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Secret Meeting on the Privatization of Nuclear War Held on Hiroshima Day 2003 | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Research, Secret

05-02-18 08:33:00,

The Trump Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review 2018 has called for “the development of new, more usable nuclear weapons”.

The 2018 NPR is in many regards Déjà Vu.

What seems to have escaped the numerous media reports on the 2018 NPR is that the development of “more usable nuclear weapons” had already been put forth in George W. Bush’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review, which was adopted by the US Senate in late 2002. In this regard, Senator Edward Kennedy had accused the Bush Administration for having developed “a generation of more useable nuclear weapons.” namely tactical nuclear weapons (B61-11 mini-nukes) with an explosive capacity between one third and 6 times times a Hiroshima bomb.

The term “more usable” emanates from the debate surrounding the 2001 NPR, which justified the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the conventional war theater on the grounds that tactical nuclear weapons, namely bunker buster bombs with a nuclear warhead are, according to scientific opinion on contract to the Pentagon “harmless to the surrounding population because the explosion is underground.”

Michel Chossudovsky, February 5, 2018

***

The text below is an excerpt from Michel Chossudovsky’s Towards a World War Three Scenario, The Dangers of Nuclear War. first published in 2011.

***

At no point since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, has humanity been closer to the unthinkable – a nuclear holocaust which could potentially spread in terms of radioactive fallout over a large part of the Middle East.

All the safeguards of the Cold War era, which categorized the nuclear bomb as “a weapon of last resort”, have been scrapped. “Offensive” military actions using nuclear warheads are now described as acts of “self-defense”.

The casualties from the direct effects of blast, radioactivity, and fires resulting from the massive use of nuclear weapons by the superpowers [of the Cold War era] would be so catastrophic that we avoided such a tragedy for the first four decades after the invention of nuclear weapons.1

During the Cold War, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) prevailed, namely that the use of nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union would result in “the destruction of both the attacker and the defender”.

Code Pink Founder Medea Benjamin’s Guide to Activism (Video)

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Founder, Medea

05-02-18 08:04:00,

In a conversation with acTVism Munich, lifelong activist Medea Benjamin discusses the roots of the anti-war movement and her ideas about how protest tactics can be effectively implemented now and in the future.

Watch the full video above.

— Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, February 3, 2018, #130

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Geoengineering, Watch

05-02-18 07:50:00,

Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, February 3, 2018, #130

Dane Wigington
GeoengineeringWatch.org

While the power structures scripted political theater of the absurd distracts much of the US population, the roller-coaster ride toward a lifeless planet continues to accelerate with each passing day. Will the “coldest on record” Superbowl temperatures (conditions created by the climate engineers) help to cover up the record warm temperatures at the North Pole (which are expected to be as much as 40 degrees higher than those at the game)? What other orchestrated weather events are the climate engineers currently manufacturing in order to manipulate the perception of populations? Ocean and atmospheric oxygen levels continue to plummet, shouldn’t being able to breath be our top priority? The latest installment of Global Alert News is below.

The painful moment of forced awakening is coming. The moment when so many will ponder how they could have been so blind to what was unfolding around them. Between now and that moment it is the responsibility of the already awakened to sow seeds of awareness. How? By sharing credible data from a credible source, this is exponentially more effective than pointing at the atrocities in our skies and ranting. Whatever comes, great solace exists in the knowledge that you did everything you could to do your part for the greater good. If we all stand together, who can say what profound good we may yet accomplish even at this late hour.
DW

This week’s GeoengineeringWatch.org outreach booth is at the “At the Grounds”, Roseville, California, and is shown below. My most sincere and continuing gratitude to the Gem Faire exhibition organizers for facilitating and setting up this very effective booth in every week’s Gem Faire location. The schedule for upcoming Gem Faire events is HERE. A geoengineeringwatch.org booth will be at all events, thanks to the steadfast support of Gem Faire.

Geoengineeringwatch.org wishes to express our deepest gratitude to Jeff Wolfley (former publisher of The Las Vegas Magazine) for spearheading the effort to put GeoengineeringWatch.org flyers into the “Star Valley Independent News”

It’s Looking A Lot Like 2008 Now…

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Looking

05-02-18 07:41:00,

Did Friday’s market plunge mark the start of the next crash?

Economic and market conditions are eerily like they were in late 2007/early 2008.

Remember back then? Everything was going great.

Home prices were soaring. Jobs were plentiful.

The great cultural marketing machine was busy proclaiming that a new era of permanent prosperity had dawned, thanks to the steady leadership of Alan Greenspan and later Ben Bernanke.

And only a small cadre of cranks, like me, was singing a different tune; warning instead that a painful reckoning in our financial system was approaching fast.

It’s fitting that I’m writing this on Groundhog Day, as to these veteran eyes, it sure has been looking a lot like late 2007/early 2008 lately…

The Fed’s ‘Reign Of Error’

Of course, the Great Financial Crisis arrived in late 2008, proving that the public’s faith in central bankers had been badly misplaced.

In reality, all Ben Bernanke did was to drop interest rates to 1%. This provided an unprecedented incentive for investors and institutions to borrow, igniting a massive housing bubble as well as outsized equity and bond gains.

It’s worth taking a moment to understand the mechanism the Federal Reserve used back then to lower interest rates (it’s different today). It did so by flooding the banking system with enough “liquidity” (i.e. electronically printed digital currency units) until all the banks felt comfortable lending or borrowing from each other at an average rate of 1%.

The knock-on effect of flooding the US banking system (and, really, the entire world) in this way created an echo bubble to replace the one created earlier during Alan Greenspan’s tenure (known as the Dot-Com Bubble, though ‘Sweep Account’ Bubble is more accurate in my opinion):

The above chart shows the Fed’s ‘reign of error’. It began with the deeply unfortunate sweeps program initiated at the end of 1994 (described below), proceeded to the echo bubble that itself broke in 2008 with even greater damage done, and all of which has led us to where we are today.

Note the twin panics of 2016 on the above chart.

Is It Really True That Switzerland Is The #1 Most-Corrupt Nation, & U.S. #2?

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Really, Switzerland

05-02-18 07:37:00,

Authored by Eric Zuesse via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The Tax Justice Network produces a Financial Secrecy Index, ranking countries for the assistance their legal systems provide, to money-launderers, and to all people who seek to protect corruptly-obtained wealth. The higher the score, the more corrupt the government is. The last time this Index was published, in 2015, Switzerland was rated the world’s most-corrupt country, and Hong Kong was then #2. But now, in its newly released global rankings, “Financial Secrecy Index — 2018 Results”, though Switzerland still holds its #1 (most-corrupt) spot, the U.S. has become #2, and Hong Kong has now fallen to #4, which is immediately below Cayman Islands (which is #3, and which had been #5 in 2015).

The detailed report-card for Switzerland says”

“the Swiss will exchange information with rich countries if they have to, but will continue offering citizens of poorer countries the opportunity to evade their taxpaying responsibilities. These factors, along with ongoing aggressive pursuit of financial sector whistleblowers (resorting at times to what appear to be non-legal methods) are ongoing reminders of why Switzerland remains the most important secrecy jurisdiction in the world today.”

The detailed report-card for the United States notes America’s rising score, and resulting success in attracting corrupt wealth, as follows:

The rise of the US continues a long term trend, as the country was one of the few to increase their secrecy score in the 2015 index. The continues [intending the word “continued”] rise of the US in the 2018 index comes off the back of a significant change in the US share of the global market for offshore financial services. Between 2015 and 2018 the US increased its market share in offshore financial services by 14%. In total the US accounts for 22.3% of the global market in offshore financial services.

The U.S. report-card asserts that, “Financial secrecy provided by the U.S. has caused untold harm to the ordinary citizens of foreign countries, whose elites have used the United States as a bolt-hole for looted wealth.” Of course, this isn’t the largest such “bolt-hole” — it’s the second-largest.

Robots Will Soon Be Punishing Humans: | Light On Conspiracies – Revealing the Agenda

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Punishing, Robots

05-02-18 07:33:00,

By Nicholas West

In October of last year, I reported on the network of autonomous police vehicles being deployed in Dubai that included hoverbikes and fleets of mini police surveillance vehicles that look like electric cars. The vehicles are part of a citywide initiative of embedding artificial intelligence to patrol with biometric and conventional surveillance tools. I commented at the time that these measures were fairly easy to dismiss by readers accustomed to a constitutional republic, since Dubai is ruled by an absolute monarchy under Sharia Law that has free rein to rapidly implement new forms of governance. Nevertheless, I warned that Dubai was playing host to the World Expo 2020 where they would be featured as a model for any large city of the future.

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Apparently, stalwart all-American company – Ford – is prepared to help usher in the technocratic police state to the (diminishing) land of the free.

Business Insider is reporting on a partnership that Ford has established with the U.S. government that granted the company a patent for autonomous police vehicles. Of course the issuance of a patent does not necessarily mean that it’s guaranteed to become reality, but given the stature of the company and Americans’ increasing penchant for giving up liberty for the promise of security, it should not be dismissed.

According to designs seen by Business Insider, the future cars could independently find hiding places, detect vehicles breaking the law, and chase down drivers.

The designers envision car-to-car technology which would let the patrol vehicle check whether a car was being driven manually or automatically, scan the driver’s licence, and, if need be, issue a ticket remotely.

The goal of the autonomous police car, Ford says, is not to replace human police officers, but to help them with “routine police tasks.”

The company said in its patent, which was first filed in July 2016: “Routine police tasks, such as issuing tickets for speeding or failure to stop at a stop sign, can be automated so that human police officers can perform tasks that cannot be automated.”

The graphics below show how they would work.

What the FBI/FISA Memo Really Tells Us About Our Government

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Really, Tells

05-02-18 07:25:00,

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Blowback: How a CIA-Backed Coup Led to the Rise of Iran’s Ayatollahs

Posted by EN-AGon 5 februari 201819 juli 2018in Blowback, CIA-Backed

05-02-18 12:16:00,

Why can’t Iran have a secular, democratic government? It’s a question Americans often ask of their longstanding Middle East adversary — especially when they see images of anti-regime protesters taking to the streets of major Iranian cities and towns to demand greater freedom.

Unlike citizens of the Islamic Republic, however, citizens of the United States tend to have short memories. The historical reality is that Iran did have a secular, democratic government, led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh between 1951 and 1953 — but Mossadegh was removed from power in a coup organized and funded by the CIA and Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.

With a handful of exceptions — Madeleine Albright in 2000, Barack Obama in 2009 and 2015 — most mainstream U.S. politicians have little to say about any of this sordid history. In Washington, D.C., Iranian hostility toward the U.S. has long been treated as inexplicable and irrational, while the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup — which set off a chain of events that resulted in the rise of Iran’s ayatollahs and the Islamic Revolution of 1979 — has vanished into a memory hole.

It was left to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, of all people, to remind Americans of the catastrophic consequences of that coup in a televised debate with Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primaries in February 2016:

Mossadegh back in 1953. Nobody knows who Mossadegh was. Democratically elected prime minister of Iran. He was overthrown by British and American interests because he threatened oil interests of the British. And as a result of that, the Shah of Iran came in, terrible dictator, and as a result of that, you had the Iranian Revolution coming in, and that’s where we are today. Unintended consequences.

What Sanders called “unintended consequences,” the CIA calls “blowback.”

In fact, as I explain in this week’s episode of my six-part video series on blowback, the CIA first coined the term in the wake of Operation Ajax — the agency’s codename for the coup against Mossadegh. “Possibilities of blowback against the United States should always be in the back of the minds of all CIA officers involved in this type of operation,” noted an internal CIA lessons-learned report on Mossadegh’s fall in 1954.

True Significance of the Illuminati All-Seeing Eye | Light On Conspiracies – Revealing the Agenda

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Illuminati, Significance

04-02-18 07:34:00,

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

When symbols are misused for political or authoritarian purposes, their meanings can become confused, twisted and misunderstood, even flipped entirely.

An example of this is the swastika, which was first seen in carvings dating back 12,000 years, and has been a symbol of well-being, good fortune and prosperity to Buddhists and Hindus. Since the Nazis stole it as their own, however, we now associate it with hate, fear and death.

The all-seeing eye is one of the great omnipresent symbols of all time, most notably now as seen on the dollar bill. It has also found a contemporary home in pop culture as the trademark of occult worship and the Illuminati and the New World Order, used ad nauseam in music videos, celebrity photo shoots, and even appearing as a theme in a Taco Bell commercial.

This predominantly fearful association between the all-seeing eye and Luciferian overlords belies its meaning to Christianity, where it is known as the Eye of Providence, or the Eye of God.

“An ancient symbol of omniscience and divine providence, the Eye of Providence represents the eye of God, the singular divine power that has created the entire universe. The symbol shows a human eye enclosed in a triangle. In Christianity, the triangle represents the Holy Trinity and as such, the Eye of Providence symbolizes the divine entity looking over humankind and providing it benevolent guidance.” [Source]

The Eye of Providence also has significance in Buddhism, in Freemasonry, and is well-recognized for its importance to the Egyptians as the Eye of Horus, a symbol of protection and power.

Although represented differently in each culture, the all-seeing eye is historically ubiquitous because it is a representation of something deeply embedded within the human psyche. It stirs out souls in some instinctive way.

Canadian psychologist and professor Jordan Peterson talks about the true significance of the all-seeing eye atop the pyramid in the following video. He explains how the pyramid represents a hierarchy, and the detached triangle and all-seeing eye represents our ability to move up the hierarchy to the point where we are no longer attached to the hierarchy,

Political Correctness Serves Only The Ruling Elite

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Correctness, Political

04-02-18 07:05:00,

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

No wonder the Ruling Elites loves political correctness: all those furiously signaling their virtue are zero threat to the asymmetric plunder of the status quo.

The Ruling Elites loves political correctness, for it serves the Elite so well. What is political correctness? Political correctness is the public pressure to conform to “progressive” speech acts by uttering the expected code words and phrases in public.

Note that no actual action is required. This is why the Ruling Elite loves political correctness: conformity is so cheap. All a functionary of the Ruling Elite need do is utter the code words (“hope and change,” “we honor diversity,” “thank you for your service,” etc.) and they get a free pass to continue their pillaging.

Those placated by politically correct utterances accept symbolic speech acts as substitutes for real changes in the power structure. This glorification of symbolic gestures–virtue signaling via social media, the parroting of progressive phrases, etc.–is as cheap as the mouthing of PC platitudes. Everybody gets to feel validated and respected at no cost to anyone: the progressives feel smugly superior because the Ruling Elite now feels compelled to parrot “progressive” speech acts in public, and the Ruling Elite is free to pillage without any demands for a radical restructuring of the incentives and distribution of the nation’s wealth and income.

The rise of “progressive” speech acts and political correctness parallels the decline of the fortunes and incomes of the bottom 90%. While the “progressives” focus on cheap symbolism, the laboring classes are being gutted by the centralized financialization that rewards the few at the expense of the many.

Here’s median family financial assets: back to the levels of 1995:

Here’s civilian participation in the work force–back to the levels of 1975:

Here’s the percentage of income going to the top 1% and the bottom 50%:

So while the “progressives” focus exclusively on their own ineffectual virtue-signaling and the empty “victories” of Ruling Elites mouthing the acceptable code words, our economy, society and the social contract are being shredded.

Canada’s Nazi Problem | The Vineyard of the Saker

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Canada, Problem

04-02-18 05:57:00,

by Cameron Pike for The Saker Blog

Vancouver, Canada held a significant event in the history of Canada on January 16th, 2018. Canada’s traditional peace-keeping role in international relations relegated to the historical dustbin, Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland led the ‘international community’ in a song of war and genocide against North Korea. However, the plan was ultimately not about North Korea, as single-toned as the grouping Freeland gathered tried to make it seem. What was missing were the harmonies a well-trained ear can hear but isn’t sung: Russia and China, noticeably missing from the conference despite making great advances in peace on the Korean Peninsula in the months leading up to the Vancouver gathering, were the missing notes.

For those listening, I ask you, the reader, what is behind the one-note song ‘North Korea is an existential danger to humanity’? Banging away at your insides, like an annoying pop song that you just cannot get out of your head, you become conscious of what is really going on. For anyone with a 20-year memory, which sadly scarcely exists today in the anti-war movement, Freeland’s war song is eerily reminiscent of Tony Blair banging on about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, whispering in the ear of Bush Jr., or Colin Powell’s ‘yellow cake’ song and dance.

Freeland, at this years’ war choral, was clearly playing the role of conductor. Her mannerisms at the head table with the other world leaders was uncomfortably out of tune, mostly because of her exaggerated gestures of friendship and geniality.

A few days after Freeland and Tillerson announced the meeting in December 2017 from Ottawa, Freeland headed off to her motherland, Ukraine.

Since we’re talking about the possibility of WWIII, I think it might be pertinent to revisit some little-known history from WWII. In the 1960’s the Polish government, still reeling from their role as the main course of the European ‘meat-sandwich’ that was the second world war, went on the hunt for Nazi aiders and abettors who destroyed their people. Contrary to what mainstream readers are allowed to know, WWII Nazi and Waffen SS leaders, Goebbels’s publishers and editors (otherwise known as propagandists), willing and outright Nazi collaborators and vicious killers, made their way out of conquered Germany to the United States and to Canada.

Will America Propose First Use of Nuclear Weapons in Response to a Disabling Cyber Attack? | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in America, Research

04-02-18 09:31:00,

Featured image: A missile launch facility in North Dakota

A very dangerous narrative is unfolding within US military and intelligence circles.

It pertains to the use of nuclear weapons on a first strike basis as a means of “self-defense” in the case of a cyberattack by an enemy nation.

Cyberattacks cause disruptions in communications systems, transport, government services, financial transactions. They do not result in mass killings of civilians as in the case of an outright bombing campaign directed against an enemy nation.

What is contemplated in the 2017 NPR is the use of tactical nuclear weapons on a first strike basis against both nuclear and non-nuclear states, allegedly as a means of “self defense”.

This is nothing new. The preemptive nuclear weapons doctrine was first contemplated in George W. Bush’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review in which a first strike pre-emptive use of tactical nuclear weapons was first formulated. B61 and B62 mini-nukes (bunker buster bombs with nuclear warheads) with an explosive capacity (yield) of up to 12 times a Hiroshima bomb were described as “harmless to civilians because the explosion is underground”.

Below are relevant excerpts of the Nuclear Industries article

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, February 2, 2018

***

According to the the Financial Times quoted by Nuclear Industries:

“The world has been living with the threat of a nuclear apocalypse since the 1950s. Over the past decade, intelligence experts have increasingly warned about the threat of a catastrophic cyber attack.

“Now the two fears appear to have merged, with the US on the point of revising its defence policy — to allow the use of nuclear weapons, in retaliation for a devastating cyber attack”.

According to Nuclear Industries commenting on Trump’s 2017 Nuclear Posture Review,

The [NPR 2017] “proposes to change US policy to allow the first use of nuclear weapons, in response to “attempts to destroy wide-reaching infrastructure, like a country’s power grid or communications, that would be most vulnerable to cyberweapons”.

Developed nations are now reliant on functioning computer systems.

Frontrunning: February 2

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in February, Frontrunning

04-02-18 09:28:00,

January Jobs Report Expected to Show Pickup in Hiring (WSJ)
Global stocks set for biggest weekly loss since late 2016 as bond yields rise (Reuters)
Tech Giants Power to New Heights as Revenues Rise (WSJ)
Tech Bounce Fails to Hold as Jobs Angst Cools U.S. Stock Futures (BBG)
Bitcoin set for worst week since 2013 as crypto sell-off intensifies (Reuters)
Crypto Bros Are Actually a Brotherhood (BBG)
Wynn Calls on Staff to Rally Behind Him Amid Allegations (WSJ)
Texas shale tests North Sea crude as oil benchmark (Reuters)
Migrant boat capsizes off Libya, 90 feared dead, mostly Pakistanis (Reuters)
Bank of America Sell Signal Rings Louder on Record Equity Inflow (BBG)
More victims of ex-USA Gymnastics doctor to testify as scandal widens (Reuters)
Deutsche Bank Posts Big Loss, Triggering Slide in Share Price (WSJ)
Wall Street Is Taking On More Risk Again (BBG)
Former Trump Aide Carter Page Was on U.S. Counterintelligence Radar Before Russia Dossier (WSJ)
Exclusive: U.S. to impose arms embargo on South Sudan to end conflict (Reuters)
Put That Bag Down: Flyers Ignoring Safety Pleas to Grab Luggage (BBG)
Russia says U.S. ‘hunting’ for Russians to arrest around the world (Reuters)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

– The Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined Deutsche Bank Securities Inc $70 million as regulators continue to punish attempted manipulation of interest-rate benchmarks. on.wsj.com/2ntU98O

– U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to tell lawmakers as early as Friday that he has approved the release of a classified memo that Republicans allege shows improper surveillance of one of the president’s former campaign aides, a White House official said Thursday. on.wsj.com/2nxBf0L

– CBS Corp and Viacom Inc said Thursday that their boards have formed special committees to evaluate a potential merger,

Tillerson Invokes Possibility of Pinochet-Style Coup in Venezuela | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Research, Tillerson

04-02-18 09:27:00,

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday raised the prospect of a military coup against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and seemingly praised past military dictatorships as “agents of change.”

“In the history of Venezuela and South American countries, it is often times that the military is the agent of change when things are so bad and the leadership can no longer serve the people,” Tillerson said during a speech at the University of Texas.

Speaking ahead of a five-nation Latin America tour, the U.S. diplomat insisted the Trump administration was not advocating “regime change,” but suggested the Venezuelan leader could flee to ally Cuba.

“I am sure that he’s got some friends over in Cuba that could give him a nice hacienda on the beach.”

While also insisting that the United States wanted peaceful “change” in the Andean country, he suggested that the sort of violence that ushered in bloody regimes like the one led by General Augusto Pinochet in Chile, was a possibility.

“Whether that will be the case here or not, I do not know,” Tillerson added.

Military regimes took hold of much of South America during the 1970’s and 80’s, often by toppling left-leaning governments with the backing of Washington.

These dictatorships, which usurped power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, led to some 60,000 deaths, thousands of disappearances and exiles, as well as the use of torture tactics. Victims included dissidents and leftists, union and peasant leaders, priests and nuns, students and teachers, intellectuals and suspected guerrillas.

Tillerson’s comments come as the Venezuelan government and opposition groups reached a ‘pre-agreement’ on a deal that could help resolve the issues facing the South American nation, including opposition participation in the 2018 presidential elections.

The two sides returned to the Dominican Republic to resume peace negotiations under the mediation of Dominican President Danilo Medina, former Spanish President Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and international delegates from Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua and San Vicente and the Grenadines.

These round of talks followed two national elections where the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela swept most of the positions.

Despite the deal, which is slated to be signed on Monday,

The Arab Spring has Come to an End Right Where it Started | New Eastern Outlook

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Right, Spring

04-02-18 09:25:00,

The so-called Arab Spring, which began with the string of revolutionary events in Tunisia has now officially ended. It ended last month with Tunisia getting swept by a wave of new demonstrations, with thousands of people taking to the streets both in the capital, and other cities of the country.

Local media sources, while covering those events, referred to them as the “stolen revolution”.

Officially, the Tunisian revolution started in January of 2011, when President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after staying in power for 23 consecutive years was forced to flee the country.

Seven years later and Tunisians are shouting those very same demands that rallied them when the revolution began: “Employment, freedom, dignity.” It’s no accident that employment occupies the principal place in those chants as the economic situation has been deteriorating for 7 years straight, with Tunisia’s national debt increasing from 39.2% GDP in 2010 up to 60.6% in 2016. In that period Tunisian dinar lost 40% of its value against the US dollar.

Unemployment, as before, remains the scourge of the Tunisian economy, with well over 35% of youngsters being unable to find a job, while prices on basic consumer goods keep skyrocketing. Tunisians are getting increasingly frustrated with the fact that can not make their ends meet, no matter how hard they try, which forced protesters to take to the streets after the announcement of a new budget draft that allowed yet another increase in prices.

Those who participated in the rallies opposed “poverty and hunger” and protested against “thieves who stole the country.”

At the head of the people’s movement was a group called “What Are We Waiting For” According to the media reports, a total of 800 people was arrested during the demonstration, with 200 of them being aged between 15 and 25.

Two years ago Tunisia signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that allowed it to obtain a loan of 2.8 billion dollars for 4 years, however that the government was supposed to introduce a series of severe economic and social reforms. Demonstrations were the answer to these planned reforms.

It’s no wonder that local authorities were in a rush to turn their back on the austerity regime they were introducing,

A Scandal of the West’s News-Suppression, to ‘Justify’ US-Russia War | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Research, Scandal

04-02-18 09:13:00,

An accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, was employed by a wealthy American investor, William Browder, and died in a Russian prison on 16 November 2006. How did it happen; who was to blame for it? The Russian Government was blamed for it, and this blame produced in 2012 the first set of economic sanctions to squeeze Vladimir Putin out of power.

Magnitsky’s death in prison thus provided the factual basis for the first of the economic-sanctions regimes that were imposed by The West against the Russian Government, the 2012 Magnitsky Act — sanctions that preceded the 2014 sanctions which were imposed on account of Russia’s response to America’s February 2014 coup in Ukraine. However, that account of the Magnitsky incident is full of lies, according to a 2016 documentary investigation into the matter. But publication of this video investigation — at youtube or anywhere — is effectively banned in The West.

Here’s how Gilbert Doctorow, who is one of the extremely few people in The West who managed to see this totally-suppressed-in-The-West investigative news-documentary that was done (and which he said proved to him that the basis of the Magnitsky Act is lies) expressed his shock, at what he saw and learned from it:

Nekrasov [the investigator] largely allows William Browder to self-destruct under the weight of his own lies.

The case against Browder that Nekrasov unintentionally stumbled upon when making the film is clearly so persuasive and so massive that even some leading members of the anti-Putin coalition in Europe feel strongly that the truth must out, whatever the consequences. … [But] lynch law necessarily operates. Human rights watchers everywhere, beware! … Nekrasov has not been a friend, still less a “stooge” of the Putin regime. Indeed, as he explained at the start of his brief speech, before taking the assignment to do a film about Magnitsky. … Nekrasov had friendly relations with Bill Browder [the U.S. oligarch who was behind Magnitsky].

Furthermore, another investigator, Alex Krainer, had his book, which was published on the matter, withdrawn promptly without explanation; so, Krainer put his investigation online, and its findings were entirely consistent with Nekrasov’s findings.

Henry Kissinger says a “pre-emptive attack” against North Korea is a “strong” possibility

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Henry, Kissinger

04-02-18 08:52:00,

US President Donald Trump has just lectured NATO on it member’s commitment performance and held a controversial meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and is next week to receive EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with trade matters being high up on the agenda.

Juncker is expected to present Trump with a package of proposals to help smooth relations and potentially heal areas of division, particularly those surrounding Europe’s trade relationship with America. Those proposals are precisely what is cropping up as another area of divergence between some members of the EU, specifically France and Germany, just after a major contention on migration has been driving discord within the Union.

This gets down to whether Europe should offer concessions to Trump on trade while Trump is admittedly describing the Union as a ‘foe’ and has initiated a trade spat with the Union by assessing trade tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, spurring retaliatory tariff measures from the EU Commission.

France, specifically, is opposed to any sort of compromise with Trump on the matter, where Trump is perceived as an opponent to the Union and its unity, whereas Germany is economically motivated to seek an end to the trade dispute under the threat of a new round of tariffs emanating from the Trump administration, and is therefore seeking to find some sort of proposal that Trump will accept and therefore back down on his protectionism against the EU, and Germany in particular.

Politico reports:

Only a week before European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker flies to Washington, France and Germany are divided over how much he should offer to U.S. President Donald Trump to end a deepening trade war, say European diplomats and officials.

But, they add, Germany has the upper hand. Berlin is shaping Juncker’s agenda, suggesting three offers that he could take to Trump on July 25 to resolve the dispute, according to people familiar with the plans.

The French are uneasy about the wisdom of such a conciliatory approach, however, and publicly accuse Trump of seeking to splinter and weaken the 28-member bloc, which he has called his “foe.”

Despite Paris’ reservations about giving away too much to the increasingly hostile U.S.

EU-ECB-IMF Imposes Anti-union Law on Greece | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in EU-ECB-IMF, Research

04-02-18 08:52:00,

Under instructions from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Greek government pushed through the most anti-union legislation in Europe on Monday 15 January.

The move was demanded, along with other draconian measures, as a condition of the latest tranche of what is called Greece’s bailout but which in reality is bailing out the European financial institutions which recklessly encouraged Greek borrowing.

The key concession required from the Syriza government was that industrial action would now require a yes vote from more than half of the total number of union members in a workplace, regardless of the actual turnout. This is even worse than the provisions in the Trade Union Act which came into law in the UK in March 2016.

Astonishingly – or perhaps not – there has been not one word about this from the TUC, which continues its scaremongering about the effect of Brexit on workers’ rights. While it prattles on, the European Union is turning the screw on the most fundamental of all workers’ rights, the right to strike, and using Greece as a test bed for policies it would like to see across all member states.

Without the right to take effective strike action, workers have no protection save the courts, and capitalist courts consistently favour the employers.

The European Court of Justice ruled (in the Laval case, 18 December 2007), that employers have the right to bring workers from a low-wage EU state to a higher-wage EU state on the wages payable in the cheaper country, regardless of any collective bargaining agreements in the higher-wage state. It has also ruled (in the Viking case, 11 December 2007) that effective industrial action to stop outsourcing to cheaper countries is illegal.

In the Alamo–Herron case (18 July 2013), involving Unison members transferred out of local authority employment, it ruled that whatever their contracts said, benefits collectively negotiated for local authority workers could be ignored by their new employers.

“This case is an appalling attack on collective bargaining and is at least as serious as Viking and Laval,” wrote Britain’s leading employment barrister, John Hendy.

Hendy went on to say,

“The EU has become a disaster for the collective rights of workers and their unions.”

As we have consistently said,

Liberal Totalitarianism and the Trump Diversion

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Liberal, Totalitarianism

04-02-18 08:15:00,

The ongoing political circus in the capital of the world’s most powerful empire opens almost daily with a new act each day showcasing an even more bizarre and more revealing display of the internal rot of a culture and a political system in decline.

The day before Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, the Russia-gate drama took an unexpected and dangerous turn with the vote by the House Intelligence Committee to release a now classified memo that alleges that senior members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) may have misled the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) in order to secure a warrant to engage in what Republicans assert is a politically motivated effort that spied on the Trump campaign before he won the 2016 election and attempted to undermine his presidency.

Right-wing neoliberal Democrats who have engaged in a vigorous defense of the intelligence agencies of the U.S. state are concerned about the possible fallout with the public. They argue Republicans are deliberately undermining confidence in U.S. institutions by irresponsibly hurling allegations that support a growing public perception that the government and the individuals who populate governmental institutions are inherently corrupt.

Republicans now refer to this as “FBI-gate” and Democrats counter by appealing to the dubious belief that the FBI is some kind of neutral political force populated by people of unreproachable character—those who would never engage in the kind of crass partisanship being alleged by Republicans in Congress.

Even members of the Congressional Black Caucus–the one caucus that traditionally has always been wary of the FBI because of its history abuse against Black activists, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.–joined in the effort to prop up this institution and its former director Robert Mueller.

This new narrative of FBI integrity and neutrality is predicated on the assumption that most of the public has forgotten or is unaware of the notorious history of the FBI and its founder, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was a racist anti-Semite and fascist sympathizer. He shared his obsessive anti-communism and anti-Semitism with Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s Gestapo chief, who Hoover corresponded with personally and kept on the FBI’s mailing list right up until the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.

EU Imposes Anti-Union Law on Greece

Posted by EN-AGon 4 februari 201819 juli 2018in Anti-Union, Imposes

04-02-18 08:14:00,

Under instructions from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Greek government pushed through the most anti-union legislation in Europe on Monday 15 January.

The move was demanded, along with other draconian measures, as a condition of the latest tranche of what is called Greece’s bailout but which in reality is bailing out the European financial institutions which recklessly encouraged Greek borrowing.

The key concession required from the Syriza government was that industrial action would now require a yes vote from more than half of the total number of union members in a workplace, regardless of the actual turnout. This is even worse than the provisions in the Trade Union Act which came into law in the UK in March 2016.

Astonishingly – or perhaps not – there has been not one word about this from the TUC, which continues its scaremongering about the effect of Brexit on workers’ rights. While it prattles on, the European Union is turning the screw on the most fundamental of all workers’ rights, the right to strike, and using Greece as a test bed for policies it would like to see across all member states.

Without the right to take effective strike action, workers have no protection save the courts, and capitalist courts consistently favour the employers.

The European Court of Justice ruled (in the Laval case, 18 December 2007), that employers have the right to bring workers from a low-wage EU state to a higher-wage EU state on the wages payable in the cheaper country, regardless of any collective bargaining agreements in the higher-wage state. It has also ruled (in the Viking case, 11 December 2007) that effective industrial action to stop outsourcing to cheaper countries is illegal.

In the Alamo–Herron case (18 July 2013), involving Unison members transferred out of local authority employment, it ruled that whatever their contracts said, benefits collectively negotiated for local authority workers could be ignored by their new employers. “This case is an appalling attack on collective bargaining and is at least as serious as Viking and Laval,” wrote Britain’s leading employment barrister, John Hendy.

Hendy went on to say, “The EU has become a disaster for the collective rights of workers and their unions.”

As we have consistently said,

Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War: The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation

Posted by EN-AGon 3 februari 201812 januari 2019in Algemeen

Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War: The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation

globalresearch.ca

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, January 29, 2018

Global Research 25 January 2012

In the light of recent reports pertaining to “unimaginable” levels of radiation emanating from Fukushima, we are reposting this I-Book on the Fukushima tragedy, which has been the object of media coverup and distortion. In the words of Dr. Helen Caldicott, “one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer”.

Originally published in January 2012, this study by Michel Chossudovsky confirms what is now unfolding, a Worldwide process of nuclear radiation.

Note to Readers: Remember to bookmark this page for future reference.

Please Forward the GR I-Book far and wide. Post it on Facebook.

[scroll down for I-BOOK Table of Contents]

Originally published in January 2012. The introduction of the I-Book is contained as a chapter in Michel Chossudovsky’s 2015 bestseller: The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity, Global Research, Montreal 2015

Hitler’s Failed Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union. The “Battle of Moscow” and Stalingrad: Turning Point of World War II | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 3 februari 201819 juli 2018in Hitler, Research

03-02-18 08:06:00,

This article was first published by GR in December 2011

February 4, 2017 is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad (February 4, 1943), considered by historians as a decisive turning point of World War II, during which German forces were defeated after five months of combat.

Historian Dr. Jacques Pauwels analyses the evolution of World War II, focusing on the “Battle of Moscow” in December 1941 which preceded the defeat of German troops in Stalingrad in February 1943. According to Dr. Pauwels, the turning point was not Stalingrad but “the Battle of Moscow” and the Soviet counter-offensive launched in December 1941:

When the Red Army launched its devastating counteroffensive on December 5, Hitler himself realized that he would lose the war. But of course he was not prepared to let the German public know that. The nasty tidings from the front near Moscow were presented to the public as a temporary setback, blamed on the supposedly unexpectedly early arrival of winter and/or on the incompetence or cowardice of certain commanders.

It was only a good year later, after the catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad during the winter of 1942-1943, that the German public, and the entire world, would realize that Germany was doomed; this is why even today many historians believe that the tide turned in Stalingrad .

Even so, it proved impossible to keep the catastrophic implications of the debacle in front of Moscow a total secret. For example, on December 19, 1941, the German Consul in Basel reported to his superiors in Berlin that the (openly pro-Nazi) head of a mission of the Swiss Red Cross, sent to the front in the Soviet Union to assist only the wounded on the German side, which of course contravened Red Cross rules, had returned to Switzerland with the news, most surprising to the Consul, that “he no longer believed that Germany could win the war.”[30]

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, V-Day, May 9, 2015

The defeat of German troops at Stalingrad was on February 4, 1943

The Battle of Moscow, December 1941: Turning Point of World War II

The Victory of the Red Army in front of Moscow was a Major Break…

by Jacques Pauwels

Global Research

6 December 2011

World War II started,

Selected Articles: U.S. ‘Plan B’ for the Middle East | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 1 februari 201819 juli 2018in Research, Selected

01-02-18 01:33:00,

We thank readers who have contributed to Global Research. If you have the means to make a small or large donation in support of our fight for truth, peace and justice around the world, your gesture will be much appreciated.

Consider Making a Donation to Global Research

We likewise encourage you to re-post this selection of articles. Share through social media and discuss with your colleagues and friends.

* * *

US Decline is Ongoing, Yet America Remains the Undisputed “Military Master”

By Shane Quinn, January 31, 2018

The United States’ decline can be traced as far back as 1949, when the world’s dominant power unexpectedly suffered the “loss” of China. It was a monumental early blow to US strategic planners, who were carefully executing dreams of unchallenged global dominance.

Ireland to Discuss New Bill Criminalising Trade with Israeli Settlements

By Middle East Monitor, January 31, 2018

Ireland is set to discuss a new bill that seeks to prohibit the import and sale of goods originating in illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian Territory.

Doping-control in Sports and Athletics: Eyes Wide Shut

By Roy Harper, January 31, 2018

Today, the victories of athletes and the large-scale use of doping are inextricably linked in the modern world of elite sport. Although the 20th century was marked by the struggle for the spirit of fair play, then in the 21st century doping scandals are discussed more often than the outstanding records of prominent athletes. The use of prohibited substances and fight against doping turned into the main problem in the world of sports.

Turkish Troops Seen Wearing Patch of Terrorist Free Syrian Army

By Paul Antonopoulos, January 31, 2018

Turkish soldiers have been seen wearing a patch of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on their uniforms while operating in Syria’s northwest canton of Afrin where they leading a coalition of militants against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Frontrunning: February 1

Posted by EN-AGon 1 februari 201819 juli 2018in February, Frontrunning

01-02-18 01:32:00,

Republican memo likely to be released Thursday -Trump administration official (Reuters)
Ex-Trump Aide Page Was on U.S. Counterintelligence Radar for Years (WSJ)
FBI Knew of Clinton Emails Weeks Before Alerting Congress (WSJ)
Facebook Reversal Lifts Markets, Though FAANG Jitters Linger (BBG)
How trade disputes could hurt U.S. pork exports (Reuters)
Dollar weakens after Fed bounce proves short-lived (Reuters)
Bitcoin skids to lowest since November after worst month in three years (Reuters)
Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up (NYT)
How GE Went From American Icon to Astonishing Mess (BBG)
Deluge of Influenza Patients Forces Hospitals to Creatively Cope (WSJ)
A $1.5 Trillion Question in Trump’s Public Works Plan: Who Pays? (BBG)
Insurers gingerly test bitcoin business with heist policies (Reuters)
Bored With Banking, This Former Citi Trader Went Full Crypto (BBG)
U.S. says military option not believed to be close for solving North Korea crisis (Reuters)
How J.D. Power Was Acquired by a Chinese Company Shrouded in Mystery (WSJ)
A Bitcoin Conference Rented a Miami Strip Club—And Regretted It (BBG)
Capitec Report: Was There Insider Trading? (Huffpost)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

– UK Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to beat the drum for deepening trade ties and showcase her country’s global ambitions, a visit clouded by simmering discord at home over her handling of Brexit negotiations. on.wsj.com/2no6mvJ

– Pandora Media Inc will lay off 5 percent of its workforce as the internet radio company tries to rein in costs while investing in advertising technology and efforts to woo back listeners. on.wsj.com/2nqrxgK

– German media giant Bertelsmann SE on Wednesday announced it is seeking to unload one of its largest businesses which has struggled to grow in a full or partial sale.

It’s Israel Vs Lebanon And Hezbollah In Escalating Dispute Over Mediterranean Gas Field

Posted by EN-AGon 1 februari 201819 juli 2018in Israel, Lebanon

01-02-18 01:14:00,

Submitted by Leith Fadel via Al-Masdar News,

The eastern Mediterranean gas field that has been put up for tender by Lebanon and is expected to be developed by an international consortium of energy companies, belongs to Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday. “They [Lebanon] are announcing a tender on the gas field, including Block 9, which is ours by any definition,” Lieberman said at a conference in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli minister said that the respectable companies participating in the tender were making a major mistake, as their involvement in the project contradicts current rules and practices, calling Lebanese actions in the eastern Mediterranean “very, very challenging and provocative conduct here.”

Image via Al Arabiya

Lieberman said further that, “Respectable firms” bidding on the tender “are, to my mind, making a grave error – because this is contrary to all of the rules and all protocol in cases like this.” His remarks were made before an international security conference at a Tel Aviv University national security conference.

In December, the Lebanese government approved provisions for the right to explore two energy blocks, namely Block 4 and Block 9, in Lebanon to the consortium of Russia’s Novatek natural gas producer with France’s Total and Italy’s Eni. Lebanon launched its first oil and gas production licensing auction in January 2017, opening five of ten of its Mediterranean blocks up for international bids.

Lebanon launched its first oil and gas production licensing auction in January 2017, opening five of ten of its Mediterranean blocks (above) up for international bids. Source: Lebanese Petroleum Administration

Disputed area above. Israel announced this week that “Block 9 is ours by definition” in a disputed area which also includes Lebanon’s claims on Blocks 8 and 10. Map source: Tekmor Monitor

Lebanon, together with Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, sits on the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, where new gas fields have been revealed in 2009. However, two Lebanese offshore blocks now lie within a triangle of maritime territory claimed by Israel.

Meanwhile, Lebanon is standing its ground against Israel after the latter recently indicated its interest in oil and gas exploration in Lebanese territorial waters.

Money Laundering: Is It Really True that Switzerland Is the #1 Most Corrupt Nation, and the U.S. #2? | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 1 februari 201819 juli 2018in Money, Research

01-02-18 01:05:00,

The Tax Justice Network produces a Financial Secrecy Index, ranking countries for the assistance their legal systems provide, to money-launderers, and to all people who seek to protect corruptly-obtained wealth. The higher the score, the more corrupt the government is. The last time this Index was published, in 2015, Switzerland was rated the world’s most-corrupt country, and Hong Kong was then #2.

But now, in its newly released global rankings, “Financial Secrecy Index — 2018 Results”, though Switzerland still holds its #1 (most-corrupt) spot, the U.S. has become #2, and Hong Kong has now fallen to #4, which is immediately below Cayman Islands (which is #3, and which had been #5 in 2015).

The detailed report-card for Switzerland says

“the Swiss will exchange information with rich countries if they have to, but will continue offering citizens of poorer countries the opportunity to evade their taxpaying responsibilities. These factors, along with ongoing aggressive pursuit of financial sector whistleblowers (resorting at times to what appear to be non-legal methods) are ongoing reminders of why Switzerland remains the most important secrecy jurisdiction in the world today.”

The detailed report-card for the United States notes America’s rising score, and resulting success in attracting corrupt wealth, as follows:

The rise of the US continues a long term trend, as the country was one of the few to increase their secrecy score in the 2015 index. The continues [intending the word “continued”] rise of the US in the 2018 index comes off the back of a significant change in the US share of the global market for offshore financial services. Between 2015 and 2018 the US increased its market share in offshore financial services by 14%. In total the US accounts for 22.3% of the global market in offshore financial services.

The U.S. report-card asserts that, “Financial secrecy provided by the U.S. has caused untold harm to the ordinary citizens of foreign countries, whose elites have used the United States as a bolt-hole for looted wealth.” Of course, this isn’t the largest such “bolt-hole” — it’s the second-largest. Furthermore, the report-card for Switzerland said:

According to the Swiss Bankers’ Association banks in Switzerland hold CHF 6.65 trillion ($6.5 trillion) in assets under management,

Frontrunning: January 31

Posted by EN-AGon 31 januari 201819 juli 2018in Frontrunning, January

31-01-18 01:24:00,

As Yellen Hands Off at the Fed, Whither Her Go-Slow Approach? (WSJ)
‘This is our American moment,’ Trump urges cooperation (Reuters)
President Tries Taking On a New Role: Optimist (WSJ)
Trump’s Olive Branch to Democrats Cut Short by Divisive Tone of Speech (BBG)
Signs of Old Age Abound in a Bull Market Closing In on History (BBG)
Japan’s Fujifilm to take over Xerox in $6.1 billion deal, create joint venture (Reuters)
Bitcoin Is Having Its Worst Month in Three Years (WSJ)
For Bezos, Buffett and Dimon, a Health Push Years in the Making (BBG)
Rival Employers Dread Possible Arrival of Amazon HQ2 in Their Town (WSJ
For Bezos, Buffett and Dimon, a Health Push Years in the Making (BBG)
One Indicator Says Bond Rout Going Too Fast for Stocks to Escape (BBG)
Skywatchers in western North America will see moon turn red in rare eclipse (Reuters)
Immigration Fight Shifts From Trump’s Wall to Family Green Cards (BBG)
Bond Selloff Sends Ripples Through Corporate Debt Market (WSJ)
Facebook Really Wants You to Come Back (BBG)
Boeing says to deliver more planes in 2018 (Reuters)
Judge Dan Polster Is Singlehandedly Trying to Solve the Opioid Crisis (BBG)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

– U.S. President Donald Trump, in his first State of the Union address, called for major, bipartisan deals on infrastructure and immigration, while reversing his predecessor’s vow to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility for suspected terrorists. on.wsj.com/2BFNCMr

– Xerox Corp is nearing a deal with Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp that would mark the end of the independence of the stalwart of 20th-century American industry. on.wsj.com/2BFgTXC

– Special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking an interview with Mark Corallo,

The Magnificent Oomph: Aiming for Norway Plus to secure a progressive Brexit – transcript of speech

Posted by EN-AGon 31 januari 201819 juli 2018in Magnificent, Oomph

31-01-18 01:19:00,

Courtesy of opendemocracy.net, here is the transcript of my speech of 29th January at the House of Commons. The theme? How should Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party secure a progressive Brexit consistent with a socialist agenda for the UK but also with DiEM25’s campaign to democratise Europe.

The main reason I am here, I believe – I’m going to add back into Chuka’s account a few wrinkles that he omitted out of kindness I suspect – is because I was prepared to advocate a Marxist case for the Norway agreement.

As a declared Corbynista and someone who could never be considered a lapdog for the EU but who dedicated every sinew I possess at the time to campaigning against Brexit – nevertheless I am here to present to you the case for what I call ‘Norway plus’ from a leftwing perspective, portrayed as an opportunity to do that which we progressives have been failing to do in the last year and a half, which is the following.

Let’s face it – here in this room we are reeling from a massive defeat in June 2016. We are deflated. A lot of what I have heard is correct but nevertheless defensive. It is as if I am hearing again the arguments which should have been heard loudly before the referendum! Let’s not keep fighting yesterday’s war.Let’s not keep fighting yesterday’s war.

I am in favour of a second referendum, but not one that annuls the first one. As a democrat I cannot stand up in front of an audience in Leeds or Doncaster or Clacton-on-Sea, look in the eye people who voted for Brexit and say to them what was said to Irish voters in 2004 – “You voted the wrong way. Go back and deliver the right verdict this time.” But at the same time I believe we have an internationalist duty, a progressive duty to save that which must be salvaged from the Brexit wreckage.

The possibility under this government or any Tory government of a decent, mutually advantageous agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union is vanishingly small if not absolutely zero.

So what we must save is firstly freedom of movement. Speaking from my perspective, I do not believe that you can be a Marxist,

Intercepted Podcast: Hate of the Union

Posted by EN-AGon 31 januari 201819 juli 2018in Intercepted, Podcast

31-01-18 01:13:00,

Subscribe to the Intercepted podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Radio Public, and other platforms. New to podcasting? Click here.

Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech was a hateful assault. This week on Intercepted: Naomi Klein and Jeremy analyze Trump’s threats toward North Korea, his executive order on Guantánamo, and the attack on immigrants, the poor, and the environment. Naomi also reflects on her recent reporting trip to Puerto Rico. Veteran journalist Juan González dissects the roots of fascism, the rise of authoritarian movements, and global migration trends. Marcy Wheeler gives a brief analysis of a theory floated by a former CIA officer that the “Steele dossier” contains Russian disinformation. Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada discusses Israeli collusion with the Trump campaign and Mike Pence’s trip to Israel. He also gives an update on the case of Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teen who is in military detention after a video of her slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers went viral. And Franklin James Fisher of the band Algiers talks about the power of optimism in the face of destruction, and we hear music from their album “The Underside of Power.”
“2001: A Space Odyssey”: The crew of Discovery One consists of five men and one of the latest generation of the HAL-9000 computers. Good afternoon, Hal. How’s everything going?

President Donald J. Trump, Jr.: Station, this is your president, do you hear me?

BBC Interviewer: Hal, despite your enormous intellect —

DJT: Do you hear me?

BBC Interviewer: Are you ever frustrated by your dependence on people to carry out actions?

DJT: We have astronauts and we have everybody. We’re flying right now. We’re learning, we’re learning about space, learning about a lot of other things — racing into space. So, excited about space! Space. Spaceflight. Space Station. Love space and think about space.

Gary Lockwood (as Dr. Frank Poole): But, Dave, I can’t put my finger on it, but I sense something strange about him.

DJT: So many other things having to do with NASA and space.

GL: If you weren’t proven to be malfunctioning,

Donald Trump’s North Korea Rhetoric During the State of the Union Is an Ominous Carbon Copy of Bush’s Words About Iraq 15 Years Ago

Posted by EN-AGon 31 januari 201819 juli 2018in Donald, Trump

31-01-18 08:42:00,

Donald Trump devoted a large section of the end of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to North Korea.

Anyone who was paying attention during George W. Bush’s State of the Union addresses in 2002 and 2003 would have found Trump’s statements frighteningly familiar: Trump used exactly the same justifications for war with North Korea as Bush had for war with Iraq when standing at the same podium.

To begin with, Trump claimed, the United States simply cannot accept a North Korea with weapons that could “threaten our homeland.” Moreover, the danger from Kim Jong Un is not just to America: His regime constitutes “a menace that threatens our world.”

Similarly, Bush had ruled out living with an Iraq armed with unconventional weapons that could be used against America. “Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein,” said Bush, “is not a strategy, and it is not an option.” And this was not just for our sake: A nation such as Iraq, he had proclaimed, was “the gravest danger facing America and the world.”

But Trump’s assertions raised an obvious question: Why is the situation with North Korea so dire? Why can’t the United States, by far the most powerful country on earth, simply deter a government that seems to value literally nothing more than staying alive and in power?

The answer is obvious, Trump explained. “We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime,” he said, “to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America.” He then went on to describe the quite real and hideous actions of the Kim Jong-un’s government in loving, emotional detail – in particular what we’ve learned from the testimony of a refugee who was present, Ji Seong-ho.

Bush made exactly the same case: According to Bush, the undeniable fact that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to Iraqis unquestionably meant he was a threat to the U.S. And how did we know about the suffering of Iraqis? “Iraqi refugees,” Bush said, “tell us how forced confessions are obtained, by torturing children while their parents are made to watch,” while Iraq’s torture chambers utilize “electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin,

In the War on Media Disinformation, the Truth is our Most Valuable Weapon | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Posted by EN-AGon 30 januari 201819 juli 2018in Media, Research

30-01-18 07:45:00,

It’s time for change, time to choose peace over violence, facts over lies. In the words of Michael Carmichael:

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Making a donation or taking out a monthly or yearly membership with Global Research means making an ongoing commitment to brave, honest journalism and, ultimately, to peace. If we are to face the real demons threatening our small and beautiful planet, the truth is our most valuable weapon, and Global Research will fight on to bring us closer to it.

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Arguing for a Norway Plus Brexit from the perspective of a committed Corbyn supporter – Audio of address at the House of Commons, 29 JAN 2018

Posted by EN-AGon 30 januari 201819 juli 2018in Arguing, Norway

30-01-18 05:44:00,

US

Thank you for visiting my blog. As you have just clicked on ABOUT, I take the liberty of assuming that a tale on how this blog came into being, as well as a few intimate details on its author, may be in order

Education Without Boundaries: | Light On Conspiracies – Revealing the Agenda

Posted by EN-AGon 30 januari 201819 juli 2018in Education, Without

30-01-18 05:34:00,

Education Without Boundaries: This School In Finland Is Breaking Down Walls & Creating Open Spaces

By Fattima Mahdi Truth Theory

Imagine a class where there are no scripted lessons, children are allowed to have fun, giggle and even daydream from time to time.

We’re creating viewer supported news. Become a member! Click Here!

Finland are known for their repeated success in national education rankings, their approach to schooling is radical and features a number of practices not widely used in the UK or US. Children start formal education at age 7, there are short school hours, light homework and no exams.

“There is a lot of variety in learning situations,” Reino, Tapaninen, chief architect at the National Agency for Education said. “Teachers can decide at the beginning of the month or week, or even at the beginning of the school day, how they want to work.”

Kastelli School and Community Centre located in Oulu, Finland, is one of 100 schools that have decided to take it one step further. They have adopted the flexible mindset that open learning spaces are better than walled-off classrooms. As a result, the school incorporates an open plan model, mixing students of different ages and cross-teaching subjects. The school’s interior features long hallways, soft chairs, big cushions, moveable walls and partitions for private discussions.

Reino Tapaninen, chief architect at the National Agency for Education said: “We’ve given up the old type of school desk and chair and have a real diversity now.” To make sure that there is minimal noise disruption, an acoustic designer works on the layout of the school. “We are using more acoustic materials on the ceilings, while textile flooring has become more popular — the materials are much better than they used to be, and now far easier to clean.” Tapaninen goes on to say that: “We now have what we call ‘shoe-less schools,’ where pupils either change into softer shoes or simply wear socks when they come indoors.”

Will the architecture lead to a better scholastic experience? We’ll just have to wait and see. What we do know is that there are certainly a few lessons to be learned from Finland’s radical approach to learning.