Battle

• Leading Korea-based game developer, Wemade, and Canadian developer, 2TG Entertainment (2TG), will be launching two new strategy role-playing games (RPGs) set in the medieval fantasy world of Faenora on the WEMIX PLAY global blockchain gaming platform in 2024.
• In addition to story characters, players will recruit, train and customize an army of revolutionary soldiers with a variety of classes and equipment.
• “Battle for Faenora” leverages Web3Lynx for digital asset integration, helping to establish an inter-game economy and encourage inter-game play.
• “Players can enjoy next level gaming experiences by using their characters across a variety of gaming universes,” said Nathan Montgomery, CEO of 2TG Entertainment.

• During the exclusivity period, the Company will complete a drill campaign, funded by the potential partner, to accelerate knowledge of the metallurgical properties of the multiple polymetallic base metal deposits at the Ruby Hill Property.
• The Ruby Hill Property represents one of i-80's core assets, is host to both gold and polymetallic base metal deposits, most of which remain completely open for expansion, and is expected to be the Company's largest mining operation on an all‑metal basis.
• Drilling is focused on expanding mineralization in the primary known zones as well as testing several new exploration targets on the Ruby Hill Property.
• The Ruby Hill Property is host to multiple gold, gold-silver and poly-metallic (base metal) deposits collectively which we believe represents one of the largest development-stage projects in Nevada.

• The National Museum of the Surface Navy today named retired Navy Admiral Philip S. Davidson as the recipient of the 2023 Freedom of the Seas Award.
• SAN PEDRO, Calif., Oct. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The National Museum of the Surface Navy , founded aboard Battleship USS IOWA and scheduled to open in 2025, today named retired Navy Admiral Philip S. Davidson as the recipient of the 2023 Freedom of the Seas Award.
• The Freedom of the Seas Award goes to an accomplished individual who embodies the core principles of America's Surface Navy to protect and defend our oceans for the benefit of the free world.
• Admiral Davidson is the former 25th Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), America's oldest and largest military combatant command.

• Nearly 30 years after the infamous Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. military is still conducting operations in Somalia.
• Some of their bodies were dragged along city streets by Somali militants.
• There have been at least 282 U.S. counterterrorism operations in Somalia, including drone strikes and other aerial bombardments.
• In May 2022, Biden also agreed to send about 500 U.S. troops to Somalia.
• But the question remains: Why are U.S. forces still intervening in Somalia?

The cost of US involvement in Somalia

• Between 2007 and 2020, the U.S. spent at least US$2.5 billion on counterterrorism operations in Somalia, according to Costs of War, a 2023 Brown University study.
• This amount was largely spent by the U.S. Department of State and does not include the unknown expenditures of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Defense Department.
• For comparison, between 2001 and 2022 the U.S. spent approximately $2.3 trillion, or nearly 1,000 times more, on “counterterrorism” wars in Afghanistan.
• The U.S. spends time and money training the Somali National Army, assisting in surveillance and drone strike operations.
• Many of their activities are not publicly traceable.

Understanding the crisis in Somalia

• Located in East Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world.
• Decades of civil war coupled with extreme droughts have caused the roughly 17 million people to exist in dire living conditions.
• The group comprised about a dozen local Islamic courts in southern Somalia that solved social disputes, reopened schools and ended roadblocks erected by violent warlords.

The US global war on terrorism

• When the CIA’s effort failed to topple the group, the U.S. government then backed an Ethiopian military invasion of Somalia in late 2006.
• In my view, this U.S.-supported Ethiopian invasion was largely responsible for creating the conditions of political uncertainty and violence that prevail today.
• Al-Shabaab portrayed the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion in religious and nationalist terms and painted the U.S. and Ethiopia as Christian invaders of a Muslim country.
• After two years of war, Ethiopia withdrew its troops, claiming their mission to rid the extremist threat was accomplished.

Time for a US reckoning on Somalia?

• On Sept. 6, 2023, for instance, the U.S. military reportedly provided “remote assistance” to an aerial strike operation conducted by the Somali government that killed five civilians.
• The U.S. role in Somalia does not absolve al-Shabaab of its crimes, as the militant group continues to recruit from socially and economically disenfranchised communities in Somalia.
• Among those crimes are bombings of civilian targets throughout Africa and the Middle East, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
• But in my view, a demand for reparations from the Somali government before an international tribunal may force a U.S. reckoning on its global war against terrorism that nevertheless still rages on in Somalia.