EN-AB – Apokalyps Nu!

‘It was to blame Russia from the beginning’: Malaysia PM fires back at MH17 probe

Posted by EN-AB in Blame, Russia

20-06-19 08:36:00,

Malaysia is “unhappy” about the findings of the Dutch-led inquiry into the MH17 crash, which pointed the finger at Russia even before the probe began, the country’s PM said, noting that there was more politics than fact-finding.

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s prime minister, voiced his unease after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) revealed the latest results of the investigation. The group was quick to implicate Moscow – and this is why, according to the PM, Malaysia isn’t convinced of the probe’s integrity.

We are very unhappy. From the very beginning, it became a political issue on how to accuse Russia of the wrongdoing.

“Even before they examined the case, they have already claimed it [the shooting down of MH17] was done by Russia,” the prime minister said as cited by the local media.

On Wednesday, the JIT flagged four individuals – three Russians and one Ukrainian – as key suspects in the tragedy.

The investigators accuse them of playing a significant role in shooting down the MH17, by receiving a surface-to-air Buk missile, allegedly from Russia. Both Moscow and the international investigators agree that the Malaysian Boeing, with 298 people on board, was taken down by a Buk missile.

Also on rt.com
We regret ‘baseless’ accusations by intl probe Russian military complicit in MH17 crash – Moscow

Moscow, however, insists the Buk belonged to the Ukrainian military, and was a type of missile not in service in the armed forces of Russia anymore.

Malaysia, which has kept an eye on the investigation since its inception, wants “proof of guilt [that Russia did it].”

So far, “there is no proof, only hearsay,” Mahathir insisted.

The crash was also investigated by the Dutch Safety Board, which focused on the technical part of the tragedy. Notably, it criticized Ukraine for not closing the airspace during the 2014 armed conflict in the east which also contributed to the fatal incident. However, their final report contained many “inconsistencies” and “unsubstantiated claims,” Moscow has said.

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Guns as religion: Trump’s envoy calls for armed guards at synagogues & Jewish schools

Posted by EN-AB in Religion, Trump

19-06-19 09:01:00,

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for combating anti-Semitism has called for an armed presence at Jewish institutions across the US, insisting synagogues, schools and community centers beef up on security.

The appointee, Elan Carr, said American Jews face a “time of danger” and must take steps to protect themselves from attacks and persecution, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“Any synagogue, every JCC [Jewish community center], should have guards,” Carr told an interviewer on Wednesday at a conference in Israel. “God willing, may they never be needed, but they should be there.”

President Trump tapped Carr to be the State Department’s pointman on anti-Semitism issues in February, after complaints from Democrats and Jewish advocacy groups pressured him to fill the position, which sat vacant for the first two years of his term.

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Imagine suggesting Jews couldn’t govern themselves? Kushner’s remarks on Palestinians slammed

Carr also spoke at the conference of the president’s commitment to protecting Jewish minorities in the US and around the world.

“The rhetoric of the president couldn’t be clearer,” he said. “Every time the president speaks on this issue, he calls it [anti-Semitism] a vile poison that must be rooted out.”

Some Jews reject Carr’s description of the president, however, and argue his policies and rhetoric actually put Jewish communities in more danger. In a recent survey of 1,000 American Jewish voters, nearly 60 percent of respondents said Trump “bears at least some responsibility” for recent synagogue shootings in Pennsylvania and California. Seventy-three percent said they thought Jews were less safe in the US than they were two years ago.

Also on rt.com
Police should guard every synagogue, Jewish school & daycare in Germany – Merkel

In his proposal for armed guards at Jewish institutions, Carr may have taken pointers from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made a similar suggestion in May as one way to address rising anti-Semitism in Germany.

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Chlorpyrifos: The Most Dangerous Pesticide You’ve Never Heard of – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Chlorpyrifos, Dangerous

19-06-19 05:23:00,

Scientists say there is no acceptable dose to avoid brain damage. Its use is banned in several European countries. Yet its residues are found in fruit baskets, on dinner plates, and in human urine samples from all over Europe. Now producers are pushing for a renewed EU approval – perhaps in vain.

The name is chlorpyrifos. Here is why the chemical and its risks are almost unknown to the public.

Chlorpyrifos kills insects on growing vegetables and fruit.

Thomas Backhaus, professor for ecotoxicology and environmental science at the University of Gothenburg, says that the substance took a long time to be recognised as one of the “nasty” ones.

Image on the right: Philippe Grandjean, professor in environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark and Harvard School of Public Health in the US, notes that brain damage connected to chlorpyrifos have been found at the lowest detectable dose (Photo: Marcos Garcia Rey)

“In comparison with glyphosate, the active substance in Roundup, chlorpyrifos has been flying under the radar. When we talk of herbicides like glyphosate that kill weed humans can cope because we don’t have chlorophyll and don’t get directly affected. When we talk about insecticides, you have the problem that they affect all developing animals, including humans,” he says.

Backhaus’ concerns are well known in academic circles and shared by other researchers.

Philippe Grandjean, professor in environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark and Harvard School of Public Health in the US, notes that brain damage connected to chlorpyrifos have been found at the lowest detectable dose.

“That means by definition that you can’t define a dose tolerable for consumption – that dose must be zero,” he says.

The poisonous effect of chlorpyrifos on insects is not disputed.

The unresolved question is to what extent the usage of chlorpyrifos is dangerous to all living organisms like fish in nearby waters or farm workers in the fields, or to anybody eating the treated products.

The spread

Tests of food samples in all EU countries in 2016 show chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl in 5.5 percent of the 76,200 samples,

Synthesis Technology, Artificial Intelligence and “Deap-Fake” Videos: “I Don’t Think the Public Is Aware of What’s Coming” – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Synthesis, Technology

19-06-19 05:16:00,

“I don’t think we’re well prepared at all. And I don’t think the public is aware of what’s coming,” said the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He was discussing the rapid advance of synthesis technology. This new artificial intelligence capability allows competent programmers to create audio and video of anyone, saying absolutely anything.

The creations are called “deepfakes” and however outrageous they may be, they’re virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

No sooner had we adjusted to a world where our reality seemed fake, then things that are fake became our reality.

“We’re outgunned,” said a UC Berkeley digital-forensics expert, “The number of people now working on video-synthesis outnumber those working on detecting deepfakes by 100-1.”

Twitter suspended 4,779 accounts it believed are associated with Iran’s theocratic leaders. It republished every tweet sent by these accounts to help researchers analyze and spot behavioral patterns. Already two-thirds of Americans say altered images and videos have become a major problem for understanding the basic facts of current events.

Misinformation researchers warn of growing “reality apathy” whereby it takes so much effort to distinguish between what’s real and fake that we simply give up and rely on our base instincts, tribal biases, impulses. Immersed in our leader’s deceits, we come to believe in nothing. Two oil tankers burst into flames, billowing smoke.

On cue, a suspicious Iranian Revolutionary Guard boat appeared on grainy video. Viral images flooded earth’s nine billion screens. Each side told a different story. No one quite knew who to trust. Conspiracy theories filled the void, as we each clung to what we most want to believe. And as truth slowly slipped away, we turned to market prices as our proxy for reality; oil prices fell, stocks rallied, volatility declined.

But of course, it is precisely because market prices still retain some reflection of reality that our policy makers and politicians work so desperately to manipulate them.

*

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Video: 200 Israeli Nuclear Weapons Targeted against Iran – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Israeli, Video

19-06-19 01:17:00,

This incisive article by award winning author Manlio Dinucci was first published in May 2019

The decision by the United States to exit the Iranian nuclear agreement – signed in 2015 by Teheran with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – causes a situation of extreme danger not only in the Middle East.

To understand the implications of such decision, taken under pressure by Israel that describes the agreement as “the surrender of the West to the axis of evil led by Iran”, we must start from a precise fact: Israel has the Bomb, not Iran.

For over fifty years, Israel has been producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona plant, built with the help mainly of France and the United States. It is not subject to inspections because Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, does not adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed fifty years ago.

The evidence that Israel produces nuclear weapons was revealed more than thirty years ago by Mordechai Vanunu, who had worked in the Dimona plant: published by The Sunday Times on October 5, 1986, after being screened by leading nuclear weapons experts. Vanunu, kidnapped by the Mossad in Rome and transported to Israel, was sentenced to 18 years of hard jail time and, after being released in 2004, subject to severe restrictions.

Israel has today (though without admitting it) an arsenal estimated at 100-400 nuclear weapons, including new generation mini-nukes and neutron bombs, and produces plutonium and tritium in such quantities as to build hundreds more.

The Israeli nuclear warheads are ready to launch on ballistic missiles, such as the Jericho 3, and on F-15 and F-16 fighter bombers supplied by the USA, to which the F-35 are now added.

As confirmed by the numerous IAEA inspections, Iran has no nuclear weapons and commits not to produce them, according to the agreement under strict international control.

However – writes former US Secretary of State Colin Powell on March 3, 2015 in an email that has come to light –

“the boys in Tehran know Israel has 200 nuclear weapons, all targeted on Tehran,

Ron Paul Warns: Medical IDs Are The Enemy Of Privacy, Liberty, & Health

Posted by EN-AB in Medical, Warns

19-06-19 09:34:00,

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Last week, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill amendment to repeal the prohibition on the use of federal funds to create a “unique patient identifier.” Unless this prohibition, which I originally sponsored in 1998, is reinstated, the federal government will have the authority to assign every American a medical ID.

This ID will be used to store and track every American’s medical history.

A unique patient identifier would allow federal bureaucrats and government-favored special interests to access health information simply by entering an individual’s unique patient ID into a database. This system would also facilitate the collection of health information without a warrant by surveillance state operatives.

The health records database could easily be linked to other similar databases, such as those containing gun purchase records or education records. If mandatory E-Verify becomes law, the health records database could even be linked to it, allowing employers to examine a potential employee’s medical history.

The possibility that the unique patient identifier system may be linked to a database containing information regarding gun ownership is especially disturbing given the bipartisan support for “red flag” laws. These laws allow the government to deny respect for someone’s Second Amendment rights without due process and based solely on an allegation that the individual is mentally unstable and likely to commit an act of gun violence. Combining red flag laws with the unique patient identifier system would leave a gun owner who ever sought psychiatric help for any reason at risk of losing his ability to legally possess a gun.

Unscrupulous government officials could use medical information to harass those whose political activities challenge the status quo. Anyone who doubts this should ask themselves what a future J. Edgar Hoover or Lois Lerner would do with access to the medical information of those involved in political movements he wishes to silence.

The unique patient identifier undermines one of the foundations of quality health care: the doctor-patient relationship. Accurate diagnosis requires that patients share intimate details about their lives — ranging from details about their diet and exercise habits to their sexual history and alcohol and drug use — with their physicians.

Meet The Mini-BOT: Italy Will Break Up The Eurozone

Posted by EN-AB in Italy, Mini-BOT

19-06-19 09:17:00,

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

A crisis is brewing in the Eurozone and it’s not even on mainstream media radar. Italy is at the center of the crisis.

BOT stands for Buoni Ordinari del Tesoro (Ordinary Treasury Bonds).

Mini means the denomination is smaller than the lowest denomination of regular treasury bonds, which is €1,000, thus “Mini-BOT”.

Il minibot da 100 euro fronte/retro come l’abbiamo immaginato qui, su twitter, alla luce del sole. Con una votazione che ha visto Enrico Mattei e la sua Urbino prevalere su Camillo e Adriano Olivetti, Pietro Ferrero e Giovanni Agnelli. pic.twitter.com/iO19W0LkRN

— Claudio Borghi A. (@borghi_claudio) June 9, 2019

The Italian government, led unofficially by deputy prime ministers Matteo Salvini (League) and Luigi Di Maio (Five Star Movement) both support the idea of a parallel currency.

The technocrat prime minister, Giuseppe Cont, is not calling the shots and threatened to resign over this issue.

ECB president, Mario Draghi, proclaimed “Mini-BOTs are either money and then they are illegal, or they are debt and then the stock of debt goes up. I don’t think there is a third possibility.”

Possibility Three

A week ago, I noted possibility number three in Italy’s Mini-BOT Trojan Horse Could Blow Up the Eurozone.

Possibility three is a Trojan horse designed as a stepping stone to get Italy out of the Eurozone.

Boiling Point

The Telegraph reports Italian Tensions Hit Boiling Point Over Plans for ‘Currency’ to Rival the Euro.

The two parties that make up the fractious governing alliance – the hard-Right League and the Five Star Movement – want to introduce a new type of government bond that would be used to pay off the state’s debts to companies and individuals.

Both the League and Five Star are deeply eurosceptic and have in the past mooted the idea of abandoning the common currency, with Matteo Salvini, the League’s combative leader, last year calling the euro “a mistaken experiment that has damaged jobs and the Italian economy“.

The idea of introducing mini-BOTs has alarmed Europe,

Report: US Planning “Massive” Airstrike On An Iranian Facility

Posted by EN-AB in planning, report

18-06-19 04:11:00,

According to a new article from English-language Israeli publication The Jerusalem Post, the Hebrew-language Israeli publication Maariv has reported that diplomatic sources in the UN are assessing a US plan to conduct a “massive” airstrike on “an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program” in response to alleged attacks on two sea vessels in the Gulf of Oman.

“The sources added that President Trump himself was not enthusiastic about a military move against Iran, but lost his patience on the matter and would grant Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is pushing for action, what he wants,” The Jerusalem Post reports.

This news comes after public statements by Pompeo that the US is considering a “full range of options” against Iran. It also comes as 1,000 additional US troops are being sent to the Middle East to “address air, naval, and ground-based threats” there. It also comes amid sightings of depraved war criminal Henry Kissinger at the Pentagon.

So that’s great.

in response to unproven claim that Iran attacked a Japanese tanker in the Persian Gulf the US is going to bomb an Iranian nuclear facility. https://t.co/Ck5YtoVAOV

— Arash Karami (@thekarami) June 17, 2019

Spotted today at the Pentagon: former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) June 17, 2019

Many comparisons are being made today between the unforgivable Iraq invasion and the agendas that this administration is attempting to advance in Iran, and rightly so. But make no mistake, Iran is not Iraq. A full-scale war against Iran would be many times more deadly, costly and destabilizing than Iraq; the UK’s Admiral Lord West told The Daily Star Online last month that winning such a war would require no less than a million troops. And it’s not difficult to imagine how the Trump administration’s brinkmanship could lead to all-out war.

If the US does decide to attack Iran over the highly suspicious Gulf of Oman allegations, for example, it’s not difficult to imagine a scenario in which Iran defends itself or retaliates and kills US servicemen. Once you’ve got the names and faces of US military personnel blaring on news screens all across America,

China Warns: US About To Open “Pandora’s Box” In Middle East

Posted by EN-AB in China, Warns

18-06-19 03:48:00,

Just after the Pentagon announced late Monday it is sending 1,000 additional US troops to the Middle East in response to soaring tensions with Iran over last week’s tanker attack incident, China has urged the world to stand down from opening “Pandora’s Box” in the Middle East.

A top Beijing official, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi, specifically called on the United States to cease its “extreme pressure” campaign against Iran. Notably, this came after he met Syria’s foreign minister in the Chinese capital.

“We call on all sides to remain rational and exercise restraint, and not take any escalatory actions that irritate regional tensions, and not open a Pandora’s box,” Wang said. “In particular, the U.S. side should alter its extreme pressure methods,” Wang said.

Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at Diaoyutai state guesthouse in Beijing, China May 13, 2018. Image source: Reuters

“Any unilateral behavior has no basis in international law. Not only will it not resolve the problem, it will only create an even greater crisis,” the Chinese State Councillor said.

Wang voiced Beijing’s fear that a coming clash in the Persian Gulf would set the whole region on fire, a sentiment also recently echoed by Russian officials, and advanced the nuclear deal as the only legitimate and feasible path forward.

“We understand that relevant parties may have different concerns but first of all the comprehensive nuclear deal should be properly implemented,” he continued. “We hope that Iran is cautious with its decision-making and not lightly abandon this agreement.”

Wang called on Iran to exercise prudence amid the growing crisis, while also noting Tehran has “legitimate lawful rights and interests,” according to Reuters.

Crucially, China and Iran maintain close energy ties, and China has been a key power helping Tehran to attempt to circumvent US sanctions by importing Iranian oil, and ignoring Washington’s pressure on international players to abide by its ban.

The foreign ministers of both countries have met frequently within the past years since the P5+1 nuclear deal, of which China is a signatory, including already twice in 2019.

False Identities Become the New Weapon: War with Iran Promoted by Fake Journalists – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in False, Identities

18-06-19 02:58:00,

One of the claims made about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election was that Kremlin-controlled entities were using fake identities to create dissension and confusion on social network sites. This should surprise no one, if it is true, as intelligence operatives have been using false names since Sumerian times.

The concern over fake identities no doubt comes from the deception involved, meaning that if you are dealing with a real person you at least have some handle on making as assessment of what something means and what is likely to occur. A false persona, however, can pretend to be anything and can advocate or do something without any yardstick to measure what is actually taking place. In other words, if Mike Pompeo says something you know that he is a liar and can judge his words accordingly but if it is someone otherwise unknown named Qwert Uiop you have to wonder if he or she just might be telling the truth. You might even give them the benefit of the doubt.

A prime example of a false internet persona has recently surfaced in the form of an alleged “activist” invented by the Iranian terrorist group Mojahedin e Khalq (MEK). MEK is a curious hybrid creature in any event in that it pretends to be an alternative government option for Iran even though it is despised by nearly all Iranians. At the same time, it is greatly loved by the Washington Establishment which would like to see the Mullahs deposed and replaced by something more amenable to western and Israeli worldviews.

MEK is run like a cult by its leader Maryam Rajavi, with a number of rules that restrict and control the behavior of its members. One commentary likens membership in MEK to a modern day equivalent of slavery. The group currently operates out of a secretive, heavily guarded 84 acre compound in Albania that is covertly supported by the United States, as well as through a “political wing” front office in Paris, where it refers to itself as the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

MEK, which is financially supported by Saudi Arabia, stages events in the United States in Europe where it generously pays politicians like John Bolton,

US-India Military Cooperation: Pompeo Might Have the “Perfect Carrot” to Dangle in Front of Modi’s Mouth – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Military, US-India

18-06-19 02:34:00,

The US is planning to include India on its International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) list in order to place it at par with its NATO allies, “Israel”, and a few others for the export of high-level military technologies, which could be the perfect carrot for Pompeo to dangle in front of Modi’s mouth during his visit to the South Asian state next week in order to get him to ditch Russia, and it might actually end up being part of the “surprise” that he recently hinted he has in store for his hosts.

The Indian press is full of reports about the country’s possibly forthcoming inclusion on the US’ International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) list after two senators inserted the relevant amendments into a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2020. Should it pass into law by the end of the year, then India would be legally at par with America’s NATO allies, “Israel“, and a few others for the export of twenty categories of high-level military technologies including ballistic missiles, drones, spacecraft systems, nuclear weapons simulation tools, and directed energy weapons, et al. This could be a real game-changer for its military capabilities and help it to more confidently “contain” China at the US’ behest per their shared “Indo-Pacific” vision, though the Pentagon probably won’t allow India to have this privilege so long as it retains its military partnership with Russia.

Alice Wells, the head of the State Department’s South and Central Asia bureau, implied as much last week in a testimony to lawmakers about the possible consequences of India’s refusal to reconsider its S-400 deal with Russia, which she said could include both CAATSA sanctions and the imposition of severe limits on the country’s military interoperability with the US. If India bends to American pressure and ditches Russia in exchange for THAADs, Patriots, and possibly even F-35s like its Ambassador to the US strongly hinted New Delhi is deliberating doing, then it can avoid this self-inflicted harm to its new military-strategic alliance with Washington though at the expense of its old one with Moscow. The “surprise” that Pompeo suggested that he has in store for his hosts during his upcoming visit to the South Asian state next week might be a formal offer to put India on the ITAR list if it decisively pivots away from Russia.

Israel has 80-90 nukes, SIPRI report says, as Tel Aviv continues to accuse Iran of nuclear obsession

Posted by EN-AB in Israel, nukes

18-06-19 02:33:00,

Israel, which routinely accuses Iran of trying to obtain nuclear weapons and pledges to use force to stop Tehran, maintains its own undeclared nuclear arsenal estimated at 80 to 90, according to the latest report by SIPRI.

There are nine nations in the world that currently have nuclear weapons, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in its newly released yearbook on the state of armaments and international security. The world nuclear stockpile went from 14,465 at the beginning of last year to about 13,865 this year, the report estimates, as the US and Russia were delivering on their promises under the New START Treaty signed in 2010.

Israel, which maintains a policy of neither confirming nor denying the possession of nuclear weapons, has between 80 and 90 warheads in its stockpile, the same as the year before, the institute said.

It comes as tensions between Iran on one side, and the US and regional ally Israel on the other, continue to mount. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s unsinkable prime minister, has for years waged a campaign accusing the Iranians of having unwavering nuclear ambitions, regardless of the evidence, or lack thereof.

Also on rt.com
‘Arts & crafts show’ can’t hide Israel’s secretive WMD program, Iranian FM says

In 2012, the Israeli leader famously brought a diagram to a UN General Assembly session, purporting to show Iran’s progress in acquiring a nuclear device, with a literal red line drawn on it. With Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Israel has doubled down on the theatrical approach, treating the world to a tall tale about a daring spy operation that managed to steal troves of nuclear documents from a secret warehouse in Tehran. The presentation was meant to prove Tehran’s duplicity, though experts pointed out that most of the documents revealed were old and known to Iran watchers.

Back then, Iran fired back, saying that “no arts & craft show will ever obfuscate that Israel is only regime in our region with a *secret* and *undeclared* nuclear weapons program.”

Netanyahu’s latest jab at Iran came last week. The prime minister said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was “accelerating its nuclear program,

NATO Consolidation: The “Baltic Reassurance Act” Is a Ruse for Provoking Russia – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Baltic, Consolidation

18-06-19 02:32:00,

The proposed “Baltic Reassurance Act” aims to more closely integrate the Baltic countries into NATO, but its most controversial clause is the suggestion that “the United States should lead a multilateral effort to develop a strategy to deepen joint capabilities with [those three countries], NATO allies, and other regional partners”, strongly implying that this legislation is a ruse for provoking Russia by facilitating non-NATO-members Finland and Sweden’s military interoperability with the bloc under the pretext of protecting the Baltics.

Texas Republican Congressman Michael Conaway introduced the so-called “Baltic Reassurance Act” into the House earlier this month, which recently drew the attention of Russian Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky who alleged that its true purpose is to push American arms onto the countries abutting Russia’s borders. While that’s certainly true, there might actually be a bit more of an anti-Russian provocation brewing if this bill ultimately enters into law judging by its ultra-controversial clause that “the United States should lead a multilateral effort to develop a strategy to deepen joint capabilities with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, NATO allies, and other regional partners”, with a key emphasis being placed on the last-mentioned “regional partners”.

The only realistic countries that this could refer to are non-NATO-members Finland and Sweden, making it suspiciously seem like this legislation is a ruse for facilitating those countries’ military interoperability with the bloc under the pretext of protecting the Baltics from so-called “Russian aggression”. The case being made in the text is that these former Soviet Republics are supposedly vulnerable to a lightning-fast military attack from their neighbor, one which might be so quick that it overwhelms NATO’s troops there and succeeds before the bloc can call in reinforcements. In the extremely unlikely chance that this fringe scenario comes to pass, the only real recourse that the US believes it can have is to rely on its its nearby “NATO allies, and other regional partners” to buy time before its own forces can arrive en masse to the area of operations.

It’s here where Poland (the US’ top NATO ally), Finland, and Sweden are envisaged as having a role to play. The first-mentioned country used to be part of the same historical Great Power as Lithuania during the centuries of their Commonwealth,

False Flags: The Process of “False Flagging” the World towards War. The CIA Weaponizes Hollywood – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in False, Flags

18-06-19 01:01:00,

This article was first published by GR in December 2014

Almost all wars begin with false flag operations.

The coming conflicts in North Korea and Russia are no exception.

Mass public hysteria is being manufactured to justify aggression against Moscow and Pyongyang, in retaliation for acts attributed to the North Korean and Russian governments, but orchestrated and carried out by the CIA and the Pentagon.

The false flagging of North Korea: CIA weaponizes Hollywood

The campaign of aggression against North Korea, from the hacking of Sony and the crescendo of noise over the film, The Interview, bears all the markings of a CIA false flag operation.

The hacking and alleged threats to moviegoers has been blamed entirely on North Korea, without a shred of credible evidence beyond unsubstantiated accusations by the FBI. Pyongyang’s responsibility has not been proven. But it has already been officially endorsed, and publicly embraced as fact.

The idea of “America under attack by North Korea” is a lie.

The actual individuals of the mysterious group responsible for the hacking remain conveniently unidentified. A multitude of possibilities—Sony insiders, hackers-for-hire, generic Internet vandalism—have not been explored in earnest. The more plausible involvement of US spying agencies—the CIA, the NSA, etc. , their overwhelming technological capability and their peerless hacking and surveillance powers—remains studiously ignored.

Who benefits? It is illogical for Pyongyang to have done it. Isolated, impoverished North Korea, which has wanted improved relations with the United States for years (to no avail), gains nothing by cyberattacking the United States with its relatively weak capabilities, and face the certainty of overwhelming cyber and military response. On the other hand, Washington benefits greatly from any action that leads to regime change in North Korea.

But discussion about Pyongyang’s involvement—or lack of—risks missing the larger point.

This project, from the creation of The Interview to the well-orchestrated international incident, has been guided by the CIA, the Pentagon, and the State Department from the start. It is propaganda. It is a weapon of psychological warfare. It is an especially perverted example of military-intelligence manipulation of popular culture for the purpose of war.

There is nothing funny about any of it.

Iran paralysed, by Thierry Meyssan

Posted by EN-AB in paralysed, Thierry

18-06-19 12:44:00,

This page appears to have instavanished.

Let’s forget this whole 404 thing ever happened and check out our shiny homepage.

West’s black ops like virus, secretly destroying nations until it’s too late – Russian intel chief

Posted by EN-AB in Black, virus

18-06-19 12:31:00,

Western secret services are perfecting clandestine tools which are designed to weaken countries like viruses weaken bodies, the Russian foreign intelligence chief has said. This kind of warfare is currently used in Venezuela.

The criticism came from Sergey Naryshkin, who heads Russia’s foreign intelligence agency SVR. He said spies are constantly improving the tool used to dispose of governments that the West does not like.

“We are talking about creating a universal algorithm for conducting clandestine influence operations in a continuous manner and on a global scale,” he said. According to the official, this clandestine work “never stops and targets not only enemies, but also friends and neutral powers in the times of peace, crisis and war.”

It can be compared to the action of a virus; it can spend decades destroying a human organism without symptoms, and once diagnosed, often it’s too late to treat it.

The methods used to influence and destabilize other nations include creating network-oriented structures that can operate on a premise of public activism, art, science, religion or extremism, the Russian official said. After collecting data on the fault lines in a targeted society, those structures are used to attack those weak points in a synchronized assault, overwhelming the nation’s capability to respond to crises.

Simultaneously the perpetrators push a narrative through local and global media and social networks that claims that the only way to resolve problems is to replace the government of the victim nation with another one, possibly with a direct foreign support.

“We can observe this scenario being implemented in Venezuela,” Naryshkin said.

Also on rt.com
#ICYMI: US weaponizes economy with volleys of intercontinental ballistic sanctions against bad guys

The US is currently trying to replace Venezuela’s elected President Nicolas Maduro with another person, Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognized as the legitimate head of the South American nation.

Among others, the US backs his bid with economic sanctions against Venezuela and a massive diplomatic and media campaign in support of the pretender. Guaido’s attempts to actually seize power in Caracas have been futile, so far.

The Russian intelligence chief was speaking at an international security forum in Ufa,

Gay Pride Weaponized by CIA in Georgia | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AB in Pride, Weaponized

18-06-19 12:28:00,

Who said religion and politics don’t mix? Religion is one of the failsafe of any politician – lie and cheat and abuse people, and if you say that your actions are motivated by religion, everything will be forgiven. Trump was even sent to us to save Israel!

Religious groups themselves are happy to indulge the worst kinds of politicians, as long as they feel it will give them a bigger platform to do as they want. How Evangelicals can support a man like Trump, with his track record of doing everything their Bibles tell them not to, is one of the great ironies of the US political system. But they do it because they feel his sort of outsider politics gives them a bigger platform to spread their message from – they are still “voices crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23), but when that wilderness is the White House, they might be heard.

All of which makes it so much sadder that the US is so determined to fight religion as a matter of policy. The same Bible-thumpers who claim moral superiority by displaying their faith in public (Matthew 6:5) are not prepared to allow religion to inform the policies of other nations.

Whenever faith rears its head to the US and its allies, this has to be a bad thing, to be cut off it its root. We are told that Islam equals terrorism; despite the fact no Quranic scholar accepts that. Judaism equals Zionism, trying to undermine Christianity, while Christianity itself is a negative force trying to undermine secular values, as if there can be any secular values without religious ones to form a blueprint.

But it is not hard to see why this position is taken. Both common faith and tolerance of other faiths bind nations and populations together. They form a large part of individual identities and of national culture – the very things which make people believe they have value, and should be respected and listened to, and not blindly fulfil the role a greater power has assigned them.

Remember those big parades in Communist countries, where people carried banners of the leaders and demonstrated their military might and the force of their ideology? This was the only way these Godless atheists could try and supplant religion – using all the externals of religion to try and convince the public theirs was the only one—and they had been drugged with these fake religions.

Recruiting American Spies for Israel

Posted by EN-AB in American, Recruiting

18-06-19 07:13:00,

Israel never loses an opportunity to promote what it perceives to be its interests. That any nation would do just that most of the time should surprise no one, but Israel is perhaps unique in terms of how assiduously it works at creating situations that favor it through the use of corruption of foreign governments and subversion of existing institutions. For most countries, the actions of a minority that seeks to advance the interests of a foreign nation would face strong resistance, but Israel manages to get away with what it does due to the presence of powerful and wealthy diaspora communities, most particularly in the Anglophone countries, but also in France.

The Israel Lobby in the United States has been subjected to some scrutiny thanks largely to the impetus provided by Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s groundbreaking study The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. More recent revelations have come from undercover journalism undertaken by al-Jazeera, which has demonstrated how British Jewish groups and parliamentarians have worked together with Israeli Embassy intelligence officers to remove public officials believed to be critical of Israel. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, has been on the receiving end of a campaign to replace him for his alleged anti-Semitism solely because he has condemned Israeli oppression of the Palestinians. A second al-Jazeera investigation demonstrated how The Lobby, cooperating with the Israeli Embassy, has been controlling discussion of the Middle East in the United States, which should have surprised no one.

Europe indeed appears to be a hotbed of anti-Semitism, or so Israel and its friends would have us believe. Leaders in France, Germany and Britain feel compelled to frequently address the issue, making the equivalent of a war on anti-Semitism a principal objective of government. The United States has joined this effort, appointing a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism whose job includes reporting other countries’ treatment of Jews and Israel.

The newest wrinkle comes under the category of Lawfare. It consists of hate crime laws that are directed against anyone criticizing Jews and, increasingly, Israel. In fact, any criticism of Israel is frequently being seen as a criminal offense, a trend that is also evident in the United States at the national,

US planning ‘tactical assault’ on Iran in response to ‘tanker attack’ — report | The Vineyard of the Saker

Posted by EN-AB in planning, Tactical

18-06-19 07:12:00,

UN sources believe that the United States is planning to carry out a “tactical assault on Iran” in response to the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, which it blamed Tehran for without providing credible evidence.

Diplomatic sources based at the UN’s New York headquarters told the Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Maariv that they are assessing US plans to carry out the assault.

The officials claimed that the Trump administration has been holding non-stop discussions involving senior military commanders and advisers to President Donald Trump since Friday, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The plan would be for the US to launch an aerial bombardment of an Iranian facility linked to its nuclear program, the officials claims, according to the Post. One Western diplomat reportedly said the bombing will be “massive” but “limited to a specific target.”

The decision to take military action was apparently made before reports emerged that Iran was planning to increase its levels of uranium enrichment in response to heightening tensions with Washington.

The sources said Trump was not enthusiastic about a strike but had lost his patience and succumbed to influence from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been pushing for military action.

Pompeo is due to visit US Central Command at the MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday to discuss “regional security concerns and ongoing operations.”

He has repeatedly claimed that Iran is responsible for the attacks on the oil tankers, but has not provided convincing evidence.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas said last week that grainy video offered as evidence by the US was “not enough” to prove Iranian culpability – and the US version of events was challenged by the owner of the Japanese company that owns one of the tankers damaged in the attack.

The US claims of Iranian guilt for the tanker attacks were compared to the fake evidence of WMDs presented by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

That history should serve as a cautionary tale against rushing into war again, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said on Sunday.

“We didn’t forget the vials with white powder.

Ecuador Just Gave the Pentagon Permission to Use Galapagos Island as an Airstrip

Posted by EN-AB in Ecuador, Pentagon

17-06-19 08:39:00,

By Eoin Higgins

The Galapagos Islands archipelago in Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse regions in the entire world, home to a number of species found nowhere else on the planet, and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

So, naturally, the U.S. military wants to use one of its islands as an airstrip.

Ecuadorian defense minister Oswaldo Jarrín announced President Lenín Moreno’s administration’s decision to allow the Pentagon to expand an existing airfield on San Cristobal Island for U.S. spy planes targeting drug traffickers in comments to Telesur on June 12. The airport is at the southwest end of the island in the city of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

According to The Independent, “a U.S. air force Boeing 707 plane carrying radar surveillance and a Lockheed P-3 Orion plane will patrol the Pacific Ocean, using the Galapagos as a launching off point.”

The Ecuadorian National Assembly isn’t sold on the proposal. In a vote on June 13, El Universo reported, 106 of the assembly’s 137 members cleared the way for calling on Jarrín and environmental minister Marcelo Mata to appear before the chamber’s Commission of Sovereignty and International Relations.

Carlos Viteri, an assembly member from the southern region of Sarayacu, Pastaza, and a member of the Revolución Ciudadana party, said that allowing the U.S. to operate off of the airstrip was “vassalage.”

“What is being proposed by the government through the Ministry of Defense is unacceptable,” Viteri told El Universo, “and the fact that it intends to cede an inch of Ecuadorian territory should be prohibited.”

In his remarks, Jarrín said that the Galapagos Islands are a “natural aircraft carrier because it ensures permanence, replenishment, interception facilities, and is 1,000 kilometers from our coasts.”

That aircraft carrier could have an extended landing strip built on it to accommodate U.S. planes. Jarrín said that the Pentagon would pay for any needed “readjustments” to the airfield, raising concerns that Galapagos will be used as a permanent base for the U.S. military—a violation of Ecuador’s constitution, which says in Article Five that “the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign installations for military purposes will not be allowed.

Israeli media reveals Government’s Involvement in Chemical incidents by White Helmets

Posted by EN-AB in Israeli, Media

17-06-19 05:14:00,

The War Hoax Redux – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Global, redux

17-06-19 05:04:00,

The Trump administration has a problem: How to start another war – this time with Iran – without having a justifiable reason for one. No doubt members of Trump’s team, led by the war-thirsty and perdurable John Bolton, are working hard to solve this urgent problem. If they can’t find a justification, they may have to create one. Or perhaps they will find what they have already created. Whatever the solution, Americans should feel confident that their leaders, together with their Israeli and Saudi bedfellows, are not sitting on their hands. Crazy people do crazy things.

After the Gulf War in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, it slowly became apparent what alternative media and war critics had insisted was the case before and during these wars: That the U.S. government had achieved a propaganda coup by tightly controlling the media access to the truth and by getting the mainstream media (MSM) to do their bidding. This ex post facto revelation was, of course, not prime time or front page news, but was reported bit-by-bit by critics or was buried deep within the news reports. While some of the truth arrived, it did so obliquely, and corporate media devotees went back to their gullible and comforting sleep.

Yet once again Americans are being played for fools by the government and MSM. The open secret, the insider’s fact, is that the U.S. plans to attack Iran if they can seduce enough Americans that they are threatened. The Trump people know this, the corporate media shills know it, for the Bush-Clinton-Obama scenario, written years ago, is to act as if it weren’t so, to act as if a peaceful solution were being seriously considered. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc. all learned better. The U.S. never seeks a peaceful solution.

As in 1991 and 2003, the MSM play along with Trump, who repeatedly says, or has his spokespeople say, that the decision hasn’t been made and that the U.S. wants peace. Within a few hours this is contradicted and confusion and uncertainty reign, as planned. Chaos is the name of the game. But everyone in the know knows the decision to attack has been made at some level, especially once the propaganda dummies are all in place.

Will China Autos Trigger Next Economic Downturn? | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AB in Autos, China

17-06-19 10:31:00,

Sales of new cars in China, today the world’s largest automobile market, plunged a dramatic 16.4% in May, making the worst month in the history of the relatively new China auto industry. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the disastrous May sales came after declines of 14.6% in April and 5.2% in March. It is questionable if this can be blamed on the US-China trade war. The depression in China vehicle sales, however, is having a significant impact on foreign automakers, especially in Germany. Could this China turn presage a major new global economic recession or worse?

One indication that the US trade war is not the main cause is the fact that May 2019 marks the 12th consecutive month of auto sales decline in China. Sales between automakers in China and car dealers were down 44%. Moreover, domestic sales of Chinese brand autos in May were down a significant 26%. Baojun, Dongfeng and Trumpchi are Chinese brands that have fallen 40% so far this year. Only Japanese Honda and Toyota could show sales increases. Clearly something major and not good is afoot in China, the world’s second largest economy.

A clue to what is driving (pun intended) the drop was given by Xu Haidong, CAAM’s assistant secretary general. He said, “a decline in purchasing power in the low-to-middle income groups as well as expectations of government stimulus to encourage purchases” was a major cause.

Consumer debt

What the “decline in purchasing power in the low-to-middle income groups” means is the worrisome point. As I noted in an earlier piece, the years of Chinese prosperity, much like in the West, have been driven by easy credit, especially since the global financial crisis in 2008.

In 2009 China became the country producing the largest numbers of autos in the world. Many are US or Japanese or EU brands with Chinese production factories. Its car output since a decade has exceeded that of the USA and Japan combined, as well as that of the entire EU. By 2010 China was producing almost 14 million vehicles annually, largest of any nation in history and most of it for its “low-to-middle income” domestic market. China’s middle income earners saw car ownership as essential,

India Embraces Israel in Unprecedented Anti-Palestine Vote at the UN – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Embraces, India

16-06-19 04:56:00,

Thank you #India for standing with @IsraelinUN and rejecting the request of terrorist organization “Shahed” to obtain the status of an observer in #UN. Together we will continue to act against terrorist organizations that intend to harm. pic.twitter.com/erHTfuY1A1

— Maya Kadosh (@MayaKadosh) June 11, 2019

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Featured image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) seen in January 2018 [Narendra Modi/Facebook]

Did The ‘B-Team’ Overplay It’s Hand On Iran?

Posted by EN-AB in 'B-Team', Overplay

16-06-19 04:46:00,

Authored by Tom Luongo,

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has a term of endearment for Iran’s enemies, “The B-Team.”

The “B-Team” consists of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister (nee Dictator) Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed.

When we look seriously at the attacks on the oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week the basic question that comes to mind is, Cui bono? Who benefits?

And it’s easy to see how the B-Team benefits from this attack and subsequent blaming Iran for it. With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tehran opening up a dialogue on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump the threat of peace was in the air.

And none of the men on the B-Team profit from peace in the Middle East with respect to Iran. Getting Trump to stop hurling lightning bolts from the mountain top the B-Team guided him up would do nothing to help oil prices, which the Saudis and UAE need/want to remain high.

Bin Salman, in particular, cannot afford to see oil prices drop back into the $40’s per barrel. With the world awash in oil and supply tight, even with OPEC production cuts, Bin Salman is currently on very thin ice because of the Saudi Riyal’s peg to the U.S. dollar, which he can’t abandon or the U.S. will abandon them.

Falling oil prices and a rising dollar are a recipe for the death of the Saudi government, folks. Iran knows this.

Netanyahu and Bolton don’t want peace because the U.S. fighting a war with Iran serves the cause of Greater Israel and opens up the conflict in the hopes of regime change and elimination of Iran.

Bolton, as well, is finally feeling the heat of his incompetence and disloyalty to Trump, according to John Kirakau at Consortium News.

Of course, a more rational person might conclude that Bolton has done a terrible job, that the people around him have done a terrible job, that he has aired his disagreements with Trump in the media, and that the President is angry about it.

The Rise of Facial Recognition Should Scare Us All

Posted by EN-AB in Facial, Recognition

16-06-19 04:44:00,

By Derrick Broze

In the last ten years, our world has been completely transformed thanks to the exponential growth of digital technology. Technological advances with computer processors and the Internet have quickly advanced our world into one that resembles some of the most well-known sci-fi films and novels. Not a single day passes without a report on an emerging technology or new feature in an already existing product. The last ten years alone have seen rapid growth in information technology, encryption, the medical industry and 3D printing technology, just to name a few.

Unfortunately, as technology is a tool, there are equally frightening developments taking place in the first two decades of the 21st century. Specifically, the ability for governments and private actors to monitor and spy on the activity of the average person has nearly become accepted as the norm. In fact, it has become commonplace to hear Americans respond to warnings of Orwellian futures with the timeless trope, “If you’re not doing anything wrong, there’s nothing to hide!” This is what makes it all the more surprising to see a surplus of recent reports examining the dangers and implications of a world where facial recognition technology is commonplace.

Here’s a small sample of the current headlines related to facial recognition:

Even the Washington Post published a warning titled “Don’t smile for surveillance: Why airport face scans are a privacy trap.”

Questions surrounding the emerging technology have reached enough of a tipping point that just this week, House Democrats questioned the Department of Homeland Security over the use of facial recognition tech on U.S. citizens. The Hill reported that more than 20 House Democrats sent a letter on Friday to the DHS over the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) use of facial recognition technology at U.S.

‘We’re not a dumpster!’ Indonesia sends plastic, shoes & DIAPERS disguised as paper waste back to US

Posted by EN-AB in dumpster, We're

16-06-19 07:54:00,

Indonesia says it won’t become yet another world “dumping ground” after it returned five containers of waste back to the US, joining the growing number of Asian nations to recently turn away Western ‘recyclables.’

The waste arrived in Indonesia from Seattle back in March. The cargo, shipped by a Canadian company, was supposed to contain paper recycling material, but the Environment and Forestry Ministry discovered multiple “impurities” inside five containers and ordered them to be “re-exported.”

The containers were filled with “significant amounts” of various plastic waste and shoes, in addition to other rubbish such as wood scraps, fabrics and even diapers. “Although the containers were originally from Canada, the country of departure was the US,” said Waste and Hazardous Waste Management Directorate General Secretary Sayid Muhadhar.

This is not appropriate and we don’t want to be a dumping ground.

Indonesia, which has a very limited capacity to recycle even its own plastic, has a decree banning the importation of consumer plastic waste. Production waste in the form of clean paper and plastic scraps can still enter the country, if the Trade Ministry grants an import license.

Also on rt.com
Keeping out the trash? RT’s Keiser Report checks one of the biggest wars & it’s not about garbage

Any trash that enters the country illegally will immediately be sent back, Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar warned earlier this month, stressing that the government will investigate any reported malpractices and violations. Just on Friday, the Batam customs received 65 containers from North America and Europe that authorities believe might contain toxic waste, the Jakarta Post reported, noting that containers have been sealed while a lab examines the samples. The country previously returned dozens of containers filled with illegal plastic in 2015 and 2016.

Indonesia broke its decade-old record and imported a total of 283,000 tons of plastic last year, the National Statistics Agency showed. The huge 141 percent increase followed China’s January 2018 decision to stop accepting plastic waste from the rest of the world due to environmental concerns. In the past, China processed over half of the world’s trash.

Israeli Submarines Suspected of Sabotaging Shipping in Gulf of Oman. In Case of Conflict with Iran, Oil Prices could Double Overnight – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Israeli, Submarines

15-06-19 06:23:00,

It is known that the US has for long had a comprehensive and combined plan with Israel to attack Iranian targets with huge, non-nuclear, bunker-busting, 10 ton, GBU-43 air-blast bombs capable of destroying the deepest underground installations – these are the most powerful non-nuclear ordnance pieces ever produced – but first the Trump-Netanyahu war-plan needed a credible excuse.

It is also known that the Israeli military have been an integral part of that US plan to first cripple the Iranian economy with global oil sanctions and then to initiate an air and sea attack against the Iranian state and its people.

But first, a credible excuse was required. That excuse was orchestrated jointly by a belligerent Trump and Netanyahu, this week, when two oil tankers were structurally damaged by limpet mines, off the coast of Oman – subsequent to a similar action the previous week – and the sabotage immediately blamed by US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, without any evidence whatsoever, upon Iran. However, the state actor concerned was, almost certainly, not Iran but very probably the Israeli navy with its state-of-the-art, German-built, nuclear-armed submarines, covertly patrolling the deep waters of the Gulf.

Iran, of course, unlike Israel, has no nuclear weapons of mass destruction but does have a nuclear-power program and it is these non-military installations that the combined forces of the US and Israel are determined to destroy at any cost in order to further cripple Iran’s civil infrastructure in addition to enforcing a global ban on its oil so as to decimate its economy and to force, yet another, regime change.

The deliberate sabotaging of four shipping tankers in the Gulf and the too obvious accusations against Iran, indicate that US-Israeli plans for a combined attack against the Iranian state are now fairly imminent. And that fact should make the world take notice because such unwarranted and unprovoked aggression against a sovereign state could very easily escalate into a global conflict. These are very dangerous times, indeed, with an unpredictable and unstable US President determined to instigate a war in the Middle East with a committed partner who has long wanted to destroy Iran in its own bid for regional dominance.

If the conflict materialises and there is an attack against Iran by combined US-Israeli forces,

The Gulf of Credibility. False Flag, Ludicrous Allegation. Iran Rescued the Crew of the Japanese Tanker – Global Research

Posted by EN-AB in Credibility, False

15-06-19 06:21:00,

I really cannot begin to fathom how stupid you would have to be to believe that Iran would attack a Japanese oil tanker at the very moment that the Japanese Prime Minister was sitting down to friendly, US-disapproved talks in Tehran on economic cooperation that can help Iran survive the effects of US economic sanctions.

The Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous was holed above the water line. That rules out a torpedo attack, which is the explanation being touted by the neo-cons.

The second vessel, the Front Altair, is Norwegian owned and 50% Russian crewed (the others being Filipinos). It is owned by Frontline, a massive tanker leasing company that also has a specific record of being helpful to Iran in continuing to ship oil despite sanctions.

It was Iran that rescued the crews and helped bring the damaged vessels under control.

That Iran would target a Japanese ship and a friendly Russian crewed ship is a ludicrous allegation. They are however very much the targets that the USA allies in the region – the Saudis, their Gulf Cooperation Council colleagues, and Israel – would target for a false flag. It is worth noting that John Bolton was meeting with United Arab Emirates ministers two weeks ago – both ships had just left the UAE.

The USA and their UK stooges have both immediately leapt in to blame Iran. The media is amplifying this with almost none of the scepticism which is required. I cannot think of a single reason why anybody would believe this particular false flag. It is notable that neither Norway nor Japan has joined in with this ridiculous assertion.

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Will the Real Bombers Please Stand Up

Posted by EN-AB in Bombers, Please

15-06-19 01:46:00,

Who is attacking oil tankers in the Gulf between Oman and Iran? So far, the answer is still a mystery. The US, of course, accuses Iran. Iran says it’s the US or its local allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Magnetic mines are blamed for the damage, though there have been claims of torpedo use. Last month, four moored tankers were slightly damaged, though none seriously. This time the attacks were more damaging but apparently not lethal.

A few cynics have even suggested Israel may be behind the tanker attack in order to provoke war between Iran and the United States – a key Israeli goal. Or maybe it’s the Saudis whose goal is similar. The Gulf is an ideal venue for false flag attacks.

One thing appears certain. President Donald and his coterie of neocon advisers have been pressing for a major conflict with Iran for months. The US is literally trying to strangle Iran economically and strategically. By now, Israel’s hard right wing dominates US Mideast policy and appears to often call the shots at the White House and Congress.

However, this latest Iran `crisis’ is totally contrived by the Trump administration to punish the Islamic Republic for refusing to follow American tutelage, supporting the Palestinians, and menacing Saudi Arabia. Most important, the Gulf fracas is diverting public attention from Trump’s war with the lynch mob of House Democrats and personal scandals.

Many Americans love small wars. They serve as an alternative to football. Mussolini’s popularity in Italy soared after he invaded primitive Ethiopia. Americans cheered the invasions of Grenada, Haiti and Panama. However, supposed ‘cake-walk’ Iraq was not such a popular success. Memories of the fake Gulf of Tonkin clash used to drive the US into the Vietnam War are strong; so too all the lies about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction.

Curiously, Trump’s undeclared war against Iran has had unanticipated effects. Japan, which relies on Iranian oil, is furious at Washington. Last week, Japan’s very popular prime minister, Shinzo Abe, flew to Tehran to try to head off a US-Iranian confrontation and assure his nation’s oil supply – the very same reason Japan attacked the US in 1941. Abe warned an accidental war may be close.

Canada used to have warm relations with China.

Assange will never see fair trial amid ‘industrial-grade demonization campaign’ – Max Blumenthal

Posted by EN-AB in Assange, Trial

15-06-19 08:25:00,

The persecution of Julian Assange, aided and abetted by the silence of the US media, is a “warning shot” to journalists who are openly critical of the US national security state, journalist Max Blumenthal tells RT.

“I see no hope for him receiving a fair trial in a US court,” Blumenthal says, pointing out that not only the US government but its media has mustered only a “muted response” to “one of the most disturbing assaults on journalism and the First Amendment in my lifetime.”

Also on rt.com
Journalists silent on Assange’s plight are complicit in his torture and imprisonment

Assange is being made to suffer for “revealing the dirty secrets of the US national security state,” he adds. Not only the 2010 revelations of US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but “Wikileaks’ role in embarrassing Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign” have been used to turn the world against him, fueling “an industrial-grade campaign of demonization and disinformation.”

But “those of us who report critically on the machinations of the US national security state” must not give in to the intimidation campaign, Blumenthal writes. “We should respond not with caution or fear, but by redoubling our efforts.”

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Pentagon seeks to build global ‘consensus’ on Iran. Is it time to worry?

Posted by EN-AB in Pentagon, Seeks

15-06-19 08:24:00,

The Trump administration is looking to “build international consensus” against Iran following attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. But what does that actually mean? And to what end is it used?

“The focus for myself and Ambassador Bolton and Secretary Pompeo is to build international consensus to this international problem,” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters outside the Pentagon on Friday.

Shanahan went on to say that the Pentagon would contribute to this effort by sharing intelligence with allies, as it did Friday when it released a video it claims shows Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) removing an undetonated mine from the hull of one of two tankers attacked that morning.

For National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, consensus-building will likely take a different shape. Pompeo has already blamed Iran for the attack, citing non-specific “intelligence” and Tehran’s alleged history of “unprovoked attacks” in the region. The State Secretary has jetted off in search of consensus before; taking a tour of the Middle East at the beginning of the year to unite the US’ Arab allies against Iran.

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Who needs proof? Britain believes US claims on Iran because ‘they’re our closest ally’

Bolton has been clamoring for war with Iran for over a decade, advocating pre-emptive strikes on the Islamic Republic since 2008. Shaping consensus for him will likely entail more beating of the war drums on the international stage.

Rallying allies

Why build consensus at all? There are two reasons: moral and material.

The US paints itself not as the “world police” but as a moral beacon, an exemplar for “democracies” to aspire to and follow, so the more allies sign on to its cause the more legitimate it looks.

Also on rt.com
Backing Pompeo’s ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ incident is a massive anti-Iran online propaganda campaign

On a more practical level, going against Tehran is not an endeavor the US can do alone. Iran has a population of nearly 90 million people, the world’s 14th-most powerful military,

US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UK…who is behind the false flag in Gulf of Oman

Posted by EN-AB in Israel, Saudi

14-06-19 10:09:00,

First let me be clear; I greatly admired the principles that American’s used to espouse, in my lifetime; I am very fond of the majority of the people; I’ve spent in total some of years living there, in different States; it is I suppose mostly the silent majority, the ‘middle Americans’ that I am most fond of…certainly not the ‘elite’, the super rich 1% ‘ters …it has as a Country dramatically changed since 9/11….and sadly the Catch 22 that defines America today is best summed up thus:

“The United States is exceptional, just like every country is. But it has problems just like every other country has. It ought to be able to learn from other countries but it refuses, because it believes it’s exceptional…”

The above is a recent quote by eighty one year old Jared Mason Diamond, an American historian.

Let’s talk specifics.

According to a Middle Eastern English language newspaper of 12 June, “the US appears confident that boosting its military presence in the Gulf is having an impact on Iran’s behaviour in the region but insisted that the end goal is still to bring Tehran to the negotiating table”.

What does it mean when the US, at its most arrogant, says, “it is having an impact on Iran”? What bullshit. Iran, ancient Persia (the second oldest civilisation on the planet after China) doesn’t give a damn what America says or does; never did since its 1979 revolution. Nor does China for that matter.

Who is threatening who?

In the case of Iran, is Iran in the Gulf of Mexico with its Navy or is the huge American Navy in the Persian Gulf supported by numerous US Military Bases in the region threatening Iran?

Now yesterday new very serious news, a lie, was confirmed by Pompeo: “It is the assessment of the United States that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks.”on the two oil tankers the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, in the Gulf of Oman.

Why would Iran?

Without any doubt this is a false flag operation to blame Iran in order to create circumstances for Neocons like Pompeo and ‘President Bolton’ to start a war with Iran.