Thousands of Pro-Palestine Supporters March Near Democratic National Convention

Protesters marched near the United Center Monday afternoon, drawing attention to the pro-Palestinian cause as the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago.

The City Hall-approved route the protesters began in Union Park. It headed south on Ashland Avenue, west on Washington Boulevard, north on Hermitage Avenue, and west on Maypole Avenue to Park 578, where many speeches were planned. Then, it went to Damen Avenue, north to Lake Street, and east back to Union Park, where more speeches were planned.

Some protesters breached a security fence into the security perimeter for the DNC Monday afternoon. It initially appeared the first breach had been secured, but another fence was taken down soon afterward.

Before the march started, protesters in Union Park rallied for rights for immigrants, minorities, and women across the U.S. Ultimately, they want the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel, and they want an end to the war in Gaza and self-determination for Palestine.

Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesman for the Coalition to March on the DNC, said he does not think the protesters can change everyone's minds. But he believes some people can be swayed.

Smoke bombs used at the front of March on DNC, green and red symbolizing Palestinian flag. pic.twitter.com/GhT33WI68K

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 19, 2024

"I don't have any expectation that we're going to win our demands in four days, but I will say there's a possibility that there could be a shift," Abudayyeh said. "One thing that could happen is we hear something different from [vice president] Kamala [Harris] than we've heard in previous months."

Several supporters of the coalition who are not part of any organization also turned out. They just wanted to be in Chicago to support the cause.

One man, Matthew Waterman, came from Washington, D.C., to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

"The Democratic Party, and Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris over the past ten months have provided the weapons and the funding and the diplomatic cover and the propaganda for a vicious genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza," said Waterman.

Abudayyeh said he was impressed with the turnout and dedication of the crowd.

"I love the diversity of the crowd. I love the passion of the crowd. I'm really happy with the program, with all of these people from different communities dealing with all of these different issues. I mean, how powerful is it—reproductive rights and women's rights and labor rights and immigrant rights and Black liberation?

"And all of them going up on stage and talking about their issues—talking about how the Democratic Party is taking them for granted as well—but also saying we're here to free Palestine," Abudayyeh said. "We're here to say stop U.S. aid to Israel. We're here to stop a war and stop a genocide. It's beautiful. It's powerful."

Police bicycles were lined up along the march route before the protesters took off, and news media members were asked to get onto the sidewalk to make way for the protesters. What appeared to be just shy of 10,000 people were seen on the march route—and the protest remained peaceful as it reached Park 578.

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Russian Choppers Destroy Five Ukraine Unmanned Boats in Black Sea

Russian Mi-8 and Ka-29 helicopters destroyed the Ukrainian unmanned boats en route to Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

"Mi-8 and Ka-29 helicopters of the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed five unmanned boats in the Black Sea heading towards the Crimean Peninsula," the ministry said.

Earlier, veteran military analyst Scott Ritter explained that Ukraine is currently gambling away its elite troops in the Kursk region in a desperate bid to change the situation on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s losses in the Kursk area have amounted up to 220 troops and 19 armored vehicles, the Russian defense ministry said.

Ukraine’s overall losses in the course of combat operations stand at up to 2,860 troops.

Situation in Kursk Region: elimination of Ukrainian mobile groups, HIMARS launchers

Here are key facts about the situation.

Situation in the region

• Russia’s Battlegroup North has repelled an attack toward Russky Porechny and Gordeyevka in the Kursk Region.



• Ukrainian mobile groups trying to advance deeper inside Russia’s territory were eliminated one kilometer west of Anastasyevka and 1.5 kilometer southeast of Kauchuk.



• Ukrainian troops and vehicles were hit near Alexandria, Snagosti, Mirny, Kazachya Loknya, Korenevo, Pleskhovo, and Pushkarny.



• Russian aircraft struck Ukrainian reserves, munitions and fuel depots nea Yuryevo, Khotneya, Vorozgba, Ivolzhanka, Zhuravka, and Boyaro-Lezhachi in the Sumy Region.

Ukraine’s losses

• Ukraine’s daily losses stand at up to 220 troops and 19 armored vehicles, including four tanks, eight armored infantry carriers and seven armored combat vehicles, as well as seven automobiles, three HIMARS launchers, two guided missile transporters, and two artillery systems.



• Ukraine’s overall losses over the period of combat operations include up to 2,860 troops, 41 tanks, 40 armored personnel carriers, 23 combat infantry carriers, 213 armored combat vehicles, 102 automobiles, four air defense systems, six multiple launch missile systems, including three HIMARS launchers, two guided missile transporters, 22 artillery systems, and three electronic warfare stations.

Statements by local authorities

• More than 140 civilians, including ten children, have been taken to hospitals after Ukraine’s attacks on the Kursk Region since August 6, according to Pavel Alimenko, the region’s acting deputy health minister.



• Local medical establishments have enough medicine, medical equipment and articles of daily necessity, he added.



• Medical teams of more than 400 people have arrived to the Kursk Region from other Russian regions.

Closed for Months, a Gateway for Aid to Famine-Stricken Sudan Swings Open

FILE PHOTO ©Aleksey Danichev / Sputnik

Kiev would never dare to stage a large-scale incursion into Russian territory without Washington's blessing and NATO support, former Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.

Last week, Kiev launched its largest attack on Russian territory since the outbreak of conflict in February 2022. Western officials have voiced their support for the incursion into Kursk Region but denied any prior knowledge or involvement in the operation.

”The US leadership’s claims of non-involvement in Kiev's actions in Kursk Region do not correspond to reality... Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory,” Patrushev told Izvestia in an interview published on Friday.

The adviser to President Vladimir Putin, who has recently been appointed to oversee Russia’s global maritime strategy, emphasized that the “West put the criminal junta at the head of Ukraine," while "NATO countries have supplied Kiev with weapons, military instructors, and continuous intelligence while controlling the actions of neo-Nazis.”

The operation in Kursk Region was also planned with the involvement of NATO and Western special services.

The advance of Kiev’s troops was swiftly halted by Russian forces, although they maintain control over several settlements in Kursk Region. According to the local governor, at least 12 civilians have been killed and another 121 wounded due to the incursion, forcing more than 120,000 residents to evacuate.

”This criminal action stems from the premonition of the imminent collapse of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” Patrushev said, adding that “the residents of Ukraine are suffering for the sake of American interests, as the US has turned the country into a military anti-Russian project.”

Russian officials have stated that by attacking civilians in Kursk Region, Kiev has eliminated any chance for peace talks—an objective that Ukrainian officials claim the incursion brings closer. Moscow characterizes Kiev’s military tactics in Russia as “terrorist,” while Western nations arming Kiev share responsibility for atrocities committed by Ukrainian troops, officials have asserted.

”Washington's efforts have created all the prerequisites for Ukraine to lose its sovereignty and part of its territories, including those coveted by some American allies,” Patrushev added.

Is Ukraine's 'Suicidal' Kursk Attack Part of US Establishment's Desperate Effort to Win in 2024?

Ukraine's ill-fated Kursk terror attack could be part of the US Democratic establishment's effort to prop up their candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential election, according to Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel.

Despite the US State Department and Pentagon denying any involvement in the Kiev regime's Kursk aggression, it has all the earmarks of US-NATO management and planning, according to Major General Apti Alaudinov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Military-Political Directorate and Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

"At this stage, nothing likely happens in Ukraine and vis-a-vis Russia unless approved in advance by someone in the US," Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik. "Relevant questions include: exactly who approved these offensive operations and what debate, if any, occurred in Congress before these raids happened?"

Ortel called the Kursk attack a "wag the dog 2.0" operation, saying that it "seems a reprise" of then-US President Bill Clinton’s assault on one of Sudan's biggest pharmaceutical factories in Khartoum in 1998. The US attack based on faulty intelligence was presented as retaliation to Al-Qaeda bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

However, some analysts noted at the time that the US bombing came as investigations into Clinton's lies about his affair with Monica Lewinsky intensified. Dubbing the case a "wag the dog" situation, they suggested that Clinton urgently authorized the strike as a distraction, with the backing of many Democratic lawmakers including then-Senator Joe Biden.

The Kursk aggression appears to be as dubious in terms of military planning and strategic value as the senseless bombing of the Al Shifa factory. US Congressman Paul Gosar called Ukraine's border incursion "suicidal" in an interview with Sputnik, while retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski wondered whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had a hand in the Kursk aggression planning.

Earlier, on August 8, CNN quoted Ukrainian officials as saying that the Kursk attack was aimed at demoralizing Russian forces and diverting them away from other parts of the front. However, as of August 12, the Ukrainian military told the New York Times and Financial Times (FT) that the Russian Armed Forces' advance in Donbass, including near strategically important Chasov Yar and Torestk, is continuing unabated.

To complicate matters further for Kiev, at least six Ukrainian brigades that previously fought near Kharkov, Sumy, Chasov Yar and Toretsk were redirected to participate in the Kursk aggression, according to FT. The newspaper cited Ukrainian soldiers' worries about leaving positions in Donbass to take part in the Kursk gamble.

On August 15, Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup destroyed a Ukrainian military stronghold in the Avdeyyevka direction in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). On August 12, the Russian military liberated the settlement of Lisichnoye; earlier, Timofeyevka and Veseloye were retaken from the enemy. Russia liberated a total of 19 settlements of the DPR in July, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Harris and Walz's 'Illusionary' Campaign Doomed to be Busted

One might ask why the US Democratic establishment would need any "prop-up" of their presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, given that the two are currently enjoying a surge in the polls.

According to Ortel, the surge appears to be short-lived and most likely artificial and made-up by the US corporate press, especially given that Harris' poll numbers as Biden's veep had been disastrous. For instance, the Wall Street analyst referred to a recent survey published by the Hills that claimed that more voters trust Harris than Donald Trump on the economy as completely detached from reality.

"The corporate-owned press, including Fox, has lost all credibility which explains their financial losses and the rise of Twitter spaces, Tucker Carlson and alternative truth-tellers that thrive," Ortel said. "Traditional actors are resolved to sell fiction as fact to promote a singularly unaccomplished airhead to lead America out of the messes she helped create."

Indeed, US conservative commentators and pundits have recently thrown Harris' poll numbers, campaign performance and unwillingness to make one-on-one interviews into question. "[The media] are so in the tank for Harris that they are defending her decision not to talk to them," remarked US investigative journalist and author Michael Shellenberg on X on August 14. Earlier, the journalist drew attention to the fact that, for some strange reason, Harris has not put a policy agenda on her website.

Former White House Political Director Matt Schlapp tweeted that there is nothing short of a "push by the national media and Democratic National Committee (DNC) to legitimize Kamala Harris," adding that she is not giving interviews to evade criticism over her vice presidency.

Similarly, Fox News host Sean Hannity recently called Harris "an illusion, built on a mountain of lies" on X.

Rogan O'Handley, a former entertainment lawyer, claimed on X on August 7 that the Harris campaign was caught offering Instagram* influencers money to post personal stories about how the Biden-Harris administration helped them.

US conservative journalist Kyle Becker also alleged on X that pollsters are "oversampling" Democrats for no reason "except deceiving the voters." Becker believes that the reports that Harris is leading her Republican competitor in key battleground states are made up to justify her future win. "It is all designed to try to keep Harris within the margin of cheating," tweeted Becker. In 2020, Biden won the presidential election after outperforming Trump by a razor-thin margin in crucial swing states. Many Republicans believe voting procedures were rigged there.

According to Ortel, the Harris-Walz campaign "honeymoon" may end as abruptly as it started.

"The true mud-slinging will start after Labor Day [September 2] and continue thereafter. No one yet has vetted Harris or Walz and I suspect their reputations will be gutted, fairly, well before November 5, 2024. Moreover, neither are effective, battle-hardened debaters, campaigners or leaders," Ortel said.

Looming Crises Won't Allow Harris-Walz to Fool Voters

While the Harris-Walz campaign needs good news, be it record-high poll numbers, Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, or their proxy Zelensky claiming victories, the problem is that the "looming crises and worsening economic prospects" won't let "conflicted grifters" in the US establishment fool American voters again, according to Ortel.

As Ukrainian forces continue to lose ground on the battlefield, the Biden administration is still struggling to reach a ceasefire agreement amid Israel's war in Gaza, fuelling discontent with the Democratic Party among Palestine supporters. According to the New York Post, an August 14 rally supporting Vice President Harris in the New York City descended into chaos after pro-Palestinian protesters infiltrated the gathering and later started to clash with the police.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg experts warn the US economy is expected to slow down under the Biden-Harris administration, casting an additional shadow on the Harris-Walz campaign.

Commenting on the Democratic administration's chaotic domestic and foreign policies, Ortel noted:

"The period 1991 to present stands already as a rare epoch during which too many leaders combined arrogance and ignorance into a toxic cocktail, gulling voters with effective lies into bullied serfs, grateful for gruel as the donor class and their paid stooges seemingly prospered," the pundit said. "'What could have been' from 1991 forward unburdened by Harris, Walz and other incompetent, conflicted has-beens is truly a marvel to contemplate! Let’s see whether the American election is free and fair and let’s see who actually wins."

Enam pemain judi online dan terpidana pelecehan dicambuk di Aceh Barat

Alogojo melakukan eksekusi pidana cambuk terhadap seorang terpidana pelecehan seksual, dipusatkan di halaman Lapas Kelas II B Meulaboh, Kabupaten Aceh Barat, Kamis (15/8/2024). (ANTARA/Teuku Dedi Iskandar)

Kejaksaan Negeri Aceh Barat melakukan eksekusi pidana cambuk terhadap enam orang terpidana pelaku judi online dan seorang terpidana pelaku pelecehan seksual, dipusatkan di halaman Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Kelas II B Meulaboh, kabupaten setempat.

“Pelaksanaan eksekusi cambuk ini dilakukan setelah putusan terhadap ketujuh terpidana berkekuatan hukum tetap,” kata Kepala Seksi Barang Bukti Kejaksaan Negeri Aceh Barat, Mawardi kepada wartawan di Meulaboh, Kamis.

Ada pun terpidana yang telah menjalani eksekusi cambuk tersebut masing-masing terpidana Arfan Mursadi (31 tahun), sebelumnya dinyatakan terbukti secara sah dan meyakinkan, melakukan jarimah pelecehan seksual yang diatur dalam Pasal 46 Qanun Aceh Nomor 6 tahun 2014 tentang Hukum Jinayat dan dijatuhi hukuman cambuk sebanyak 10 kali.

Namun karena terpidana telah menjalani kurungan penjara selama 238 hari, maka sesuai ketentuan terpidana hanya menjalani pidana cambuk sebanyak satu kali, dari total pidana yang dijatuhkan sebanyak 10 kali cambuk.

Sementara itu enam terpidana maisir terbukti secara sah melanggar Pasal 18 Qanun Aceh Nomor 6 Tahun 2014 tentang Hukum Jinayat, diantaranya Evi Rijal menjalani pidana cambuk sebanyak tujuh kali dari total 10 kali cambuk, karena hukumannya dikurangi masa penahanan selama 58 hari.

Kemudian terpidana Haldiansyah hanya menjalani pidana cambuk sebanyak enam kali dari total hukuman pidana cambuk sebanyak 11 kali cambuk, setelah terpidana menjalani pidana kurungan badan selama 110 hari.

Terpidana M Ricky hanya menjalani pidana 15 kali cambuk dari total hukuman yang dijatuhkan terhadap dirinya sebanyak 20 kali cambuk, setelah terpidana menjalani masa kurungan badan selama 110 hari sehingga jumlah hukuman cambuk dikurangi sebanyak lima kali.

Terpidana T Abdul Rahman hanya menjalani tujuh kali hukuman cambuk dari total 10 kali pidana cambuk yang dijatuhkan kepadanya, setelah dirinya menjalani kurungan badan di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Kelas II B Meulaboh selama 58 hari, sehingga hukumannya dikurangi tiga kali cambuk dari total 10 kali cambuk.

Pengurangan hukuman cambuk juga diterima oleh terpidana Zamzami yang hanya menjalani tujuh kali pidana cambuk dari total 10 kali cambuk yang dijatuhkan hakim kepadanya, karena ia telah menjalani pidana kurungan badan selama 53 hari, sehingga hukuman cambuk dikurangi tiga hari.

Terpidana Zeki Fuad hanya enam kali cambuk dari total hukuman yang dijatuhkan kepada ya sebanyak 11 kali cambuk, karena telah menjalani kurungan badan selama 110 hari di Lapas Meulaboh, Aceh Barat.

Mawardi menyebutkan keenam terpidana yang dicambuk tersebut sebelumnya terbukti secara sah dan meyakinkan, melakukan tindak pidana judi sesuai dengan Pasal 18 Qanun Nomor 6 Tahun 2024 tentang Hukum Jinayat.

Dengan telah selesai menjalani eksekusi pidana cambuk, ketujuh terpidana telah resmi bebas dari hukuman dan dikembalikan kepada pihak keluarga.

Kepala Dinas Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja dan Wilayatul Hisbah Kabupaten Aceh Barat, Azim mengatakan pemerintah daerah mengapresiasi pelaksanaan hukuman cambuk yang dilaksanakan oleh kejaksaan negeri setempat.

Pemerintah Kabupaten Aceh Barat berharap dengan adanya pelaksanaan eksekusi cambuk, maka pelaku pelanggar syariat Islam seperti judi online, pelecehan seksual dan pelanggar syariat Islam lainnya dapat berkurang dan diharapkan tidak lagi terjadi ke depan.

West involved in planning of attack on Russia’s borderline Kursk region — Kremlin aide

Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev
©Kristina Kormilitsyna/POOL/TASS

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s borderline region of Kursk was planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services, and was prompted by Kiev’s realization of its imminent collapse, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev said.

"It was the West who brought the criminal junta to power in Urkaine. NATO countries sent weapons and military instructors to Ukraine, they continue to provide them with intelligence data and they control actions of neo-Nazi groups," he said in an interview with the Izvestia daily. "The operation in the Kursk Region was also planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services."

"This criminal undertaking was prompted by the neo-Nazi Kiev regime’s realization of its looming imminent collapse," the official added.

Patrushev dismissed the US Department of State’s claims of non-involvement into the matter.

"It’s common for the United States to say one thing and do just the opposite. Without their participation and direct endorsement, Kiev would have never dared to set its foot on the Russian territory," he said.

Ukrainian forces started a major attack on the Kursk Region on August 6. Missile attack warnings have been issued repeatedly in the region since then, and the government declared a federal-level emergency there.

Most residents were temporarily resettled from the border areas and are now out of harm’s way, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said. More than 720 people have been evacuated over the past day alone, according to the ministry.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev has already lost up to 2,640 troops, 37 tanks, 32 armored personnel carriers since the beginning of the hostilities on the Kursk direction. The operation on elimination of Ukrainian troops continues.,

Russian Defense Ministry sets up coordination council for security in border areas

The Russian Defense Ministry said it established a coordination council on issues of military security in border areas.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov (C)
© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov held the first meeting of the council.

"I ordered the creation of a coordination council on issues of military security in the border territories: the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions. Its purpose is to improve the efficiency of comprehensive support for battlegroups that are engaged in guarding the state border, protecting the territory and population of the regions," Belousov said.

Ukrainian HIMARS destroyed in Iskander strike – MOD video

Source: Russian Defense Ministry

One of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers the US has provided to Kiev has been destroyed in the Sumy Region of Ukraine, according to a high-resolution video published by the Russian Defense Ministry.

In a move described by Moscow as an act of terrorism, several thousand troops crossed over from Sumy into Russia’s Kursk Region last week, seeking to relieve pressure on the Donbass front and to seize some Russian territory as a bargaining chip. Moscow has responded with intense air and artillery strikes against the invaders.

The video, released on Thursday, shows drone footage of the M142 HIMARS firing a couple of missiles from a road somewhere in Sumy Region. The unit then moves down the road and into woods to reload.

Within minutes, an Iskander ballistic missile strikes the woods, destroying the Ukrainian rocket launcher. The video showed secondary explosions of HIMARS ammunition as well.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the strike destroyed the launcher, a six-rocket reloading pod, and two service vehicles of the Ukrainian artillery unit.

The M142 is mounted on a wheeled truck chassis and can fire volleys of GPS-guided rockets, converted aircraft bombs, or long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles. The US has provided Ukraine with at least 40 launchers, according to information released by the Pentagon.

Ukrainian troops in Nazi helmets taunt Russian pensioner (VIDEO)

The incident, presumably filmed by troops themselves, appears to have occurred in Kursk Region where Kiev launched an incursion

A video is circulating in social media showing Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers wearing Nazi-style helmets harass an elderly villager in what appears to be Russia’s Kursk Region, where Kiev has been conducting a cross-border assault over the past week. The clip is believed to have been filmed by the soldiers themselves.

The incident appears to have taken place several days ago, but footage of it began to spread online on Thursday. The Mash Telegram channel has suggested that the video was shot on August 11 in the village of Zaoleshenka in Sudhansky district.

In the clip, Ukrainian soldiers can be seen filming a road sign pointing to the city of Belgorod and Korenevo, a settlement in Kursk Region.

The camera then pans to what appears to be a camouflaged SUV equipped with a machine gun and a soldier wearing a helmet resembling those of the Schutzstaffel (SS) - responsible for the most brutal atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.

The video then shows several pieces of destroyed heavy equipment before panning to an elderly man. The soldiers then address the pensioner as “Russian Ivan” and start berating him in German, stating that “all Russians are pigs” and telling him to go “drink vodka”. The Russian man said he is 74 years old and complained that he has been lost for five days.

According to the Telegram channel Mash, the elderly man, who has reportedly been identified as Alexander Gusarov, has not been seen in ten days. His relatives said that the last time they spoke to him was on August 6. It’s suspected that Alexander may have been killed.

Meanwhile, the SHOT Telegram channel has claimed that it has identified the Ukrainian soldier wearing the Nazi helmet as 38-year-old Vasyl Danilyuk, a resident of the city of Horodenka in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankovsk Region.

Russian State Duma member Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Liberal Democrat (LDPR) party, has since announced a five million ruble ($56,000) reward for the capture of the Ukrainian fighters who harassed the retiree. He stressed that Russians will not tolerate Nazis on their land and called on all doubters of Ukrainian Nazism to “open their eyes.”

“All those who speak about ‘imaginary’ Nazism in Ukraine should now choke on their own stupidity,” Slutsky said.

Kiev launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region on August 6. Russia’s Defense Ministry has since stated that the Ukrainian advance has been halted but Kiev’s troops still hold a number of settlements.

Since the start of the operation, Kiev has lost some 2,640 servicemen and several hundred military hardware units, including 37 tanks and 32 APCs, according to Moscow’s estimates.