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Paraguay Fooled by Fake Country
Global Recap
December 01, 2023 • Read in: 8 minutes
Hi Global Recap readers,
Today, we start with a hilariously embarrassing story.
Hopefully, it will take the load off the heavy nature of the news following it.
🌐 Around the world:
Paraguay signs a deal with a fictional country.
Meta warns against foreign interference.
GOP permanently freezes Iran’s cash.
Gaza burns again.
Israel knew about the Hamas invasion threats a year ago.
Let’s get into today’s news.
😂 Paraguay Fooled by Fake Country
Indian police escort Nithyananda to a bail hearing in 2012.
A senior official in Paraguay, Arnaldo Chamorro, was sacked after signing a deal with a fictional country.
He also agreed to support their bid for UN membership.
What’s it called? The United States of Kailasa.
Fantasy. The fictitious nation was created by a Hindu cult leader, Nithyananda, who escaped from India.
History: Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, also invited the delegation from the United States of Kailasa earlier this year.
👀 Meta Warns Against Foreign Meddling
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, warns that China, Russia, and Iran are planning to interfere in the 2024 US presidential election through “covert influence operations.”
Covert Operations: Foreign actors use fake accounts to amplify partisan narratives, sow doubt in democratic processes, and create the impression of chaos and instability in the US and its allies.
Information Sharing: Meta says that sharing information between industry, government, and civil society is critical to detect and disrupt foreign threats early. However, since July, the US government’s info-sharing with social media firms has been on pause, following a federal judge’s order to stop suppressing Americans’ freedom of speech on hot-button issues like COVID-19 vaccines and elections.
If you have time, I recommend reading the full report.
Who’s right here?
Is it more effective for the government and tech companies to collaborate to counteract foreign interference?
Or, should we place the onus of fact-checking and responsible information consumption on individual internet users?
👇 Choose below |
🥶 GOP Permanently Freezes Iran’s Cash
Representative Michael McCaul, the bill’s draftsman.
The US House of Representatives passed a bill to permanently block Iran from accessing $6 billion that the Biden administration unfroze in exchange for five American hostages.
Deal: US President Biden announced the deal back in August. However, after the successful prisoner swap in September, and after Iran-backed Hamas massacred 1,200 people in Israel, Biden caved and temporarily “refroze” the $6 billion.
Criticism: Republicans accused Biden of rewarding a terrorist regime and enabling Iran to fund its proxies like Hamas and the Houthis.
Defense: Democrats argued the deal was necessary to bring the Americans home and that the money could only be used for humanitarian purposes.
As mentioned many times before, money is fungible. Iranian President Raisi even alluded to this by saying that Iran will use the money “wherever we need it.”
🔥 Gaza Burns Again
Rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on December 1.
The fragile truce between Israel and Hamas has collapsed after a week, unleashing a new wave of violence in Gaza.
Bombing: According to Gaza health officials, Israeli warplanes hit at least eight homes in Gaza, killing 54 people and wounding dozens more in two hours.
Evacuation: Israel dropped leaflets on Khan Younis, the main southern city of Gaza, warning residents to flee to Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Hostages: Israel agreed to extend the temporary ceasefire by one day for every 10 Israeli hostages released. However, the talks broke down.
Israel-Hamas
Israel Ignored Hamas’s Attack Plan
A recent bombshell report by The New York Times exposes how Israel, despite obtaining Hamas’ blueprint for the Oct. 7 massacre more than a year before it happened, dismissed it as unrealistic.
🔥 How Hamas Outsmarted Israel. The approximately 40-page document, code-named “Jericho Wall” by the Israeli authorities, details Hamas’ plans to:
Use rockets at the beginning of the invasion to distract Israeli soldiers.
Use drones to disable sophisticated border security.
Swarm the border fence with gunmen, motorcyclists, and paragliders.
Take over Israeli cities and military bases, specifically the Re’im base, which is the nerve center of the Gaza division tasked with regional protection.
Kill or capture thousands of Israelis.
As we all know now, Hamas executed much of the above with terrifying accuracy, causing the deadliest day in Israel’s history.
Also note: There was no set date for the invasion.
😱 Why Israel Failed to Stop It. Despite obtaining the document last year, Israeli military and intelligence officials remained uncertain about the execution or even the possibility of the document’s plans.
It is yet uncertain whether the document made its way into the hands of Israeli PM Netanyahu or not.
⚠️ July’s Ominous Warning. Relevant emails reveal that a seasoned analyst from Israel’s Unit 8200 flagged an intense, day-long Hamas training drill eerily mirroring the blueprint’s strategy, just three months before the attacks. Yet, her alarming insights were nonchalantly shrugged off by a colonel in the Gaza division.
😢 The Consequences of the Intelligence Failure. The attack has sparked massive protests, international condemnation, and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israel is expected to form a commission to investigate the failures.
The attack has tarnished Israel’s standing as a regional powerhouse and a reliable ally of the US.
🤔 Observation. While many are quick to criticize Israeli intelligence for their perceived failure, others offer empathy, acknowledging the likelihood of hundreds of unmaterialized documents they receive monthly. Yet, the dismissal of a seasoned analyst’s unequivocal detection of Hamas’ war preparations is not a matter to be taken lightly.