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Sunday, August 11, 2024

Jordan Ready To Shoot Down Any Iranian Missiles Breaching Its Airspace

 The Middle East is approaching two weeks since the Israeli killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran but the expected major Iranian retaliation still has not come. Things have ratcheted somewhat on Israel's northern border amid the daily titi-for-tat with Hezbollah, but Iran's ballistic missile launchers have remained silent.

Amid the waiting game, Jordan has reportedly informed Israel and Arab countries that it will not allow warring parties to use its airspace and is ready to confront any Iranian projectile that breaches its skies, as it did on April 13.

The Jordanian government recently told Sky News Arabia that no country's military will be allowed use of Jordanian airspace "under any circumstances."

Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi has emphasized that the military remains committed to defending its airspace if it is "violated" and will prevent Jordan from being turned into a "battlefield."

Interestingly, some of the latest statements were prompted by a regional report claiming that Jordan has an agreement allowing Israel to use its airspace to repel Iranian aggression.

An outlet called Arabic Post claimed to cite a Jordanian official who said, "There is security, military, and intelligence coordination between Jordan and Israel regarding the expected Iranian response, which includes allowing the Israeli Air Force to participate in confronting potential Iranian attacks that may pass through the Kingdom's skies."

Jordan is calling the report false. The outlet had further claimed it is allowing Israel to conduct surveillance flights in its skies, also in cooperation with Cyprus.

But despite Amman's denial, the reality remains that Jordan’s King Abdullah II has long had a very close security and intelligence relationship with the United States.

It hosts CIA hubs, and US special forces have long had a presence at the Hashemite kingdom's military bases in the north, particularly related to the ten-year long proxy war in Syria.

By extension, Jordan is seen as 'friendly' to Israel and is among America's reliable 'anti-Iran axis' partners in the region. However, Jordan also has a very large Palestinian refugee population which it must be careful not to anger, and is thus never too openly sympathetic to its neighbor Israel.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/jordan-ready-shoot-down-any-iranian-missiles-breaching-its-airspace

Obama’s Manufactured Election

 

  • Veterans from Barack Obama’s campaign swooped in to take over Kamala Harris’s

  • Obama was highly influential in choosing Tim Walz to run alongside Harris instead of Josh Shapiro

  • Obama has been pulling Democrat Party strings for years and will continue

The story

Within a few short hours of President Biden’s announcement that he would not seek a second term, his campaign transformed into Kamala Harris’s campaign. Plaques were changed, logos swapped, and domains forwarded. Biden's team remained in charge for only a moment.

Barack Obama’s veterans, who had managed his and Hillary Clinton's campaigns, swooped in and swept out the Biden team. Obama’s "All Stars" — like Stephanie Cutter, Mitch Stewart, and David Plouffe — took the reins.

The campaign against Biden

Before Obama and his team could wrest control of the 2024 election, he had to push Biden out. For almost a year, foreign policy differences strained the Biden-Obama relationship. And Biden’s flailing polls deepened the rift.

Obama regularly lunched with Biden to discuss campaign strategy. He also routinely phoned White House chief of staff, Jeffrey D. Zients, and top Biden aides to remain entrenched in the inner circle. When Obama decided Biden had to go, he was well positioned to orchestrate the departure.

Biden’s presidential debate failure opened a line of attack. Immediately after, Obama’s former aides were among the loudest in calling for Biden to step down. The press followed their lead, but Biden wouldn’t budge despite the media whirlwind.

Obama upped the ante. He partnered with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quietly calling on Democrats in Washington to push for Biden's resignation. He also likely collaborated with George Clooney to publish an op-ed expressing that Hollywood — a key power structure in Democratic politics — was unwilling to rally behind Democrats unless Joe Biden was replaced.

In the months leading up to the coup, Obama cultivated active relationships with Biden’s donors, keeping them informed and providing strategic advice. When the media and Hollywood turned against Biden, pressure on donors to cut funding increased.

Obama didn’t need to push hard; they were already caving. He simply stopped cheerleading. Donors backed out and, without guaranteed funding, Biden’s campaign was doomed. The former president pulled off a historic and unprecedented feat, and Biden’s team knew it. But it wasn't over.

When it came time for Kamala’s campaign to choose a running mate, two leaders had emerged —Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The more moderate candidate, Shapiro, holds views on Israel that conflict with Obama's. The progressive option, Walz, aligns more closely with the former president. Obama personally advised Kamala and prevailed; Walz was chosen.

Obama stealthily crafted a picture-perfect Democrat campaign with handpicked candidates. To those not attuned to inside baseball, his influence was invisible.

The third term

Throughout Biden’s term, Obama’s influence was evident in foreign policy and domestic issues. Obama holdovers in the Biden administration pushed for continuation of the Iran deal and Iran-friendly diplomacy. Biden’s national security and Middle East teams were stacked to the brim with Obama veterans.

This policy shift, particularly the reduction of sanctions on Iran, led to the Oct. 7 attacks and the current crisis in the Levant. When Biden’s administration mildly supported Israel’s counter-terrorism measures against Hamas, Obama’s team led the push for a more Hamas-friendly, Israel-harsh policy in line with his preferences.

A powerful pressure campaign quickly changed the administration’s foreign policy posture. Nearly 300 ex-Obama/Biden staffers called on the administration to suspend military aid to Israel. Prominent Obama officials like Rumana Ahmed criticized Biden for not pressuring Israel enough. Obama himself emerged from a period of quiet to publicly and loudly push for a ceasefire.

When pro-Palestine, pro-Hamas protests emerged in major cities across the country, non-governmental agencies with close ties to Obama helped enflame and fund them. The Tides Foundation — a major backer of the anti-Israel protests and radical pro-Palestine organizations — is tightly packed with Obama associates in its various boards.

Two decades of Obama

In the 2016 presidential campaign, it was Obama who pushed Vice President Biden aside, favoring Hillary Clinton. Obama’s team plagued Trump’s first administration with the Russia collusion hoax and investigations. In 2020, Obama pushed Biden’s rivals out of the presidential primaries, isolated Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and brought Biden the nomination.

Obama took control of his party two terms after leaving office, but his influence over the Democrat Party had never truly waned. His presence in Washington has remained constant since 2008 and is likely to continue. He’s the first president to make the capital his permanent residence after leaving office.

https://upward.news/p/obamas-manufactured-election

Big Question: How Are Ukraine Stakeholders, CIA, US Intel Community Going To Stop Trump?

 by 'sundance' via TheConservativeTreehouse.com,

This is the simple albeit massive question that even President Trump himself doesn’t spend time thinking about. 

  • To stop him in 2016, the FBI and DOJ ran a comprehensive surveillance operation against his campaign.  The same people manufactured a completely fabricated case of Trump colluding with Russia. Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2017, the DOJ and Congress ran a comprehensive Special Counsel operation against his presidency.  The justification of the SC operation was to prove a completely fabricated case of Trump colluding with Russia.  The real reason for the SC operation was to cover up the FBI and DOJ completely fabricating the case of Trump colluding with Russia. Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2019, congress and the intelligence apparatus (Mary McCord and Michael Atkinson) manufactured an impeachment hoax using Ukraine, a fabricated DoD plant on the National Security Council (Vindman), the CIA (Ciaramella) and the Intelligence Community Inspector General (Attkinson).  Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2020, the U.S. Intelligence Community, working through the U.S. CDC, seeded a global pandemic and quickly manufactured an election result using mail-in ballots to manufacture 81 million votes for a completely controlled candidate with dementia.  Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2022, Joe Biden (through AG Garland) appointed a special prosecutor (smith) to investigate, indict and convict him.  Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2023, the FBI and DOJ raided his home. Indicted him under claims of “national security,” then began to use Lawfare in the court system against him.  Have you forgotten?

  • To stop him in 2024, the U.S. Secret Service permitted a 20-year-old with a backpack, range finder, drone and long rifle, to walk into a Trump rally, set up position on a rooftop next to the USSS operating team, and fire eight shots at less than 150 yards at President Trump’s head, wounding his ear.  Have you forgotten?

So, my question remains:

What will the Ukraine stakeholders, in congress, within NATO, within the State Dept, within the CIA and Intelligence Community and within the multinational banking and investment companies (Blackrock), do over the next few months to stop President Donald Trump from winning in November?

…She Knows!

With the 2024 election rapidly coming, it is worth revisiting the actual tariff outcome to American consumers in order to dispel the popular myths about tariffs raising prices here at home.

CPA – […] Since the Section 301 tariffs were imposed, the share of imports from China has steadily declined from 21.6% in 2017 the year prior to the tariffs to 16.5%, a decline of 5.1%. No other country has lost as much share of total U.S. import penetration over the past five years.

In terms of total import value, Mexico gained the most from the tariffs, adding $110.8 billion. Vietnam gained the second most in import value by $78.4 billion and by far gained the most of total share of U.S. imports. In 2017, Vietnam accounted for about 2% of U.S. imports at $46.5 billion. In 2022, the U.S. imported $127.5 billion in goods from Vietnam, and the share of the total nearly doubled to 3.9%. Other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia all saw significant increases in their value of imports by the U.S. (read more)

This might be the cited data you want to bookmark for later reference.

It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..

Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them said Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation – it just wasn’t happening!

Overall, year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate.  The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent.   [See Below]  The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable, and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.

A couple of important points. 

First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers, and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America First MAGAnomic initiative.  Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.

Which brings us to the second important point.  Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation – 0.5 percent.  That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag’s hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:

(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)

For the previous twenty years, food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand.   The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.

President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process.  As farm products were less exported, the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle.  Food prices dropped, and our pantry costs were lowered.

The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year.   These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.

The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July 2019, when Amazon held its two-day blowout Prime Day sale. (link)

Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits.   Likely that’s because blue collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong.  Yes, MAGAnomics was working.

Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?

Well, exactly the opposite happened.

[BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:

[Table 1 – BLS report link]

This was a really interesting dynamic that no one in the professional punditry would dare explain.

Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products.  [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.]  However, when the EU and China responded by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.

Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper.   Not just imports from Europe and China, but actually imports from everywhere.   All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.

This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.

This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.

Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:

[…]  Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.

[…]  Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.

[Page #4 – BLS Report, pdf] – BLS press release.

So yes, we know President Trump can save Social Security and Medicare by expanding the economy with his America First economic policy.  We do not need to guess if it is possible or listen to pundits theorize about his approach being some random ‘catch phrase’ disconnected from reality.  Yes folks, we have the receipts.

This was MAGAnomics at work, and this is entirely what created the middle class MAGA coalition.  No other Republican candidate has this economic policy in their outlook, because all other candidates are purchased by the Wall Street multinationals.

America First MAGAnomics is unique to President Trump, because he is the only one independent enough to implement them.

That’s just the reality of the situation.  

They hate him for it… 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/big-question-how-are-ukraine-stakeholders-cia-us-intel-community-going-stop-donald-trump

Sandoz receives FDA approval for Enzeevum, strengthening US biosimilar position

 Ad hoc announcement pursuant to art. 53 SIX Swiss Exchange Listing Rules

  • Enzeevu™ (aflibercept-abzv) approved to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration
  • Further enhances leading US ophthalmology portfolio and increases access for patients
  • Expected to be key biosimilar growth driver in US

Basel, August 12, 2024 – Sandoz (SIX:SDZ/OTCQX:SDZNY), the global leader in generic and biosimilar medicines, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Enzeevu™ (aflibercept-abzv) 2 mg vial kit and pre-filled syringe for intravitreal injection. Enzeevu™ is indicated to improve and maintain visual acuity in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).[1] In addition, the FDA provisionally determined Enzeevu™ would be interchangeable with the reference medicine as it is currently subject to an unexpired exclusivity for the first interchangeable biosimilar products.

Claire D’Abreu-Hayling, Chief Scientific Officer, Sandoz, said: “nAMD, or wet AMD, continues to be a leading cause of vision impairment in patients over 50 years in North America. This condition affects millions of people, leading to significant challenges in their daily lives due to the progressive loss of central vision. The US approval of Enzeevu™ is a key milestone in Sandoz efforts to significantly improve the lives of patients impacted by this incurable disease.”

Enzeevu™ is a key biosimilar value driver for the company and this approval is a major step in advancing the Sandoz growth strategy by further extending its leading US ophthalmology portfolio. Launch timing will be dependent on several factors, including the progress and outcome of pending or potential future related litigations or any potential settlements.

nAMD, also known as wet AMD, is a subtype of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a leading cause of vision impairment in patients over 50 years in North America.[2]

Jeff Todd, J.D., President and CEO of Prevent Blindness, said: “As sight disappears, so may a person’s connection to the world. We welcome all treatment options that help maintain vision and meet the unique needs of the individual so those living with wet AMD can potentially maintain their independence longer. At this time, there is no cure for this disease and long-term treatment can be costly. Having more FDA-approved options, including biosimilars, can help make healthcare more person-centered and affordable.”

The FDA granted approval based on the totality of evidence, including comprehensive analytical and preclinical in vitro study data, as well as clinical data from the Mylight study.[3]

This approval follows the acquisition of the Cimerli® (ranibizumab-eqrn) business by Sandoz in the US earlier in 2024. The acquisition, which included field force employees, strengthened the company’s leading ophthalmology portfolio in the US and created a robust platform to support the anticipated launch of Enzeevu™.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/1000985961/sandoz-receives-fda-approval-for-enzeevu-aflibercept-abzv-further-strengthening-us-biosimilar-position