CIA Was Operating at Ukraine/Russia Border Since 2014, Nonbinary Oklahoma Teen Dies-Body Cam Footage Raises Big Questions, Israel/Hamas War Close to End? (The Five for 02/28/24)
Plus, one of the world's most notorious terrorists confesses...on his deathbed.
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
Let’s dive into the news.
[one]
Turns out the U.S. has been conducting military operations in Ukraine for a decade in total, and eight years before the start of the current war.
The CIA has built 12 “secret spy bases” along the Russian border in Ukraine that act as the “nerve centre” of Kyiv’s military, an investigation has revealed.
Over eight years, the US agency has trained and equipped Kyiv’s intelligence officers in underground bunkers, some of which are buried deep in Ukraine’s forests. They have also fully financed and partially equipped them, according to the New York Times.
Russian spy satellites are tracked by Ukrainians in the bunkers who eavesdrop on communications between Russian commanders and report back to the CIA, the report said.
The intelligence partnership began a decade ago after Russia’s invasion of Crimea. The Ukrainians collected intercepts that helped prove Russia’s involvement in the 2014 downing of a commercial jetliner, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
They also helped to pursue Russian operatives who interfered in the 2016 US election.
Initially, the intelligence-gathering hubs intercepted more Russian communications than the CIA station in Kyiv could handle, the NYT reported.
In return, the CIA began training a “new generation of Ukrainian spies” who operated inside Russia, across Europe, and in Cuba.
They also began training an elite Ukrainian commando force, Unit 2245, which captured Russian drones and communications equipment so that CIA technicians could crack Moscow’s encryption systems. One of the unit’s officer’s was Kyrylo Budanov, who is now the general leading Ukraine’s military intelligence.
That’s uhhh…not the best look for the U.S., as far as optics go. It certainly plays well into the Russian narrative that the invasion.
In the most recent Political Corruption Index, Russia and Ukraine ranked nearly even on corruption.
[two]
A teenager who identified as nonbinary and used the name Nex Benedict has died following an altercation at school. The story was first reported as an alleged outright murder…but was quickly retracted.
Nex told the unidentified recipient of their text messages that they’d been getting bullied by three other students. “I got tired of it so I poured some water on them,” Benedict wrote. “All 3 came after me.”
They said that they were “okay” after being in the ER, had scrapes and bruises, and had been given an injection to help with pain.
“If I’m still dizzy and nauseous in the morning I might have a concussion,” they wrote.
The next day, on Feb. 8, Benedict was rushed back to the hospital by their grandmother, who they lived with, and died. The state medical examiner has yet to release their cause of death. Owasso police detectives say they are committed to conducting a thorough investigation of Benedict’s death, and are currently awaiting the autopsy report and toxicology results.
LGBTQ press started raising the alarm about Benedict’s death over the weekend after a local news outlet, KJRH, published an interview with an unnamed family friend claiming that the teen had been assaulted by older female students in the girls’ bathroom.
Those outlets flagged an ominous potential link between Benedict’s death and the ongoing attacks on Oklahoma’s LGBTQ citizens.
The far-right account Libs of TikTok has repeatedly mounted harassment campaigns against school districts nationwide, including in Oklahoma. A queer teacher from the Owasso School District resigned in 2022 after they were targeted by Libs of TikTok over their social media videos expressing support for the LGBTQ community.
Before we rush to any angle on this story, a few things to consider:
A). The media ALREADY got this one wrong, claiming Nex died after the altercation. In fact, death occurred roughly a day later.
B). Nex walked to the nurses office, and was discharged from the ER.
C). Much of what we know about this story comes from a screenshot of a text thread reported on by the local Fox affiliate.
C). If you’re not familiar with the social media brand Libs of TikTok, it simply reposts publicly available posts. You can think what you want about that, but I don’t currently see a direct link between a teacher being fired two years ago (when Nex was presumably in jr. high, and not a high school student…the ages of the alleged assailants are unknown) and whatever occurred around Nex’s death.
According to the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs, the video that led to teacher Tyler Wynn leaving the district contained this line:
“If your parents don’t accept you for who you are, f--k them. I’m your parents now.”
Regardless of any controversy around sexuality…I don’t want ANY other adult telling my kids that anyone is their parents except for my wife and I.
Tragically, the death of Nex Benedict has become a political football, with a (presumably) still unburied teenager being used by both sides of the gender ideology divide to prove to score rhetorical points.
But trampled underneath that debate…is a dead kid.
UPDATE: Police body cam footage has been released of an officer taking a report on the attack, and Nex appears to be in good spirits, with no visible markings from the alleged altercation. The local officer appears to handle the situation with both professionalism and empathy, and explains the law well.
This only deepens the mystery here…how did Nex Benedict die?
[three]
There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel on this one, as the YouTube Channel Breaking Points (which hosts a mix of left and right wing hosts), has compiled a series of recent polls, and Trump is up BIG TIME with black, hispanic and youth votors.
You may have thought you read this story before in The Five, and you did. But his support has risen even more.
[four]
Is the Israel/Hamas war close to an end?
US President Joe Biden said that he hopes there’ll be a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict by “next Monday,” as the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000, according to health officials.
“Well I hope by the beginning of the weekend, I mean, the end of the weekend,” Biden said after being asked when a ceasefire might start during an appearance on Monday at an ice cream shop in New York City with comedian Seth Meyers. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close, it’s not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden added.
Earlier on Monday, CNN reported Hamas has backed off some key demands in the negotiations for a hostage deal and pause in the fighting in Gaza following Israeli accusations that its position was “delusional,” bringing the negotiating parties closer to an initial agreement that could halt the fighting and see a group of Israeli hostages released, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
“The major obstacles have been resolved in terms of Hamas insisting on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and end to the war,” a senior Biden administration official told CNN, following the Friday meeting in Paris between the US, Egyptian, Israeli intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister.
[five]
And finally, one of the world’s most notorious terrorists has confessed to his real identity on his deathbed.
Yahoo reports:
A DNA test has revealed a dying man who claimed to be one of Japan's most wanted criminals was telling the truth.
Satoshi Kirishima made his confession in January, telling police "I want to meet my death with my real name".
Officials have now confirmed the 70-year-old was indeed Kirishima, a member of a militant group behind several deadly bombings in the 1970s.
Exactly how he remained at large for so long - despite his face adorning posters across Japan - is unclear.
Kirishima is suspected of helping plant and detonate a homemade bomb that destroyed part of a building in Tokyo's Ginza district on 18 April 1975, according to local media. There were no casualties.
At the time, he belonged to the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, a radical, left-wing organisation believed to be behind several bombings against companies in Japan's capital Tokyo in the 70s - including one targeting a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building which left eight dead and more than 160 injured.
Until the next one,
-sth