Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Does US Withdrawal from another Nuclear Treaty Really Benefit Russia?

No. Obviously Russia does not benefit from the scrapping of yet another treaty designed to prevent a nuclear exchange amid a war with the United States.

Yet, as an attempt to frame blatant US provocations as somehow "Russia's fault," a narrative has begun circulating - claiming that not only does the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty somehow benefit Russia - it was via Russia's "puppet" - US President Donald Trump - that saw the treaty scrapped.

Spreading this scurrilous narrative are political provocateurs like former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul who has re-branded himself recently as a prominent anti-Trump voice - feeding into and feeding off of America's false left-right political paradigm.

In one post on social media, McFaul would claim:

Why can’t Trump leverage his close personal relationship with Putin to get Russia to abide by the INF Treaty?

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Monday, October 29, 2018

Khashoggi Cover-Up Underway

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed this week to reveal the “naked truth” about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; however, in fact, he didn't uncover anything extraordinary, but why?

It is significant that the day before Erdogan’s much-hyped speech to Turkish parliamentarians, President Donald Trump dispatched his CIA chief to Turkey to “investigate” the evidence of Khashoggi’s killing.

The involvement of the CIA at such a high level in an overseas criminal case is unprecedented. Surely, FBI crime investigators would have been more appropriate, if at all.

What was the real purpose of CIA director Gina Haspel going to Turkey? Haspel, or “Bloody Gina” as she is known, has an ignominious record of being personally involved in past CIA torture cases and destroying incriminating evidence. Was her trip to Turkey not so much about discovery of facts, and rather more about covering-up the truth of what really happened to Khashoggi?

It is subsequently reported by the Washington Post that Haspel listened to the secret Turkish audiotapes recording the moments of Khashoggi’s murder.

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Thursday, October 25, 2018

Dangerous Crossroads: Extensive Russian and Allied War Games in Response to US-NATO Military Buildup

Barely reported by the Western media, Russia has launched a series of war games in Europe and the Far East together with several of its allies.  These war games are largely in response to NATO’s military buildup on Russia’s Western frontier, in Eastern Europe, The Baltic States and Scandinavia.

They also coincide with Donald Trump’s decision to repeal the 1987 INF agreement signed between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (INF), “aimed to eliminate short and medium range nuclear missiles.”

We are at a dangerous crossroads in our history. The broader public must be informed, particularly in NATO countries. It is crucial to restore sanity in international diplomacy to prevent the unthinkable. 

Examine the overlapping chronology of these war games. (September-December 2018).

The structure of military alliances has shifted. Russia and China have harnessed the support of two of Washington’s (former?) allies, namely India and Pakistan, both of which are now full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). 

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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Julian Assange Should be Thanked - not Smeared - for Wikileaks' Service to Journalism

Twelve years ago this month, WikiLeaks began publishing government secrets that the world public might otherwise never have known. What it has revealed about state duplicity, human rights abuses and corruption goes beyond anything published in the world’s “mainstream” media. 

After over six months of being cut off from outside world, on 14 October Ecuador has partly restored Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s communications with the outside world from its London embassy where the founder has been living for over six years.

The treatment - real and threatened - meted out to Assange by the US and UK governments contrasts sharply with the service Wikileaks has done their publics in revealing the nature of elite power, as shown in the following snapshot of Wikileaks' revelations about British foreign policy in the Middle East. 

Conniving with the Saudis

Whitehall’s special relationship with Riyadh is exposed in an extraordinary cable from 2013 highlighting how Britain conducted secret vote-trading deals with Saudi Arabia to ensure both states were elected to the UN human rights council. Britain initiated the secret negotiations by asking Saudi Arabia for its support.

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Friday, October 19, 2018

Skripal and Khashoggi: A Tale of Two Disappearances

Two disappearances, and two very different responses from Western governments, which illustrates their rank hypocrisy.

When former Russian spy Sergei Skripal went missing in England earlier this year, there was almost immediate punitive action by the British government and its NATO allies against Moscow. By contrast, Western governments are straining with restraint towards Saudi Arabia over the more shocking and provable case of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The outcry by Western governments and media over the Skripal affair was deafening and resulted in Britain, the US and some 28 other countries expelling dozens of Russian diplomats on the back of unsubstantiated British allegations that the Kremlin tried to assassinate an exiled spy with a deadly nerve agent. The Trump administration has further tightened sanctions citing the Skripal incident.

London’s case against Moscow has been marked by wild speculation and ropey innuendo. No verifiable evidence of what actually happened to Sergei Skripal (67) and his daughter Yulia has been presented by the British authorities. Their claim that President Vladimir Putin sanctioned a hit squad armed with nerve poison relies on sheer conjecture.

All we know for sure is that the Skripals have been disappeared from public contact by the British authorities for more than seven months, since the mysterious incident of alleged poisoning in Salisbury on March 4.

Read the entire article

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Trump Goes "Postal", Abandons 144-Year-Old 'Unfair' Shipping Treaty With China

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018

1776 IRAN: TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR IRANIAN POPULIST MOVEMENT RESTART

Weeks before the Trump administration’s embargo takes effect against the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Trump signals his support for the Iranian people.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media continues to ignore the people of Iran, so it is up to Infowars to tell their story

Here, we tell you the plight of the Iranian people.

We tell the story of how an exiled Iranian TV celebrity mobilized the youth of his nation to stand up against tyranny and demand freedom.

This is the story of RESTART.

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Monday, October 15, 2018

Did Saudis, CIA Fear Khashoggi 9/11 Bombshell?

The macabre case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi raises the question: did Saudi rulers fear him revealing highly damaging information on their secret dealings? In particular, possible involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York in 2001.

Even more intriguing are US media reports now emerging that American intelligence had snooped on and were aware of Saudi officials making plans to capture Khashoggi prior to his apparent disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. If the Americans knew the journalist’s life was in danger, why didn’t they tip him off to avoid his doom?

Jamal Khashoggi (59) had gone rogue, from the Saudi elite’s point of view. Formerly a senior editor in Saudi state media and an advisor to the royal court, he was imminently connected and versed in House of Saud affairs. As one commentator cryptically put it: “He knew where all the bodies were buried.”

For the past year, Khashoggi went into self-imposed exile, taking up residence in the US, where he began writing opinion columns for the Washington Post.

Khashoggi’s articles appeared to be taking on increasingly critical tone against the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 33-year-old Crown Prince, or MbS as he’s known, is de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, in place of his aging father, King Salman.

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Dan Bongino Discusses Khashoggi Disappearance

Thursday, October 11, 2018

As Nikki Haley Resigns, Critics Forced to Clarify That "Pro-War, Pro-Imperialist" Sycophant for Trump Is No "Moderate"

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley unexpectedly announced her resignation on Tuesday, but informed critics are raising their voices in the aftermath of the news to make sure nobody gets away with describing the outgoing diplomat—who said she will serve in the position until the end of the year—as anything other than what she is: a sycophant for President Donald Trump and a horrible war-monger who used her powerful position to push a neoconservative foreign policy while undermining global goodwill, overtly attacking human rights, and making the world a more dangerous place.While some news outlets and commenters ignored historical evidence as they attempted to frame Haley as a "moderate" voice in the Trump administration and Republicans applauded her "moral clarity," progressive critics hit back hard against such blatantly false characterizations.

"Moderate?" exclaimed political commentator Amir Amini in a tweet responding the New York Times' story about the surprise resignation. "Haley spent every minute of her time at the UN threatening innocent nations w/ war, terror and literally bullying and trying to blackmail (and miserably failing) the entire [world] into supporting her agenda dictated by the military industrial complex."

Blasting CNN for whitewashing the record, Medea Benjamin of CodePink didn't have a hard time cataloging some of Haley's most deplorable accomplishments while at the UN:

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Tuesday, October 9, 2018

The Coming Military Vision of State Censorship

At TruePublica, we have continually warned that in Britain the government is becoming ever more authoritarian with its underhand attack on civil liberty and human rights. We have warned about the illegality of mass surveillance and state intrusion into the privacy of every citizen. We have warned about sweeping new police powers, the use of secret courts and new laws designed to protect the state and corporations from the scrutiny and criticisms of the people and we have warned that democracy in Britain is being eroded in favour of a political elite whose power they want entrenched. This is demonstrated no better than recent events in a meeting held in Austalia of new state censorship rules.

A key meeting of cabinet members from the US-led Five Eyes (UK,US, Aus, Can, NZ) global spying network was held in Australia in late August, which went totally unreported by the mainstream media, mainly because Britain’s representative used the cloak of Brexit to disguise it, ironically via social media.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton hosted the summit. Leading the other delegations were US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid, along with Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and New Zealand Justice Minister Andrew Little.

On the agenda, these ‘Five-Eyes’ officials castigated the major tech transnationals for not meeting with them.  An accompanying “Joint Statement on Countering the Illicit Use of Online Spaces” demanded that these internet corporations toe the line and clamp down on social media and algorithms producing results, not in the state interest.

Read the entire article

Friday, October 5, 2018

PayPal Dumps Alex Jones; Still Handles SPLC

PayPal finally joined other Big Tech giants in attacking Alex Jones and his Infowars empire, dumping the conservative conspiracy theorist from its site.

The leftist Internet purchasing platform, which handles buying and selling goods online, targeted Jones because he retails “hate speech.” This, we are told, violates PayPal’s policies.

The money-changing giant joined Apple, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in waging war against Jones. The generalissimo in charge of the campaign was CNN’s senior media writer, Oliver Darcy.

No Policy Violation

PayPal’s notice gave Jones 10 days to find a new vendor to handle payments, The New York Times reported. “PayPal handles all transactions, including credit cards, for the Infowars online store.”

Yet Paypal admitted Jones did nothing wrong. “PayPal said it had made its decision not because of any policy violation but because Infowars’ ‘promotion of hate and discrimination runs counter to our core value of inclusion.’”

Said PayPal, “Our values are the foundation for the decision we made this week.”

PayPal, it seems, has joined the other tech giants in a war to destroy Jones.

Read the entire article

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Palestine-Israel and Trump’s Two-State Solution: News That Was No News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In answer to a question as to whether or not he supported a two-state solution, he responded

“I like the two-state solution. I like the two-state solution,” repeating it twice, as if for emphasis.

Then looking at Netanyahu he again said,

“I like the two-state solution. Yeah, that’s what I think works best. I don’t even have to talk to anybody, that’s my feeling. Now, you may have a different feeling—I don’t think so—but I think two-state solution works best.”

Later, at another press event, in remarks that were rambling and at times incoherent, he said,

I think we’re going to go down the two-state road, and I’m glad I got it out… You know what I did today? By saying that I put it out and if you ask most people in Israel, they agree with that, but nobody wanted to say it. It is a big thing that I put it out. Now the bottom line, if the Israelis and Palestinians want one state, that’s okay with me. If they want two states, that’s okay with me. I’m happy if they’re happy. I’m a facilitator… I think probably two states is more likely…

I think it is in one way more difficult because it is a real estate deal because you need metes and bounds and you need lots of carve-outs and everything. It’s actually a little tougher deal, but another way it works better because you have people governing themselves.

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Monday, October 1, 2018

Israel: The Nuclear Hegemon That Poses a Potential Threat to Europe

It is calculated that in addition to the secret arsenal of up to 400 nuclear warheads, according to American Scientists, the Israeli state also reportedly possesses chemical and/or biological WMD, making it a dangerous nuclear hegemon that poses a potential threat not only to the Middle East but also to Europe.  Neither France nor Britain nor Germany can equal Israeli state nuclear weaponisation on both land and sea.

This calculation is based on the fact that the state of Israel is the only WMD state to refuse to be a party to either the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) or the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) which are international arms control treaties that outlaw the production, stockpiling, and use or transfer of chemical or biological weapons and their precursors.

These conventions are administered by the OPCW international, intergovernmental Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons  based in The Hague, Netherlands to which virtually every U.N. member state is a party, with the exception of Israel.

Furthermore, the state of Israel is the only nuclear weapons state in the world that is undeclared and which is also outside of the inspection of the U.N. and the authority of the Security Council.

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