped Empyre: X-Men’s opening scene is simultaneously one of the most important to the metanarrative of mutant struggle that’s been developing since the Professor’s “No More” scene in House of X #4 AND the best setup/punchline in any Dawn of X comic. It also starts to deliver on some of the rumored-but-never-announced X-Men ideas that were floated early after the reboot – Angel and M are two of the leads, playing out a little of the boardroom drama we hoped for after an X-Corporation book was rumored.

X-Factor

X-Factor, from Leah Williams and David Baldeon, more or less just launched. It’s about the team investigating and verifying mutant deaths, to put those lives into the queue for resurrection. This feels like the book set up to deliver on the weirdest promises of the relaunch, and the creative team are inventive, fun storytellers, so keep an eye on this. Williams has a very sharp ear for patter and knows her characters well – while it’s not an X-book, Amazing Mary Jane is a stunning accomplishment of delightful character work. Early X-Factor is more of the same, with more mutant high concept.

And all this is leading to X of Swords, the new X-writers room’s attempt to outdo X-Cutioner’s Song: a 22-part Tini Howard-led crossover where everyone swordfights over half of Krakoa. And still dangling in the ether, unannounced but long discussed, are Vita Ayala and Bernard Chang’s Children of the Atom, following a group of mutant teenagers who idolize the X-Men, and a Moira X book that’s expected to fill in some of the gaps in Moira’s many, many timelines. 

The post What’s Happening With Marvel’s X-Men? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3jXI6LJ

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New X-titles announced!

FALLEN ANGELS #1

Written by BRYAN EDWARD HILL

Penciled by SZYMON KUDRANSKI

Cover by ASHLEY WITTER

On sale November 2019

NOT ALL BELONG IN PARADISE!

Psylocke finds herself in this new world of Mutantkind unsure of her place in it… but when a face from her past returns only to be killed, she seeks help from others who feel similar to get vengeance. Cable and X-23 join Kwannon for a personal mission that could jeopardize all Mutantkind!

MARAUDERS #1

Written by GERRY DUGGAN

Penciled by MATTEO LOLLI

Cover by RUSSEL DAUTERMAN

On sale October 2019

THE X-MEN SAIL AT DAWN!

Even in this glorious new dawn, Mutantkind faces hardships and oppression from their human counterparts. Led by Captain Kate Pryde and funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, Marauders Storm, Pyro, Bishop and Iceman sail the seas of the world to protect those hated and feared!

EXCALIBUR #1

Written by TINI HOWARD

Penciled by MARCUS TO

Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR

On sale October 2019

A NEW DAY IS FORGED!

Mutantkind has always been special…as has their relationship with the world—or WORLDS—around them. As this new era dawns, a new connection forms between mutants and the magic of the world… and that of Otherworld! Can the new Captain Britain forge a new way through the chaos with her companions Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor…and Apocalypse?!?

X-MEN #1

Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN

Penciled by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

A NEW ERA DAWNS FOR THE X-MEN!

The X-Men find themselves in a whole new world of possibility… and things have never been better! Jonathan Hickman (HOUSE OF X, POWERS OF X, SECRET WARS) and superstar artist Leinil Yu (NEW AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA) reveal the saga of Cyclops and his hand-picked squad of mutant powerhouses!

On sale October 2019

X-FORCE #1

Written by BENJAMIN PERCY

Penciled by JOSHUA CASSARA

Cover by DUSTIN WEAVER

On sale November 2019

THE COST OF THE FUTURE ISN’T CHEAP.

X-Force is the CIA of the mutant world—one half intelligence branch, one half special ops. Beast, Jean Grey and Sage on one side, Wolverine, Kid Omega and Domino on the other. In a perfect world, there would be no need for an X-Force. We’re not there… yet.

NEW MUTANTS #1

Issue 1 Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN & ED BRISSON

Issue 2 Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN

Penciled by ROD REIS

Cover by ROD REIS

On sale November 2019

THE NEXT GENERATION CLAIMS THE FUTURE!

The classic New Mutants (Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Karma, Magik, and Cypher) get together with a few new friends (Chamber, Mondo) to seek out their missing member and share the good news… a mission that takes them into space alongside theStarjammers

[comicweek]

Another New X-Men Line

X-MEN 

Written by Jonathan Hickman Penciled by Leinil Francis Yu Cover by Leinil Francis Yu A NEW ERA DAWNS FOR THE X-MEN! The X-Men find themselves in a whole new world of possibility… and things have never been better! Jonathan Hickman (HOUSE OF X, POWERS OF X, SECRET WARS) and superstar artist Leinil Yu (NEW AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA) reveal the saga of Cyclops and his hand-picked squad of mutant powerhouses!

X-FORCE 

Written by BENJAMIN PERCY Penciled by JOSHUA CASSARA Cover by DUSTIN WEAVER On sale November 2019 THE COST OF THE FUTURE ISN’T CHEAP. X-Force is the CIA of the mutant world—one half intelligence branch, one half special ops. Beast, Jean Grey and Sage on one side, Wolverine, Kid Omega and Domino on the other. In a perfect world, there would be no need for an X-Force. We’re not there… yet.

FALLEN ANGELS 

Written by BRYAN EDWARD HILL Penciled by SZYMON KUDRANSKI Cover by ASHLEY WITTER On sale November 2019 NOT ALL BELONG IN PARADISE! Psylocke finds herself in this new world of Mutantkind unsure of her place in it… but when a face from her past returns only to be killed, she seeks help from others who feel similar to get vengeance. Cable and X-23 join Kwannon for a personal mission that could jeopardize all

NEW MUTANTS 

Issue 1 Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN & ED BRISSON Issue 2 Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN Penciled by ROD REIS Cover by ROD REIS THE NEXT GENERATION CLAIMS THE FUTURE! The classic New Mutants (Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Karma, Magik, and Cypher) get together with a few new friends (Chamber, Mondo) to seek out their missing member and share the good news… a mission that takes them into space alongside the Starjammers!

Brisson will be solo writing after the first arc.

EXCALIBUR 

Written by Tini Howard Penciled by Marcus To Cover by Mahmud Asrar On sale October 2019 A NEW DAY IS FORGED! Mutantkind has always been special…as has their relationship with the world—or WORLDS—around them. As this new era dawns, a new connection forms between mutants and the magic of the world… and that of Otherworld! Can the new Captain Britain forge a new way through the chaos with her companions Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor…and Apocalypse?!?

MARAUDERS 

Written by Gerry Duggan Penciled by Matteo Lolli Cover by RUSSEL DAUTERMAN On sale October 2019 THE X-MEN SAIL AT DAWN! Even in this glorious new dawn, Mutantkind faces hardships and oppression from their human counterparts. Led by Captain Kate Pryde and funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, Marauders Storm, Pyro, Bishop and Iceman sail the seas of the world to protect those hated and feared! 

__________________________________________________________

Overall this has me curious. You say “X-Force” and I perk up, written by Ben Percy and that sounds interesting. Bryan Edward HIll writing a gritty book about the various killers of mutantkind, sounds good (also when did Kwannon come back and become an actual character? I’ve dropped Marvel/X-Men pretty much in recent years.) Tini Howards hinted that Shatterstar will be showing up in Excalibur too, and something about wait until she gets her gay hands on them so ok I’m curious.  Gerry Duggan doesn’t really intrigue me but Marauders is a cool pitch: X-Men but Pirates! Overall this has me interested, forgive me if I’m wary thinking Marvel will find a way to mess up Hickman and all these peoples best laid plans.