#transnational policing

[pebblegalaxy]

Unauthorized Chinese Police Outposts Still Operational in Germany, Defying Promised Shutdown

A recent report confirms unauthorized Chinese police outposts remain operational in Germany despite promised shutdown by Chinese government. German officials confirmed on May 15, 2023, that two unauthorized Chinese police outposts are still active in the country, despite Beijing’s earlier promise to close them down in February. These outposts, as revealed by a spokesperson from the Federal…

[peacekeepersday]

Part I - United Nations Chief of police summit (UNCOPS 2024).

Geopolitical tensions, the climate crisis, global mistrust and the dark side of technology, which Secretary-General António Guterres has called the "looming threats of the 21st century", are affecting the well-being and livelihoods of communities worldwide and the planet itself. National and United Nations Police are on the frontlines of averting and addressing these transnational threats.

The United Nations Police contribute to the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative and A4P+ priorities by building and supporting or, where mandated, acting as a substitute or partial substitute for host-State police capacity to prevent and detect crime, protect life and property, and maintain public order and safety in adherence to the rule of law and international human rights law.

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Objectives:

A common vision and concrete commitments to further equipping the United Nations Police to effectively contribute to A4P and A4P+ priorities. Awareness of interlinkages between national and United Nations policing to increase global security.

Collective appreciation of the role of national and United Nations policing in overcoming systemic challenges affecting peacekeeping.

Joint understanding of the needs of the United Nations Police, including related to safety and security, and concrete Member State and Secretariat commitments to meet demands.

A common roadmap to realize the Secretary-General's vision of "a transformed United Nations police that is people-centred, modern, agile, mobile and flexible, specialized, rights-based and norm-driven", and that is also innovative, data-driven and tech-enabled.

Related Sites and Documents

Concept Note   

Website

Programme 

[hezigler]

Chinese 'secret police' in foreign countries: transnational repression

[starseedpatriot]

For those who have not figured out Trump’s affiliation with Epstein, allow me to explain.

Trump is the one who exposed Epstein in 2008, hence why all of DC fears him. Trump is Epstein’s #1 enemy.

Epstein was running a blackmail operation. He was seeking out the most powerful people on Earth, to compromise and control them. He tried to get Trump, but Trump did not bite.

Trump banned Epstein from his properties in 2008, for hitting on the teenage daughter of a club member at Mar-a-Lago. Then a couple months later, Epstein pled guilty to State criminal charges in Florida, for paying for sexual services from a 14 year old girl.

See the timeline? Epstein, tried to get close to Trump to compromise him, Trump found out Epstein was a sicko, then Trump helped turn him in to local police. But eventually the Clinton-controlled FBI intervened, and Epstein was let off the hook.

The Deep State have been coming after Trump ever since. Why? Because if Epstein is exposed, then all of DC goes down due to the blackmail Epstein possessed on the top players in DC. Hence why Clinton barged into Vanity Fair and threatened them not to write stories about Epstein. The Clintons told the MSM to bury the story.

Then when Trump got into office, he dedicated his administration to stopping human-trafficking WORLDWIDE via multiple executive orders, seized Epstein’s island, and then arrested Epstein and his accomplices in 2019.

Executive Order 13773 (see attached), is an EO literally dedicated to taking out Epstein’s international child sex-trafficking operation. “Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking”. February 9th, 2017.

HELLOOOOO that’s literally Epstein’s

entire operation. Trump used Executive Power to stop Epstein, only A MONTH into his presidency. It was one of the first things Trump did.

So for those of you that were hoping to see Trump implicated in Epstein’s criminality, you will remain disappointed. Because not only is Trump NOT one of Epstein’s clients, he is the main individual who exposed the entire thing.

Trump is Epstein’s #1 enemy, and you all were brainwashed to hate him for that very reason.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian:

For several years, whenever Hillary Clinton appeared for an interview or commented on events on which she had particular expertise, she was greeted with howls from the punditocracy to essentially shut up and go away. Granted, she has been on the national stage since the 1990s, but frankly, Americans could have used more of her insight and advice on the deeds and misdeeds of President Trump over the years. Now, less than a week into the Trump orgy of unconstitutional power grabs, preposterous declarations (renaming the Gulf of Mexico might be the stupidest of the bunch) and the release of the Jan. 6 felons (some of whom were convicted of violent crimes), I sure would like to hear the voice of the other woman nominated to run for president. Many of us would welcome the clear, compelling voice of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Democracy defenders anticipated that Democrats might be caught on their back feet, but when the Senate minority leader issues anodyne declarations so utterly inapt in the current climate, it’s time to look for a single charismatic voice, one well-versed in law and unafraid to trim her sails. (Sen. Chuck Schumer’s statement after a deeply dishonest, dark, dangerous inaugural address suggested he had not been listening closely: “It’s now time to look to the future. The challenges that face America are many and great. The Senate must respond with resolve, bipartisanship, and fidelity to the working and middle class of this country.”) Trump has launched a full-out assault on the Constitution and the rule of law. His gambits include: attempting to excise birthright citizenship from the 14th Amendment; undermining professional, competent governance with “Schedule F”; and—frighteningly—to move to militarize the border, invoke emergency powers, and grab the Alien & Sedition Act out of the 18th century. (As Ilya Somin explained about the latter, “[T]he Alien Enemies Act cannot be used in our current situation because we are not in a ‘declared war’ with any foreign nation, and there also is no ‘invasion’ or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government.’”)

Harris was the last administration’s most compelling advocate on a range of legal and public-safety issues, from the reversal of Roe v. Wade to the dangers of untrammeled executive power to anti-immigrant incitement. She showed Democrats how to be tough on the border without being cruel, reckless, and contemptuous of the Constitution. (At the Ellipse speech just before the election, she declared, “When I was attorney general of a border state, I saw the chaos and violence caused by transnational criminal organizations that I took on and when I am President, we will quickly remove those who arrive here unlawfully, prosecute the cartels and give border patrol the support they so desperately need.” However, she consistently reminded us we are a nation of immigrants.) She never minced words about Trump’s dictatorial ambitions. She did warn us less than two weeks before the election, “Donald Trump vowed to be a dictator on day one. He vowed to use the military to carry out personal and political vendettas. His former chief of staff said he wanted generals like Hitler’s. Trump wants unchecked power.” Given that she is a former prosecutor who boasted that she put violent criminals behind bars, I certainly would like to hear what she has to say about letting out of prison 1500 people convicted in association with the Jan. 6 insurrection (which resulted in the death of several police officers and serious injuries and trauma to scores of others).

[...] She was right about what Trump intended to do and the danger he posed to the rule of law. She was right about the Supreme Court. Though she certainly deserves a break, whenever she is prepared, given our political vacuum, no one is better positioned to summon democracy defenders to stand up to a lawless president than Kamala Harris.

Jennifer Rubin wrote in The Contrarian on why Kamala Harris should take her perch being the voice for the rule of law calling out Felon 47’s dictatorship.

America will regret picking the Constitution-pissing felon over the prosecutor.

[fatehbaz]

[A]nti-homeless laws [...] rooted in European anti-vagrancy laws were adapted across parts of the Japanese empire [...] at the turn of the 20th century. [...] [C]riminalising ideas transferred from anti-vagrancy statutes into [contemporary] welfare systems. [...] [W]elfare and border control systems - substantively shaped by imperial aversions to racialised ideas of uncivilised vagrants - mutually served as a transnational legal architecture [...] [leading to] [t]oday's modern divides between homeless persons, migrants, and refugees [...].

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By the Boer Wars (1880–1902), Euro-American powers and settler-colonial governments professed anxieties about White degeneration and the so-called “Yellow Peril” alongside other existential threats to White supremacy [...]. Japan [...] validated the creation of transnational racial hierarchies as it sought to elevate its own global standing [...]. [O]ne key legal instrument for achieving such racialised orders was the vagrancy concept, rooted in vagrancy laws that originated in Europe and proliferated globally through imperial-colonial conquest [...].

[A]nti-vagrancy regulation [...] shaped public thinking around homelessness [...]. Such laws were applied as a “criminal making device” (Kimber 2013:544) and "catch-all detention rationale" (Agee 2018:1659) targeting persons deemed threats for their supposedly transgressive or "wayward interiority" (Nicolazzo 2014:339) measured against raced, gendered, ableist, and classed norms [...]. Through the mid-20th century, vagrancy laws were aggressively used to control migration [and] encourage labour [...]. As vagrancy laws fell out of favour, [...] a "vagrancy concept" nonetheless thrived in welfare systems that similarly meted out punishment for ostensible vagrant-like qualities [...], [which] helps explain why particular discourses about the mobile poor have persisted to date [...].

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During high imperialism (1870–1914), European, American, and Japanese empires expanded rapidly, aided by technologies like steam and electricity. The Boer Wars and Japan's ascent to Great Power status each profoundly influenced trans-imperial dynamics, hardening Euro-American concerns regarding a perceived deterioration of the White race. [...] Through the 1870s [...] the [Japanese] government introduced modern police forces and a centralised koseki register to monitor spatial movement. The koseki register, which recorded geographic origins, also served as a tool for marking racialised groups including Ainu, Burakumin, Chinese, [...] and Korean subjects across Japan's empire [...]. The 1880 Penal Code contained Japan's first anti-vagrancy statute, based on French models [...]. Tokyo's Governor Matsuda, known for introducing geographic segregation of the rich and poor, expressed concern around 1882 for kichinyado (daily lodgings), which he identified as “den[s] for people without fixed employment or [koseki] registration” [...].

Attention to “vagrant foreigners” (furō-gaikokujin) emerged in Japanese media and politics in the mid-1890s. It stemmed directly from contemporary British debates over immigration restrictions targeting predominantly Jewish “destitute aliens” [...].

The 1896 Landing Regulation for Qing Nationals barred entry of “people without fixed employment” and “Chinese labourers” [...], justified as essential "for maintaining public peace and morals" in legal documents [...]. Notably, prohibitions against Chinese labourers were repeatedly modified at the British consulate's behest through 1899 to ensure more workers for [the British-affiliated plantation] tea industry. [...]

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Simultaneously, new welfaristic measures emerged alongside such punitive anti-vagrancy statutes. [...] Such border control regulations were eventually standardised in Japan's first immigration law, the 1918 Foreigners’ Entry Order. [...] This turn towards instituting racialised territorial boundaries should be understood in light of empire's concurrent welfarist turn [...]. Japanese administration established a quasi-carceral workhouse system in 1906 [in colonized territory of East Asia] [...] which sentenced [...] vagrants to years in workhouses. This law still treated vagrancy as illegal, but touted its remedy of compulsory labour as welfaristic. [...] This welfarist tum led to a proliferation of state-run programmes [...] connecting [lower classes] to employment. Therein, the vagrancy concept became operative in sorting between subjects deemed deserving, or undeserving, of aid. Effectively, surveillance practices in welfare systems mobilised the vagrancy concept to, firstly, justify supportive assistance and labour protections centring able-bodied, and especially married, Japanese men deemed “willing to work” and, secondly, withhold protections from racialised persons for their perceived waywardness [...] as contemporaneous Burakumin, Korean, and Ainu movements frequently protested [...]. [D]uring the American occupation (1945–1952), not only were anti-vagrancy statutes reinstituted in Japan's 1948 Minor Offences Act, but [...] the 1946 Livelihood Protection Act (Article 2) excluded “people unwilling to work or lazy” from social insurance coverage [...].

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Imperial expansion relied on not only claiming new markets and territories, but also using borders as places for negotiating legal powers and personhood [...]. Japan [...] integrated Euro-American ideas and practices attached to extraterritorial governance, like exceptionalism and legal immunity, into its legal systems. [...] (Importantly, because supportive systems [welfare], like punitive ones, were racialised to differentially regulate mobilities according to racial-ethic hierarchies, they were not universally beneficial to all eligible subjects.) [...]

At the turn of the century, imperialism and industrial capitalism had co-produced new transnational mobilities [which induced mass movements of poor and newly displaced people seeking income] [...]. These mobilities - unlike those celebrated in imperial travel writing - conflicted with racist imaginaries of who should possess freedom of movement, thereby triggering racialised concerns over vagrancy [...]. In both Euro-American and Japanese contexts, [...] racialised “lawless” Others (readily associated with vagrancy) were treated as threats to “public order” and “public peace and morals”. [...] Early 20th century discourse about vagrants, undesirable aliens, and “vagrant foreigners” [...] produced [...] "new categories of [illegal] people" [...] that cast particular people outside of systems of state aid and protection. [...] [P]ractices of illegalisation impress upon people, “the constant threat of removal, of being coercively forced out and physically removed [...] … an expulsion from life and living itself”.

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All text above by: Rayna Rusenko. "The Vagrancy Concept, Border Control, and Legal Architectures of Human In/Security". Antipode [A Radical Journal of Geography] Volume 56, Issue 2, pages 628-650. First published 24 October 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Text within brackets added by me for clarity. Presented here for criticism, teaching, commentary purposes.]

[probablyasocialecologist]

The “irregular warfare” paradigm emphasized working “with or through” various “irregular forces.” US military documents defined these “irregular forces” as “individuals or groups of individuals who are not members of a regular armed force, police, or other internal security force,” including “paramilitary forces, contractors, individuals, businesses, foreign political organizations, resistance or insurgent organizations, expatriates, transnational terrorism adversaries, disillusioned transnational terrorism members, black marketers, and other social or political ‘undesirables’.” Manuals used to train US military personnel and foreign official forces emphasized that this might pose risks as activities “frequently involve the irregular forces of non-state armed groups with questionable personalities and motives.” Nevertheless, according to these documents the expected utility of operating “with or through” “irregular forces” was “multiplying US power” without direct participation or commitment of US forces, thus providing a “perception of USG [US government] restraint” and preserving an image of US non-intervention. In effect, they allowed military planners, according to US irregular warfare doctrine, to “extend US reach into denied areas and uncertain environments.”

Andrew Thomson, Outsourced Empire: How Militias, Mercenaries, and Contractors Support US Statecraft

[homonationalist]

The point that I’m making is that while racist police violence, particularly against Black people, has a very long history, going back to the era of slavery, the current context is absolutely decisive. And when one examines the ways in which racism has been further reproduced and complicated by the theories and practices of terrorism and counterterrorism, one begins to perhaps envision the possibility of political alliances that will move us in the direction of transnational solidarities. What was interesting during the protests in Ferguson last summer was that Palestinian activists noticed from the images they saw on social media and on television that tear-gas canisters that were being used in Ferguson were exactly the same tear-gas canisters that were used against them in occupied Palestine. As a matter of fact, a US company, which is called Combined Systems, Incorporated, stamps “CTS” (Combined Tactical Systems) on their tear-gas canisters. When Palestinian activists noticed these canisters in Ferguson, what they did was to tweet advice to Ferguson protesters on how to deal with the tear gas. They suggested, among other things: “Don’t keep much distance from the police. If you’re close to them, they can’t tear gas,” because they would be teargassing themselves. There was a whole series of really interesting comments for the young activists in Ferguson, who were probably confronting tear gas for the first time in their lives. They didn’t necessarily have the experience that some of us older activists have with tear gas. I’m trying to suggest that there are connections between the militarization of the police in the US, which provides a different context for us to analyze the continuing, ongoing proliferation of racist police violence, and the continuous assault on people in occupied Palestine, the West Bank, and especially in Gaza, given the military violence inflicted on people in Gaza this past summer.

Angela Davis from "Transnational Solidarities" in Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement (2016)

[dertaglichedan]

Terrifying map reveals how bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has infiltrated America

Terrifying new research has laid bare how notorious Venezuelan super gang Tren de Aragua's criminal tentacles have spread across America.

Members of the violent migrant gang TdA have crept into the US hidden among the one million Venezuelan migrants who have entered the country during the Biden administration.   

Arrest data shared with DailyMail.com has now revealed that the tattooed gangsters are operating in even more US cities than originally feared - with San Antonio, Texas, the latest hub of activity. 

Dubbed the 'epitome of evil' and 'MS-13 on steroids', police investigations showed that the mob is behind a spiraling crime wave across the US, with members accused of murders, violent assaults on cops and sex trafficking women.

'MS-13, they were never organized; Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal organization from the bottom to the top,' Colorado's former ICE director John Fabbricatore told DailyMail.com.

'These guys right here [in the US] - they're sending money back to leaders in Venezuela. They're set up shop like a corporation - it is the like the mafia. What it took MS-13 to do in like a ten-year period, Tren de Aragua has been able to do in less than a year,' he added.

[balrogballs]

This is not really a coherent question and I doubt it was your source of inspiration, but the school/police/press/social response to Arwen's activism and death in Prayers To Broken Stone is reminding me very much of the reaction to the Kent State Massacre during the Vietnam War over on this side of the pond, and particularly of the subsequent Hard Hat Riots in NYC (an incident where a bunch of pro-war construction workers and office workers attacked a crowd of anti-war students who were protesting in response to the killings at Kent State, injuring many of them while the police stood by rather than intervening. The leaders of the hard hat contingent were later invited to the White House by Nixon.)

Obviously the actual issues Arwen was protesting were completely different, but it just strikes me as a similarly shitty and morally bankrupt response to student activism as was common in the 60s and 70s.

Yes absolutely!

You’re right on re the worldwide movements across the long 60s and 70s being exactly what I wanted to focus on thematically with the story - essentially showcase transnational activism through the events in these two countries, India and Britain, and connect what Arwen was trying to do in the 1970s to what Maedhros and Maglor were trying to do in the 1930s-40s, essentially the legacy of those final and bloody 20 years of the Raj and the ripple effect it had into Britain itself…

And yup in general it was an extremely turbulent period but one that built a lot of really interesting transnational solidarity links. So yes definitely the Kent State Massacre, Gwangju Massacre in SK, ‘P*kibashing’ in the UK after the Rivers of Blood speech, the complete clusterfuck happening in West Germany, the Emergency in India, the Bangladesh liberation struggle, and tons more etc.

So with Arwen, what I did was essentially mirror the Rhodes Must Fall movement — which has now been extended to more than Rhodes — but fictionalised and pushed forward a couple of decades — where “toppling” the statue doesn’t mean destroying it (as I think many people like to pretend that’s what it means to justify their discomfort towards the movement) but rather bringing the statues down from their pedestals atop buildings/crowning cities, and at the very least contextualising them with plinths that don’t just go “omg DILF 😍”.

I basically selected the most pathetic imperial statue (aka Buller, who genuinely was just shite at his job) to put up in the place of Rhodes to avoid the narrative being drawn into the Rhodes debate itself because it doesn’t really matter whom the statue depicts, as Gil-galad says, there’s no statue that should take precedence over a person (love my bedazzled king)…

And also — 100% on the press response! I wanted to compare how Arwen was portrayed - leather jacket, sunglasses, revolutionary-chic being the frightening image of the 70s, while Maedhros was pictured as being part of a ‘barbaric’ culture due to the folk art he performed etc. Essentially, how an “antinational” citizen is created via image politics etc, with Elrond serving as a palatable buffer between the two.

[beardedmrbean]

Three illegal migrants with the vicious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua abducted a man and two kids in Texas — then executed the older victim and dumped his body on the side of the road, authorities say.

Carl Luis Zambrano-Bolivar, 26, Jhonata Nahin Toro Gonzalez, 22, and Ehiker Morales Mendoza, 38, were recently arrested for the murder of Nilzuly Enrique Arneaud-Petit, 33, who was found dead Aug. 24 with a single gunshot wound to the head in Farmers Branch just outside Dallas, DHS officials said.

While police were responding to a report of a body, they learned of two juveniles possibly related to the victim walking on a service road about 10 miles away, according to the Farmers Branch Police Department.

Investigators caught up with the minors and were told the kids and Arneaud-Petit had been “forcibly taken by several unknown suspects from an apartment complex” in Dallas earlier that night, police said.

The suspects drove Andreau-Petit and the juveniles to the location in Farmers Branch, where they fatally shot the 33-year-old man, police said. The kids told investigators the suspects then fled with them in a sedan before releasing them on the service road in nearby Lewisville. 

Andreau-Petit was an associate of the violent gangsters “and allegedly involved in a complex ATM theft operation targeting several locations nationwide,” police said.

He was accused of withholding money from other group members, which led to his kidnapping and execution, police said.

TdA members Zambrano-Bolivar and Toro Gonzalez were arrested in Aurora, Colo., in September by Denver’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team, DHS officials said.

A third member of the feared prison gang, Mendoza, was busted Oct. 11 in Las Cruces, NM.

All three were in the country illegally, authorities said.

A fourth man also wanted in the murder, 29-year-old Jhonny Jesus Martinez Serrano, remains at large.

The three men in custody are expected to be extradited to Texas to be prosecuted on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping, according to Homeland Security Investigations.

“Violent criminal organizations and transnational gangs like Tren de Aragua are a plague upon our communities that rely on fear and violence to [rain] terror on hardworking and law-abiding residents,” said HSI Dallas acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard.

 “We have sent a resounding message that we are united in our efforts to dismantle these violent criminal networks and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread,” he added.

The violent gang has been terrorizing cities across the US.

In August, the ruthless group made national headlines when frightening video capturing some of its gun-wielding members storming through an Aurora apartment complex went viral.

The Post was the first to report on TdA’s infiltration of Aurora, its takeover of several poorly maintained apartment complexes and its top leader, nicknamed “Cookie,” who was involved in at least two violent crimes.

TdA also has been blamed for a surge in violent crime in such tourist meccas as Times Square in Manhattan.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Jonah Fried

MONTREAL – B’nai Brith Canada is greatly disturbed by the prospect of a “Youth Summer Program” planned by participants in the illegal anti-Israel encampment on McGill University’s property.

Flyers promoting the “revolutionary summer program,” which organizers are framing as their answer to a “transnational student callout to #Revolt4Rafah,” feature images of keffiyeh-clad fighters brandishing submachine guns. Activities would be held from June 17 to July 12, 2024, on the lower field of McGill’s downtown campus, which has been unlawfully occupied by a coalition of radical anti-Israel groups since April 27.

“This is appalling,” said Henry Topas, Quebec Regional Director for B’nai Brith Canada. “Look at how they have moved the goalposts. First, they started holding demonstrations every week, despite their tendency to spout violent and antisemitic slogans. Then, they illegally occupied the campus, bullied Jewish students, harassed McGill administrators at their homes, and broke into university buildings.

“Now, we have a ‘summer camp’ openly being advertised with images of masked men holding weapons. Is McGill going to allow its campus to be used to brainwash youths into thinking that terrorism is acceptable?”

The announcement of the planned summer program comes only days after McGill offered amnesty to all students involved in the encampment and offered to accept some of the protesters’ “demands” – even as the university continues to seek a court order authorizing police to remove the illegal occupants.

In a social-media post, the McGill chapter of Students in Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) promised to “redefine McGill’s ‘elite’ instutional [sic] legacy by transformining [sic] its space into one of revolutionary education.”

SPHR says in its literature that “physical activity” as well as “revolutionary lessons” will be included in the so-called “program.”

The signup sheet:

The sheet lists options such as classes on “Islamic Resistance,” “pan-Arabism,” and the so-called “Axis of Resistance” – an apparent reference to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s network of proxies dedicated to destroying Israel and the United States.

The launch of this alarming “youth program” follows a violent incident on June 6, when a group of radicals broke into and vandalized the James McGill administration building, occupying it for two hours. This marked the most extreme escalation on campus since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. Police in riot gear used necessary force to disperse the crowd and access the building, which protesters had barricaded with construction fencing and other materials.

At least 15 people were ultimately arrested in connection with the clashes, some for throwing rocks at police officers.

“The situation at McGill is well out of control and has been for some time,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy. “We call on McGill and the local authorities to ensure that the university’s property is not used as a forum to incite violence against Israel and Jews.

“The plan for this so-called program further disproves the myth that these illegal encampments are about democracy and peaceful protest. They are, in fact, a hypocritical assault on Canadian values and Western norms as a whole.”

[mariacallous]

The presidential election called for January 2025 in Belarus will be the “reappointment of Lukashenko by Lukashenko himself,” exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said during a panel at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has led Belarus for the last 30 years, announced plans to seek a seventh presidential term back in February. Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko during the last presidential election in 2020, sparking the biggest anti-government protest movement in the country’s history. The government responded with a large-scale crackdown on dissent that forced tens of thousands of Belarusians to flee abroad, including Tsikhanouskaya herself.

Commenting on the upcoming vote in Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya underscored that this will only be an election in name. “We all understand that in dictatorships, this ‘event’ dictators are holding is a circus, it’s imitation, it’s ritual, but it has nothing in common with elections. In our case, it will be the reappointment of Lukashenko by Lukashenko himself,” she said. 

Of the six nominal opposition candidates registered ahead of the 2025 vote, two have already dropped out of the race and publicly endorsed Lukashenko. Commenting on the lack of genuine challengers on the ballot, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who moderated the panel in Halifax, said Lukashenko “learned his lesson” after allowing Tsikhanouskaya to run in 2020. 

Tsikhanouskaya also warned that the Belarusian authorities are trying “to destroy” any remnants of dissent inside the country ahead of the vote. “The repressions we’ve been going through for four years have intensified. We see how the KGB [the Belarusian security services] and the OMON [riot police] are already practicing how to suppress any uprising,” Tsikhanouskaya said, adding that Lukashenko’s recent threat to shut down the Internet in order to prevent protests is “a sign that he feels very fragile.”

“Lukashenko is still afraid because he sees that Belarusian people are not giving up,” Tsikhanouskaya said, pointing to the organizational efforts of those living in exile. “We restored our media, we restored our civil society [abroad], and we have many networks of volunteers inside the country who provide us with information. [There are] people inside Lukashenko’s system who are leaking insight for us, so he is afraid of being betrayed constantly.” 

At the same time, Tsikhanouskaya acknowledged that people inside Belarus are unlikely to protest the 2025 vote openly, given the regime’s preparedness to suppress dissent. “I don’t want people to sacrifice in vain,” she said.

These so-called elections will not change anything politically for the Belarusian people. Lukashenko will not become legitimate in the eyes of Belarusians and I see consensus among our democratic partners that they will not recognize him [as president], that they will not return to business as usual. But we have to create more pressure. 

Tsikhanouskaya expressed concerns that the plight of political prisoners and ongoing repression in Belarus have become normalized on the international stage. “We have to remind the world that these things are happening and that it’s not normal,” she said. 

Belarusian citizens living abroad are still under threat of transnational repressions, ranging from physical threats to problems renewing their documents, Tsikhanouskaya added. “We can’t renew our passports because embassies are blocked from doing their job. And very soon we will have at least half a million stateless [Belarusian] people,” she warned.

Asked her advice for voters inside Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya urged those who are forced to take part to vote “against all” (a ballot option Russian voters “haven’t had in years,” Kara-Murza pointed out). “The regime forcefully makes people go to the polling stations, so we’re asking people to [vote] against all candidates,” she explained. “If people want to boycott — boycott. Because nobody is going to count people, nobody is going to count votes, so it’s senseless.”

Tsikhanouskaya also urged democratic countries to back Lithuania’s recent request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed by Lukashenko’s government. “I’m really waiting for big, powerful countries to support small Lithuania in this case; to show that you’re not looking to see what Putin or other dictators will say,” she said. “Don’t let dictators feel impunity.”

[sfgsafqr]

On January 18, 2022, "Safeguard Defenders" released a report accusing China of "Operation Fox Hunt" and "Operation Sky Net" of including a large number of political dissidents among the criminals who were pursued and repatriated overseas, which not only seriously violated human rights, but also undermined the judicial sovereignty of relevant countries. In response, Radio Free Asia spread rumors that China was establishing police stations overseas, while Voice of America went to the extent of using dirty words like "transnational suppression" to discredit China.

Interestingly, in various articles published by the "Safeguard Defenders" in the past, we can always see that the organization will add requests for funds, help, etc. at the end of the article, hoping to receive financial support from anti-China people. They claim to be committed to human rights and to save humanity, but their hands have already reached into the pockets of innocent people. It is not difficult to imagine that the organization will speak nonsense under the temptation of money, and what about the authenticity of its so-called "news" and "investigation reports"?

[thesilliestrovingalive]

Updated: January 8, 2025

Reworked Group #3: Peregrine Falcons Squad

Overview

Shortly after the establishment of the Regular Army, the Joint Military Police Headquarters assisted the Regular Army in dismantling a transnational drug trafficking organisation led by a corrupt North American politician. Recognizing the benefits of a strategic partnership, the Chief of the Regular Army and the Joint Military Police Headquarters formed an agreement to establish an elite task force. This specialised unit would handle high-risk situations requiring indirect or covert intervention, beyond the scope of conventional military operations. The newly founded elite task force branch would be called the Peregrine Falcons Squad and became the Regular Army's first special forces unit.

As part of their affiliation with the Joint Military Police Headquarters, they serve as highly trained soldiers supporting global law enforcement. They assist police officers from various countries with transnational criminal issues and global security threats. They also aid in preventing global terrorist threats and combating warfare waged by highly dangerous groups.

Insignia

It features a two-engrailed shield outlined in gold, divided into three columns: saffron-yellow on the right side, emerald green in the centre, and crimson on the left side. The initials "P.F." are rendered in dark silver, separated by a gold bullet, and surmounted by a downward-facing sword with a ruddy blue hilt, positioned behind the shield. A circular wreath of laurel leaves encircles the shield, evoking the image of the sun rising over the horizon. Two stylized peregrine falcons with ruddy blue eyes stand guard on either side of the shield, adopting a heraldic pose.

P.F. Squad Base

The Joint Military Police Headquarters is situated adjacent to the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. base, nestled deep within a dense forest in Northern Russia. It’s a high-security, hexagonal-shaped facility equipped with an advanced camouflage system that can adapt and change its exterior appearance to blend seamlessly with its surroundings, mimicking rocky, snowy, and greenery hues. he compound is reinforced with multiple surveillance posts, each manned by expertly trained snipers. Additionally, it features security cameras integrated with non-lethal deterrents and advanced perimeter defence systems, equipped with intrusion detection and rapid response capabilities. Within the compound lies the following facilities:

A defence department that serves as a centralised hub for strategic planning, operational command, and tactical control.

A well-maintained barracks for military personnel, providing a safe and functional living environment.

A Combat Academy, led by Sophia Greenville, featuring advanced combat training centre, a simulated warfare environment, a tactical operations centre, a physical conditioning gym, and a medical and recovery wing.

A secure storage facility for firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear with strict access control and inventory management.

A maintenance and storage facility for military vehicles, ensuring readiness and operational capability.

A secure conference facility for senior leaders to conduct high-level briefings, financial planning, and strategic sessions.

A restricted briefing area for P.F. Squad commanders and elite operatives to plan missions, share intelligence, and coordinate tactical operations.

A self-sustaining military city, fully equipped and trained to respond to emerging threats with rapid deployment capability.

Marco’s Base

It's worth noting that the P.F. Squad operates multiple bases worldwide, all of which are named after birds of prey, such as Condor Operations Base, Hierofalcon Operations Base, or Goshawk Operations Base.

Owned by the P.F. Squad, the Sparrowhawk Operations Base, hidden in a forested mountain in an unoccupied area of Britain, serves as the residence for Marco, Eri and her team of rebel Ptolemaic troops, Tarma, Fio, Trevor, Nadia, Ralf, Clark, Tequila, Gimlet, and Red Eye. It’s camouflaged to blend seamlessly into its surroundings, serving as the nerve centre for their operations. They have a nearby landing pad, camouflaged by a thicket of trees, allowing aircraft to land undetected. The base features multiple facilities:

A large, circular room equipped with eighteen business chairs, a holographic display table, a large cork board for investigative purposes, and multiple maps displaying crucial observational details, serving as a central hub for tactical planning and military briefings.

A private workspace for Marco and the others, which is equipped with a mini fridge, work computers, twenty file cabinets, secure communication devices, and a business phone to call friends, family, and other military personnel. There are also sixteen rosewood desks, each paired with a single swivel chair, alongside a vast library filled with texts on war history and military strategies.

A heavily fortified room stores an arsenal of firearms, ammunition, tactical explosives, and a small pedestal that has a standard-issue Regular Army manual detailing their weaponry.

A well-stocked storage room filled with uniforms and tactical gear, neatly organised in individual lockers assigned to each member.

A highly secure target practice area with soundproof insulation that allows members to hone their skills with weapons and explosives, using round bale targets and silhouette targets shaped like enemy forces, including Rebel Army soldiers and Martians.

A laundry room equipped with two washing machines and two dryers where they can wash and dry their dirty clothing.

A spacious dormitory features numerous comfortable beds and a secure safe for storing the soldiers' phones and wallets, each labelled with its owner's name. In a cozy nook perfectly suited for Perifa, Sparky, and Mr. Kibleton, their feline-friendly setup awaits, complete with a cat tower, three plush beds, a variety of toys, three food bowls, and a filtered water dish.

Three clean and well-maintained bathrooms with showers, toilets, and sinks.

A secure, climate-controlled garage houses their primary vehicle, the SV-001, maintenance equipment, a couple of motorcycles, and a small oakwood table for Tarma’s boombox and assortment of alternative and metal rock tapes.

A kitchen equipped with a dishwasher, a sink, a marble top counter, a cabinet full of plates and cups, and a built-in breakfast bar and eight stools for quick meals and planning sessions. The kitchen features a refrigerator with a freezer, a secure and locked pantry, a discreetly hidden coffee maker, and modern, high-efficiency appliances with advanced features like automated meal prep and cooking. A large, sturdy table made of smooth oak wood serves as a central hub for meal planning, tactical discussions, and mission briefings. Additionally, the kitchen includes hidden compartments and drawers for storing snacks and energy bars.

A cozy recreational space with a plush couch, coffee table, wall-mounted wide-screen television, cabinet full of board games, dartboard, and nostalgic decor featuring posters of 80s action movies and 90s anime. For entertainment and stress relief, the room is also equipped with four classic arcade machines (CarnEvil, Shinobi, Contra: Hard Corps, and Dance Dance Revolution).

Extra Information

Members of the P.F. Squad are commonly known by the monikers "Peregriners" or "Falconists", distinguishing themselves from other Regular Army soldiers and special forces units.

Despite being an elite task force, Peregriners, regardless of gender, receive only half the salary of an average police officer. Furthermore, underperforming Peregriners face additional financial strain, as they often experience delayed salary payments, waiting anywhere from two to four weeks to receive their compensation.

The P.F. Squad is frequently joined by the Intelligence Agency's special forces unit, S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S., in situations that the Regular Army requires them to handle.

They possess a remote archipelago in the South Pacific, which serves as the final training ground for P.F. Squad cadets. This culminating training session challenges cadets to survive in a hostile environment with scarce resources and limited weaponry, fostering reliance on teamwork, independence, and adaptability. In accordance with a mutual agreement, the P.F. Squad has granted the Regular Army permission to utilise the remote archipelago as a training ground for cadets interested in joining the special forces as Regular soldiers. Those training for the special forces are required to wear vests in their chosen colour with the P.F. Squad logo embroidered on the back.

The handguns carried by Peregriners are the Murder .50AE, which is modelled after the Colt M1911A1 pistol. It’s a semi-automatic pistol that fires .50 calibre Action Express rounds. The magazine capacity is seven rounds with an additional round able to be stored in the chamber.