Mexico Cartels Use Video Games to Recruit Children

Posted on October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 by Denise Simon

Beyond the constant threat of Tik Tok, Facebook and Instagram there are at least 2 video games, World of Warcraft and Second Life. Parents, are you managing this or paying attention…globally?

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | RPG Site . Second Life Review | Game Rankings & Reviews

Beyond parents…what about State Attorneys General or the Department of Justice? crickets….

In full:

Mexican criminal groups have hit on a new way to recruit vulnerable young people into their ranks: reaching out to them while they play video games.

On October 11, authorities in the southern state of Oaxaca announced they had rescued three children, between the ages of 11 and 14, who had reportedly been convinced to run away from home by a human trafficking ring after being contacted through a video game named Free Fire.

The three were found at a home in the town of Santa Lucia de Camino, where they were being held and were set to be sent to Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo León. They had left their homes a couple of days earlier after receiving messages from a trafficker, posing as a 13-year-old boy in the game.

Earlier in October, a young girl was also rescued after having been lured by a human trafficking group in the western state of Jalisco.

This was far from the most sophisticated such scheme to be discovered in Mexico this year. In September, Mexican investigative journalist Óscar Balderas revealed how one of the country’s foremost criminal actors is trying to recruit children through the most popular video games in the world.

On September 18, a teenage boy playing Grand Theft Auto V online at 3 a.m. received a message from a gamer purporting to be a young man, wearing a bulletproof vest and a military-style helmet in his profile picture. The boy was invited to an in-game event named “RECLUTAMIENTO ABIERTO CDN-ZETAZ VIEJA ESCUELA-35 BATALLON.” The Northeast Cartel (Cartel del Noreste – CDN) and the Old School Zetas (Zetas Vieja Escuela) are both splinter groups of the Zetas, which have been involved in some of Mexico’s worst violence in recent years.

SEE ALSO: Colombia’s Ongoing Child Recruitment Crisis

This fits a pattern reported by numerous young gamers in Mexico in recent months. According to Balderas, messages are sent in the early hours of the morning, when parents are unlikely to be supervising their children’s online activity, openly inviting young gamers to join criminal groups and selling this as a glamorous lifestyle. Some messages alleged that they were being sent by the Sinaloa Cartel or the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG).

In an interview with InSight Crime, Balderas stated that after contacting young people online, the representatives of criminal groups invite them to in-person meetings where they are abducted and forced to join.

And it seems this tactic is more widespread. Since this story broke in September, around ten families have come forward to tell the journalist about similar experiences with online recruitment.

Criminal groups in Mexico routinely abuse numerous children and teenagers and force them to serve in a range of roles, including as hitmen, drug runners or to work in drug manufacturing facilities.

InSight Crime Analysis

Reaching out to impressionable teenagers through video games is fitting for the times.

“It could seem like a pretty inefficient way of getting one or two more sicarios (hitmen) but it’s a silent way of recruiting. If they go ahead and kidnap kids or teenagers in person, this will draw attention. But this is a way of inviting teenagers of their own free will, of getting their loyalty,” Balderas explained to InSight Crime.

It’s also a very low-risk way of proceeding. It appears the recruiters create profiles located in Mexican cities and then send out invitations to all players currently online in a certain radius. The vast majority will probably ignore such messages as spam but a few curious players will accept and get in touch.

Those contacted in this way state that the recruiters appeal to their sense of adventure, promising them excitement, action, money and possessions.

SEE ALSO: Going Door to Door: Mexico City’s Response To Child Recruitment

Islamic terror groups have used this technique for years, with leaks from former National Security Agency (NSA) operative in 2013 revealing how extremists had turned to video games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has only made this strategy more attractive. With schools closed, children have been forced to study online but access to learning platforms and monitoring of their activities by parents and teachers has ranged widely.

Also in September, a Wall Street Journal investigation unveiled how Facebook leadership knew the CJNG was recruiting “aspiring cartel hitmen” via the social network. Despite warnings from a specialized team, pages advertising the CJNG on Facebook and Instagram remained up for up to five months. When they were taken down, new ones soon popped up.

It hasn’t helped. A search on Instagram, the day before this article was published, immediately turned up multiple accounts showing young children carrying weapons, wearing military-style gear or singing the praises of criminal groups in Mexico.

The Cancelled Hypersonic Development has the U.S. Scrambling until the Space Force

Posted on October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 by Denise Simon

Primer: China is signaling that a stunning new missile test that reportedly surprised U.S. intelligence officials was not designed to accelerate an arms race with the West but rather to grant Beijing a strategic advantage to seize control of the Taiwan Straits and other hotly contested territory in its region. China tests hypersonic missile, surprises US intelligence ... . source

The country’s English-language Global Times, considered a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, did not directly confirm details from a bombshell report in the Financial Times over the weekend that Beijing had successfully tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August. However, after repeating many of the report’s key details in an op-ed released late Sunday, it added that, if true, they amount to “a new blow to the U.S.’ mentality of strategic superiority over China.”

“China’s military buildup will focus on the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea,” the op-ed stated, after claiming China does not seek to challenge America’s dominant military position globally. “It is inevitable that China will take an upper hand over the U.S. military strength in these areas thanks to the geographical proximity and the continuous increase of China’s input.” More detail here.

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Although there were challenges on advanced weapons systems development, it was not until the Trump administration was there direction and funding included too by the establishment of the Space Force.

Lockheed Martin expects to have hypersonics sales of USD1.5 billion in 2021, up 25% from USD1.2 billion in 2020, said Kenneth Possenriede, the US defence contractor’s chief financial officer.

Several Lockheed Martin programmes are poised to achieve key development milestones or ramp up production over the next few years, fuelling revenue increases. Although one programme, the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), was cancelled by the US Air Force last year, the funding has shifted to other Lockheed Martin efforts, said Possenriede.

“We had a couple risk retirements at the end of the year, so our programmes are performing,” he said.

Lockheed Martin is also growing its hypersonics revenue through acquisitions, such as its November 2020 purchase of the Hypersonics portfolio of US-based Integration Innovation Inc (i3). The proposed acquisition of US-based rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne for USD4.4 billion would also bolster Lockheed Martin’s hypersonics capabilities.

Possenriede made his comments as Lockheed Martin reported that its total net sales rose 7.3% to USD17 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. All four of the company’s business segments saw strong sales gains. Net earnings totalled USD1.8 billion in the fourth quarter, up 19.6% from the same period in 2019.

Despite operational and supply chain challenges caused by the coronavirus, Lockheed Martin’s net sales for 2020 climbed 9.3% to USD65.4 billion, while its net earnings jumped 9.7% to USD6.8 billion. The company ended the year with a USD147.1 billion backlog, up more than USD3 billion from 2019. source

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RELATED READING: R&D of advanced weapons systems to compete with China

Known as HCSW (pronounced “Hacksaw”) was defunded in order to shift resources to its other program, the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). Both prototypes are designed by Lockheed Martin Corp.

“Due to budget priorities, the Air Force down-selected to one hypersonic weapon prototyping effort this year,” spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. Instead, she said, the service will concentrate efforts on ARRW, which is “on track for an early operational capability in fiscal 2022.”

Given the complexity of the threat, and the pace at which potential adversaries are evolving hypersonic weapons, it is by no means surprising that Mozer said Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory are working closely with the Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Missile Defense Agency to share developmental data and technologies with a mind to maturing interoperable, multi-domain defensive systems able to track and ultimately deter hypersonic attacks.

More and more Havana Syndrome Attacks

Posted on October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 by Denise Simon

Havana syndrome appeared at the US embassy in Colombia U.S. Embassy Bogota, Columbia

Primer in part from the BBC:

A CIA officer who was travelling to India this month with the agency’s director has reported symptoms consistent with so-called Havana syndrome, US media report.

Three unnamed sources told US media that the officer has received medical attention for the mystery illness.

The CIA has not responded to requests for comment by the BBC.

It’s the second reported case in less than a month, as US authorities continue to investigate its cause.

In August, Vice President Kamala Harris’ flight from Singapore to Vietnamese capital Hanoi was briefly delayed after an American official reported symptoms similar to Havana syndrome.

The syndrome first affected people at the US and Canadian embassies in Havana, Cuba, in 2016 and 2017. Dozens of other episodes have since been reported by American officials in the US, China, Russia, Germany and Austria.

Bogota

And now the most recent:

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Columbia is host to anti-narcotics operatives, spies, diplomats and aid workers. Just a week before secretary of state Anthony Blinken is scheduled to visit the South American country and after US President Joe Biden last week signed a law that provides increased funding and medical care for US government employees who fall ill with “Havana syndrome”.

He vowed to find “the cause and who is responsible” for the attacks amid reports of US embassy staff in Berlin, Germany, falling ill with symptoms associated with “Havana syndrome”.

At least five American families connected to the bustling U.S. Embassy in Colombia have been afflicted with the mysterious neurological ailment known as Havana Syndrome, in the latest attack against American diplomatic installations, people familiar with the matter said.

In emails to embassy personnel, sent by Ambassador Philip Goldberg and others and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the State Department vowed to address the issue “seriously, with objectivity and with sensitivity,” as they work to determine the scope of the afflictions in one of the U.S.’s most important diplomatic outposts.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price declined to comment on the report Tuesday during a department briefing, saying instead the agency is working to ensure all affected personnel get “the prompt care they need in whatever form that takes” and to protect its work force around the world.

Pressed on why the administration wasn’t being more forthcoming, Price said officials had to respect personnel privacy, adding, “It’s certainly not the case that we are ignoring this. We are just not speaking to the press — we’re speaking to our workforce.”

Price also declined to confirm that Blinken is traveling to Colombia. Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced he would visit for a high-level dialogue on Oct. 20 with Foreign Minister and First Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez after the two met last week in Paris on the sidelines of the summit of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. source

Details of the Parole Status of Illegals in the Biden Administration

Posted on October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 by Denise Simon

Primer: The Biden Administration is legislating ignoring Congress.

What is Parole?

FNC:

EXCLUSIVE: At least 160,000 illegal immigrants have been released into the U.S., often with little to no supervision, by the Biden administration since March – including a broad use of limited parole authorities to make more than 30,000 eligible for work permits since August, Border Patrol documents obtained by Fox News show.

The documents give a partial snapshot into how the Biden administration has been releasing enormous numbers of migrants into the U.S., often with little to no oversight, supervision or immediate risk of deportation.

Since March 20, at least 94,570 illegal immigrants have been released into the U.S. with Notices to Report. Those who receive such a notice are only required to check in with an ICE office when they get to their final destination – which could be anywhere across the country. Those who check in are not deported or detained as their immigration proceedings move forward.

Meanwhile, since Aug 6th, the administration has released roughly 32,000 immigrants into the U.S. via parole – which gives migrants a form of legal status and the ability to apply for work permits.

Federal law says parole authority is to be used on a case-by-case basis for “urgent humanitarian purposes” and “significant public benefit.” Typically only a handful of parole cases are granted by officials, but the Biden administration has been using it more broadly, including in its parole of tens of thousands of Afghans into the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome.

Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, who served under President Biden, reviewed the documents and told Fox News that he believes the administration is abusing its parole authority.

“By law and regulation a parole shall only be granted on a case by case basis and only for significant humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Neither of these appear to apply to the current situation,” he said, adding that the number of paroles brings into question the review and approval process.

“As a field chief, I don’t believe I ever approved more than 5 or 10 paroles in a year,” he said. “When I did, I ensured that the alien was monitored continuously and was detained or removed as soon as the circumstances allowed.”

The documents also show that since Aug 6, the administration has released an additional 40,000 illegal immigrants on their own recognizance. The documents also show that on one single day in Del Rio sector, 128 single adult illegal immigrants were released into the U.S. without ATD – which typically includes tracking by an ankle monitor or phone.

Texas braces for the arrival of 60,000 migrants at the border

Video

A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official told Fox that mechanisms like paroling, the use of NTRs and enrolling migrants in Alternatives to Detention (ATD) “provides mechanisms to require family units released from CBP custody to report to ICE within a specified time.”

The official also cited figures that show that between 2014 and 2020, 81% of those released into the U.S. did report in for their immigration proceedings.

The agency has not released its numbers for September, but in both July and August there were more than 200,000 migrant encounters, marking some of the highest numbers in two decades. Since then, migrants have kept coming in large numbers. According to the documents, Rio Grande Valley encountered 5,900 migrants in one week, while Del Rio encountered more than 2,900 in the same period.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has repeatedly claimed that the border is not open, reportedly warned officials of a worst case scenario of up to 400,000 encounters if Title 42 public health protections were ended.

Republicans have blamed the Biden administration’s rapid rollback of Trump-era border protections for the ongoing crisis at the border. The administration however has focused on an explanation emphasizing “root causes” like poverty, corruption and violence in Central America.

“The downturn in economies, the attendant rise in violence, the downturn in economies made more acute by reason of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the suppression of any humanitarian relief over the past number of years, and the pent-up thirst for relief among many different populations,” Mayorkas told Yahoo News this week. “I think an accumulation of factors contributes to the rise in migration that we’ve seen.”

The U.S. has Agreed to Financial Aid to Afghanistan

Posted on October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 by Denise Simon

An interagency delegation of U.S. officials met this weekend with senior representatives with the Taliban and called the two-day meeting in Doha “candid and professional,” a statement from the State Department obtained by Fox News read.

The meetings covered a lot of ground and ranged from terrorism concerns to human rights in the country. The statement said the delegation also called for the safe passage for U.S. citizens and others in the country.

The U.S. delegation—once again—told the Taliban that they will be judged on their actions, not only their words, Ned Price, the spokesman, said.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

IS has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.

Last month, the White House said there is “no rush” to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan, saying that recognition from the U.S. will be “dependent” on their actions, as the group announced the formation of its new government.

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Afghanistan’s state power company has appealed to a United Nations-led mission to give $90 million to settle unpaid bills to Central Asian suppliers before electricity gets cut off for the country given that the three-month deadline for payments has passed. source

Afghanistan's Crippled Power Grid Exposes Vulnerability of Besieged Capital - The New York Times source

(AP) — A month after the fall of Kabul, the world is still wrestling with how to help Afghanistan’s impoverished people without propping up their Taliban leaders — a question that grows more urgent by the day.

With the Afghan government severed from the international banking system, aid groups both inside Afghanistan and abroad say they are struggling to get emergency relief, basic services and funds to a population at risk of starvation, unemployment and the coronavirus after 20 years of war.

Among the groups struggling to function is a public health nonprofit that paid salaries and purchased food and fuel for hospitals with contributions from the World Bank, the European Union and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The $600 million in funds, which were funneled through the Afghan Health Ministry, dried up overnight after the Taliban took over the capital.

Now, clinics in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost Province no longer can afford to clean even as they are beset with COVID-19 patients, and the region’s hospitals have asked patients to purchase their own syringes, according to Organization for Health Promotion and Management’s local chapter head Abdul Wali.

“All we do is wait and pray for cash to come,” Wali said. “We face disaster, if this continues.”

Donor countries pledged during a United Nations appeal this week to open their purse strings to the tune of $1.2 billion in humanitarian aid. But attempts by Western governments and international financial institutions to deprive the Taliban-controlled government of other funding sources until its intentions are clearer also has Afghan’s most vulnerable citizens hurting.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union suspended financing for projects in Afghanistan, and the United States froze $7 billion in Afghan foreign reserves held in New York. Foreign aid to Afghanistan previously ran some $8.5 billion a year — nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product.