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Dutch writing on the Ukrainian wall: Steenhuis ruling in MH17 trial prejudges verdict

John Helmer
johnhelmer.net
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 16:24 UTC
mh17 trial
The ruling issued on July 3 by Dutch district court judge Hendrik Steenhuis (lead image, right) requires the Russian defendant, Lieutenant-Colonel Oleg Pulatov (centre), to prove his innocence with evidence prepared by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). By the standard announced a month earlier by the Russian Foreign Ministry, this is a fundamental violation of Pulatov's legal rights, making a guilty verdict inevitable.

Russian and international lawyers believe the defence lawyers should walk out. "In the conditions which the Dutch court has set," comments Canadian Christopher Black, a veteran litigator in international war crimes trials, "this is now nothing more than the Ukrainian civil war fought by the Kiev regime with lawyers instead of soldiers. It's a show trial. Nothing more than propaganda. No legal right for the accused is served by having his lawyers present. Since the defendants have refused to appear in person - three of them disputing the Dutch jurisdiction — the defence lawyers should withdraw."

The wording of the formal indictment charges Pulatov and three co-defendants with the crime of intentional homicide, according to this release by the prosecution on March 9. The text of the Dutch summons, issued to Pulatov last October, is more ambiguous, raising the scepticism of international lawyers that the Dutch themselves aren't convinced they can make their case under their own criminal code. For legal analysis of the Dutch criminal law which is being applied in the MH17 case, read this.

"The charges are vague when they should be specific," Black comments. "Any defence lawyer would complain that it is not a proper indictment. In the [Anglo-American] common law when a charge is vague like that the defence can demand 'particulars' — that is, details of the specific acts which the accused are alleged to have committed, so that the defence can be prepared."
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Star of David

Public shaming works: Israel postpones plan to annex parts of Palestinian West Bank


Sputnik
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 15:42 UTC
Cisjordania west bank illegal settlement
© REUTERS / Ammar AwadA view shows illegal Israeli settlement buildings around Givat Zeev and Ramat Givat Zeev in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 30, 2020
Israel is not planning to expand its sovereignty over territories of the West Bank in the coming days, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Monday.

"This is not within the agenda for today or tomorrow. I do not know [if the sovereignty is going to be introduced], but can say that the Foreign Ministry now evaluates the situation, and the Defense Ministry is weighing the risks in the field of security, as it will have serious repercussions," Ashkenazi said in an interview with Israel's Kan broadcaster.

Israel has discussed its plans to expand its sovereignty over the West Bank and the Jordan Valley with more than 30 foreign ministers, mainly the European Union members, most of whom oppose it, Ashkenazi added.

Comment:

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Brick Wall

Barbarism begins at home, just look at today

Pepe Escobar
Information Clearing House
Sat, 04 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Uighurs
© UnknownUighurs
Greece invented the concept of barbaros. Imperial Rome inherited it as barbarus.

The original meaning of barbaros is rooted in language: an onomatopoeia meaning "unintelligible speech" as people go "bar bar bar" when they talk. Homer does not refer to barbaros, but to barbarophonos ("of unintelligible speech"), as in those who don't speak Greek or speak very badly.

Comic poet Aristophanes suggested that Gorgias was a barbarian because he spoke a strong Sicilian dialect. Barbaru meant "foreigner" in Babylonian-Sumerian. Those of us who studied Latin in school remember balbutio ("stammer", "stutter", babble").

So it was speech that defined the barbarian compared to the Greek. Thucydides thought that Homer did not use "barbarians" because in his time Greeks "hadn't yet been divided off so as to have a single common name by way of contrast". The point is clear: the barbarian was defined as in opposition to the Greek. The Greeks invented the barbarian concept after the Persian invasions by Darius I and Xerxes I in 490 and 480-479 BC. After all they had to clearly separate themselves from the non-Greek. Aeschylus staged The Persians in 472 BC. That was the turning point; after that "barbarian" was everyone who was not Greek - Persians, Phoenicians, Phrygians, Thracians.

Adding to the schism, all these barbarians were monarchists. Athens, a new democracy, considered that to be the equivalent of slavery. Athens extolled "freedom" - which ideally developed reason, self-control, courage, generosity. In contrast, barbarians - and slaves - were childish, effeminate, irrational, undisciplined, cruel, cowardly, selfish, greedy, luxurious, pusillanimous.

From all of the above two conclusions are inevitable.
  1. Barbarism and slavery was a natural match.
  2. Greeks thought it was morally uplifting to help friends and repel enemies, and in the latter case Greeks had to enslave them. So Greeks should, by definition, rule barbarians.
History has shown that this worldview not only migrated to Rome but afterwards, via Christianity post-Constantine, to the "superior" West, and finally to the West's supposed "end of history": imperial America.
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Rocket

A 'nightmare for enemies': Iran claims it built underground 'missile cities' along the Persian Gulf coast


RT
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 19:17 UTC
direct hit
© AFP/Iranian Army officeMissile hits a target ship during an Iranian military exercise, Gulf of Oman, June 2020.
Tehran has built multiple "missile cities," both ashore and offshore, along its southern coast, Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) navy chief has revealed, calling the facilities a "nightmare" for the country's enemies.

The network includes underground bunkers, as well as offshore floating platforms, Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri told Sobh-e Sadeq weekly, in an interview published on Sunday. "Iran has established underground onshore and offshore missile cities all along the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which would be a nightmare for Iran's enemies," Tangsiri stated.

The IRGC is now present "everywhere" in these waters - its navy has mobilized 23,000 service personnel and 428 flotillas along the southern borders, the admiral added. Tangsiri also hinted at forthcoming long-range missiles, as well as brand-new military vessels "beyond the imagination" of the country's enemies.

Iran's elite Guards Corps certainly has a thing for subterranean facilities, and repeatedly intimated that it has well-hidden missile stockpiles and launch sites, and even fully fledged underground factories. So far, no visual evidence of the IRGC navy-operated compounds has been made available.
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Star of David

Netanyahu: Israel is in 'state of emergency' as virus resurges


Ynet
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 12:43 UTC
Netanhyahu
© CBN NewsIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel is currently in a "state of emergency" in light of the alarmingly high number of new coronavirus cases in the country. Israel has in recent weeks seen a resurgence of COVID-19, with the number of active patients, currently sick with the pathogen, passing the 10,000 mark on Friday, for the first time since the start of the epidemic.

He said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting:
"We are in a state of emergency, we cannot delay the legislation [on adopting virus measures], we must move forward with it to stop the spread. We will have to state steps beyond what was agreed upon during the coronavirus cabinet [meeting] last week."
Netanyahu said the World Health Organization recently pinpointed the Middle East as a coronavirus hotspot and it "does not exclude" Israel.
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Biohazard

Iran to upgrade Natanz nuclear site after mysterious incident causes 'significant' damage


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 11:46 UTC
Natanz nuclear plant Iran
© AFP / Atomic Energy Organization of IranAn entrance to the Natanz nuclear plant.
Tehran plans to "work around the clock" to repair the damage caused by a mysterious incident at its Natanz nuclear-enrichment site, Iran's atomic agency spokesman said.

As part of the reparations, the damaged building would be replaced with a more spacious facility, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the National Atomic Energy Organization told the Islamic Republic News Agency. Some of the precise measuring equipment used at the site was "destroyed" and could no longer be used, he said, but "more advanced" equipment would be supplied forthwith.

The nature of the incident remains undisclosed for security reasons, Kamalvandi explained, although he confirmed that the cause has been determined and was known to the nation's Supreme Security Council. The official also admitted that the financial losses the atomic agency had suffered as a result were "significant."

Comment: Local media claim an unnamed 'senior' source revealed Israel was behind the explosion, but Iranian authorities insist it was caused by leaking gas tanks. However Haaretz reports more on the chain of mysterious incidents that have plagued Iran over the past week:
The chain of incidents in Iran began in the middle of last week, with an explosion at a weapons development facility in Parchin. It was followed by an explosion at a site in Tehran that was described as a hospital, and that resulted in casualties. The Natanz explosion came later, and on Saturday a fire was reported at a power station in the southern Iranian region of Ahvzaz, close to the Iraqi border.


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NPC

Democratic Senator & Biden's potential VP says she's 'open' to removing George Washington statues


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 11:46 UTC
George Washington statue
© REUTERS/Jay PaulA statue of George Washington on a horse outside the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond, Virginia
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) appeared to confirm conservatives' ''slippery slope' concerns about the tearing down of historical monuments, when she told CNN she is open to memorials to George Washington being removed.

Duckworth, who has been floated as a possible pick for Joe Biden's vice presidential nominee, took no umbrage with the idea of protesters targeting Washington statues when she was confronted with the idea in a Sunday interview with CNN.

"I think we should listen to everybody. I think we should listen to the argument there," she said, then quickly moving into the safer zone of criticizing President Donald Trump for giving a speech at Mount Rushmore - land the senator says was "stolen from Native Americans."
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USA

LA mayor warns citizens to cancel Fourth of July plans to 'save lives,' but supports Black Lives Matter protests


RT
Sat, 04 Jul 2020 19:56 UTC
Eric Garcetti
© REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonEric Garcetti speaks during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is warning citizens to avoid Fourth of July celebrations during the Covid-19 pandemic, yet is fully in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and was even pictured at one not wearing a mask.

"We're going to have to celebrate differently this year. Everyone should cancel plans with others for the 4th of July. You shouldn't gather with anyone who doesn't live in your household," Garcetti tweeted on Friday.

He followed up on the actual holiday with multiple tweets doubling down on his warning.

Comment: The blatant hypocrisy is stunning.

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Light Saber

Nunes: Russian bounty leakers 'investigating themselves' is 'a real problem'

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Sat, 04 Jul 2020 20:52 UTC
Devin Nunes
© Crooks and LiarsDevin Nunes, House Intelligence Committee Chair
Leaks about Russia offering bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to target U.S. and other coalition troops in Afghanistan likely came from counterintelligence officials aligned with the Democratic Party, according to the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Devin Nunes also told Fox News on Saturday that it is unlikely the leakers will ever be found, lamenting how the nation's intelligence agencies have been "politicized" since the 2016 election.

"The idea that this would leak likely — and I'll say this, and I think this is the most important thing I'm going to say this morning — this leak probably came from the area of our intelligence agencies that look at counterintelligence," the California Republican said.

"These are the very people that are actually going to be investigating themselves. I think we have a real problem when the intelligence agencies within our counterintelligence capabilities ... when have to actually investigate themselves. I don't think we're going to find these leakers who were just helping the Left build a narrative to try to take down the Republican Party," Nunes added.

Comment: The timing of the "leak" coincided almost perfectly with some real progress in peace talks in aiming the decades-long war in Afghanistan. How surprising . . . . .

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Light Sabers

Moscow blasts US report accusing Russia of nuclear violations while also admitting there's no proof


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 06:06 UTC
missile
© REUTERS/USAF/Airman John ParieFile Photo: A US Air Force missile maintenance team removes the upper section of an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead in an undated USAF photo at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has responded to a report by the US State Department on arms control, which focused primarily on baseless allegations against Moscow, calling US diplomats out for "fact juggling" and "falsification."

The annual report, titled "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments," was recently presented by the Department of State to Congress. While the piece is basically an internal US document from one government body to another, it is primarily focused on activities of other nations - instead of providing an account of the US' own activities, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The American authorities use their traditional tactics of shifting responsibility in order to divert the attention of the international community from their own real efforts to break the decades-old system of treaties and agreements in the field of arms control. "
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