The Taliban (/ˈtælɪbæn, ˈtɑːlɪbɑːn/; Pashto: طالبان, romanized: ṭālibān, lit. ’students’ or ‘seekers’),[60][61] which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA),[62] is a DeobandiIslamist religious-political movement and military organization in Afghanistan. It is currently one of two entities claiming to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan, alongside the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Taliban’s ideology has been described as combining an “innovative" form of Sharia Islamic law based on Deobandi fundamentalism[63] and militant Islamism, combined[63] with Pashtun social and cultural norms known as Pashtunwali,[1][2][64][65] as most Taliban are Pashtun tribesmen.
Kenneth Franklin McKenzie Jr.[2] (born 1956 or 1957) is a United States Marine Corpsgeneral who currently serves as the 14th commander of the United States Central Command.[3] He served as Director of the Joint Staff assuming the job on July 5, 2017 after having previously served for two years as Director of Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5) on the Joint Staff.[4] He assumed his current assignment on March 28, 2019. from Wikipedia
Garry Reid: Our US military has done an outstanding job supporting [the SIV] effort. @USNorthernCmd and the @USArmyNorth, operating from @ArmyFortLee, Virginia, have provided housing, food, medical, and other services to these Afghans.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord, OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmentalmilitary alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.[3][4]
NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. The NATO headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.[5] An additional 20 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members in 2020 constituted over 57% of the global nominal total.[6] Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024. from Wikipedia
NATO cooperates with a range of international organisations and countries in different structures. Below is a list of these partners with links to web pages on their relations with NATO as well as links to their information servers… more
Tunisia,[a] officially the Republic of Tunisia,[b] is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a part of the Maghreb region of North Africa, and is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east; covering 163,610 km2 (63,170 sq mi), with a population of 11 million. It contains the eastern end of the Atlas Mountains and the northern reaches of the Sahara desert, with much of its remaining territory arable land. Its 1,300 km (810 mi) of coastline include the African conjunction of the western and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Basin. Tunisia is home to Africa’s northernmost point, Cape Angela; and its capital and largest city is Tunis, located on its northeastern coast, which lends the country its name. from Wikipedia
Lithuania (/ˌlɪθjuˈeɪniə/ (listen) LITH-ew-AY-nee-ə;[13]Lithuanian: Lietuva[lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe.[a] It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It shares land borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), with a population of 2.8 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian, one of only a few living Baltic languages.Lithuania (/ˌlɪθjuˈeɪniə/ (listen) LITH-ew-AY-nee-ə;[13]Lithuanian: Lietuva[lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe.[a] It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It shares land borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), with a population of 2.8 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian, one of only a few living Baltic languages… more
An electric vehicle (EV[note 1]) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery, solar panels, fuel cells or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity.[1] EVs include, but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft.
EVs first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. Internal combustion engines were the dominant propulsion method for cars and trucks for about 100 years, but electric power remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types…
Kathleen Courtney Hochul (/ˈhoʊkəl/HOH-kull; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer serving as lieutenant governor of New York since 2015. She is set to serve as the 57th governor of New York following Andrew Cuomo‘s resignation, scheduled for August 24, 2021, which will make her the first female governor of New York.[1]
Takeo Akiba, close aide to Suga, named Japan’s top national security adviser
Date published on July 6, 2021
The government decided Tuesday to appoint former Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba as secretary-general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat to succeed Shigeru Kitamura who is stepping down for health reasons.
The 62-year-old Akiba, a close aide to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his predecessor Shinzo Abe, will take the post of the nation’s top security adviser on Wednesday…
John Christopher Aquilino (born 1961)[3] is an admiral in the United States Navy, serving as the commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command since April 30, 2021.[4] He previously served as the commander of the United States Pacific Fleet[5] and before that, commander of the United States Fifth Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. from Wikipedia
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‘The US is ready’: Indo-Pacific Command leader confident in ability to defend Taiwan
Aug. 7 – The United States is capable of assisting and defending Taiwan in the event of a military crisis, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific said Thursday.
“There is a narrative that we see often in the media that talks about the U.S. and the West in decline,” Adm. John Aquilino, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said during a virtual appearance at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado when asked to describe America’s ability to defend Taiwan.
“I think what I’d start with is that that narrative is certainly being pushed by our adversaries,” Aquilino said. “I want to be very clear — we have the world’s greatest military on the planet.
“We are here to continue to operate to ensure peace and prosperity through the region, and we have to be in a position to ensure that status quo remains as it applies to Taiwan”… more
Miguel Angel Cardona (born July 11, 1975) is an American educator and is currently serving as the 12th United States Secretary of Education under PresidentJoe Biden since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 64–33 on March 1, 2021.[1] Prior to this, Cardona served as Connecticut Commissioner of Education from 2019 to 2021.
A native of Meriden, Connecticut, Cardona began his career as a fourth-grade teacher at Israel Putnam Elementary School in Meriden. In 2003, at the age of 27, he was named principal of Hanover School, also in Meriden, making him the youngest principal in the state. from Wikipedia
Mark Francis Brzezinski (born April 7, 1965) is an American lawyer who served as the United States Ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015. In August 2021, he was nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Poland, pending Senate confirmation.
Brzezinski is the son of Emilie Benes Brzezinski and Polish-born former National Security AdvisorZbigniew Brzezinski, and the grandson of Polish diplomat Tadeusz Brzeziński. His mother is the grandniece of former Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš. His sister is Mika Brzezinski, co-host of the morning talk show Morning Joe, and his brother is military expert Ian Brzezinski. He is also first cousin of author Matthew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in government, earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law School, and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in political science from Oxford University. He also earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland. from Wikipedia
DeSantis opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[194][195] He has called for its “full and complete repeal".[194]
In March 2017, DeSantis said he was not ready to support the American Health Care Act, the House Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[196] He did vote for the May 2017 Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[197][198]https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-3395561669378209&output=html&h=280&adk=217574405&adf=644344138&pi=t.aa~a.487902396~i.16~rp.1&w=1120&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1628067781&num_ads=1&rafmt=1&armr=3&sem=mc&pwprc=1581381605&psa=1&ad_type=text_image&format=1120×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmashwords2.weebly.com%2F2.html&flash=0&fwr=0&pra=3&rh=200&rw=1120&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&fa=27&uach=WyJXaW5kb3dzIiwiMTAuMCIsIng4NiIsIiIsIjkyLjAuOTAyLjYyIixbXSxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbF0.&dt=1628067781035&bpp=79&bdt=4085&idt=79&shv=r20210729&mjsv=m202108030101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D734ee52f914e7945-22e5586db0ca0018%3AT%3D1628062802%3ART%3D1628062802%3AS%3DALNI_MYKRuGL7BFS72rzgewsODA0yxT9ew&prev_fmts=0x0%2C120x240%2C1120x280&nras=3&correlator=6167653321893&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=422853587.1628067779&ga_sid=1628067779&ga_hid=160264562&ga_fc=0&u_tz=480&u_his=2&u_java=0&u_h=1080&u_w=1920&u_ah=917&u_aw=1920&u_cd=24&u_nplug=3&u_nmime=4&adx=392&ady=1888&biw=1903&bih=814&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=20211866&oid=3&pvsid=3829558135677195&pem=835&wsm=1&eae=0&fc=1408&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1920%2C0%2C1920%2C917%2C1920%2C814&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cs%7C&abl=NS&fu=128&bc=31&ifi=7&uci=a!7&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=VaSajFrnFN&p=https%3A//smashwords2.weebly.com&dtd=636
On March 29, 2021, DeSantis announced he would sign an executive order prohibiting vaccine passports in Florida and ask the legislature to pass an identical statute. source from
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An immunity passport or vaccine passport, also known as an immunity certificate,[1]recovery certificate[2] or release certificate[3] is a document, in both paper and digital format, attesting that its bearer is immune to a contagious disease.[4] Similar to quarantine, public certification is an action that governments can take to mitigate an epidemic.[5]
An immunity passport is not the same as a vaccination record or vaccination certificate proving someone has received certain vaccines verified by the medical records of the clinic where the vaccines were given.[6] The Carte Jaune (“yellow card") is an official vaccination record issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been argued that the primary difference is that vaccination certificates such as the Carte Jaune incentivise individuals to obtain vaccination against a disease, while immunity passports incentivise individuals to get infected with and recover from a disease.[7]
The concept of immunity passports has drawn much attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential way to contain the pandemic and permit faster economic recovery.[8] This could include a “health passport" for people who have either been vaccinated or otherwise developed immunity by surviving COVID-19. A reliable serological testing for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus is done to certify people as immune to COVID-19 and issue an immunity documentation. [9] Despite the benefits of vaccination and to solve economic and social problems due to the pandemic, issuing COVID-19 immunity certificates point out issues in science, ethics, and laws… quoted from
Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the seniorUnited States senator from Florida. A Republican, he previously served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Rubio unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2016, winning presidential primaries in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Rubio is a Cuban American from Miami, Florida. After serving as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives in 2000. Subsequently, he was elected speaker of the Florida House, and was Speaker for two years beginning in November 2006. Upon leaving the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits, Rubio taught at Florida International University.
Rubio was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. In April 2015, he decided to run for president instead of seeking reelection to the Senate. He suspended his campaign for president on March 15, 2016, after losing the Florida Republican primary to the eventual winner of the presidential election, Donald Trump. He then decided to run for reelection to the Senate, winning a second term later that year. While Rubio was harshly critical of Trump in the 2016 election, he was pro-Trump during Trump’s presidency. Due to his influence on U.S. policy on Latin America during the Trump administration, he was described as a “virtual secretary of state for Latin America". from Wikipedia
whitehouse.video.blog 