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Flashback SOTT Focus: The Malign Incompetence of The British Ruling Class

Pankaj Mishra
The New York Times
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:18 UTC
mountbatten india
© Associated PressEarl and Countess Mountbatten, behind naval and military members of the governor-general’s staff, walk down the steps of Government House in New Delhi, India, June 21, 1948.
Describing Britain's calamitous exit from its Indian empire in 1947, the novelist Paul Scott wrote that in India the British "came to the end of themselves as they were" — that is, to the end of their exalted idea about themselves. Scott was among those shocked by how hastily and ruthlessly the British, who had ruled India for more than a century, condemned it to fragmentation and anarchy; how Louis Mountbatten, accurately described by the right-wing historian Andrew Roberts as a "mendacious, intellectually limited hustler," came to preside, as the last British viceroy of India, over the destiny of some 400 million people.

Britain's rupture with the European Union is proving to be another act of moral dereliction by the country's rulers. The Brexiteers, pursuing a fantasy of imperial-era strength and self-sufficiency, have repeatedly revealed their hubris, mulishness and ineptitude over the past two years. Though originally a "Remainer," Prime Minister Theresa May has matched their arrogant obduracy, imposing a patently unworkable timetable of two years on Brexit and laying down red lines that undermined negotiations with Brussels and doomed her deal to resoundingly bipartisan rejection this week in Parliament.

Such a pattern of egotistic and destructive behavior by the British elite flabbergasts many people today. But it was already manifest seven decades ago during Britain's rash exit from India.

Comment: Brexit won't be such a calamity for Britain, but only because there's no foreign or imperial threat to exploit it. And also because it's not really going to happen.

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Light Saber

Flick on the nose to Turkey: Syria secures entire Aleppo-Damascus highway - UPDATE


Southfront.org
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Military situation in Syria on Feb 13 2020
© Southfront.org
For the first time in about 8 years of the war, Syrian government forces have established control of the entire M5 highway, which runs from the border with Jordan through Damascus, Homs and Hama to Aleppo.

During the first half of February 12th, the Syrian Army and Iranian-backed militias recaptured the Rashidin 4 district from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other foreign-backed al-Qaeda enthusiasts in western Aleppo. By the end of the day, pro-government troops had taken control of Khan Asal and entered the villages of Abu Shalim, Wadi Shuha andWadi Al-Kabeer. The Syrians also attacked "moderate beheaders" in Kafr Nuran, but were not able to break their defenses there. The interesting fact is that on February 10 army positions in the nearby area of Kafr Halab became a target of at least two suicide bombing attacks. Apparently regular suicide bombings conducted by members of Idlib groups are a strong signal of their democratic ideology.

Comment: Turkey has reportedly deployed multiple rocket launchers on its border with Syria and sent a mission of its special forces to Idlib, Syria condemned the moves.
Syria's Foreign Ministry has vowed to continue fighting terrorist groups in Idlib and elsewhere notwithstanding Turkish threats, and has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of supporting, arming and training terrorist organizations operating in the region. Damascus also reiterated that Turkey's military presence on Syrian soil is illegal.
Turkey also deployed more military reinforcements to Idlib. Russia voiced its support for Syria saying that it has the right to eliminate the terrorists from its territory.
"At the moment, we consider the most important thing is the implementation of... agreements (between Russia and Turkey)... and of course the suppression of any terrorist activity directed against the Syrian armed forces and Russian military facilities," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

"We consider such sorties from Idlib unacceptable," the senior Russian official noted.
On February 12th, one young person was killed in northern Syria, when US troops deviated from their route and clashed with civilians.


The altercation between Syrian and US servicemen drew in a large group of local residents and at one point the American troops opened fire on them, killing a 22-year-old man and injuring another person. Russian military police arrived at the scene and were able to quell the tensions before they could have spiraled into a major confrontation.

"Only thanks to the efforts of the Russian servicemen who arrived at the scene of the incident, it was possible to prevent a further escalation of the conflict with local residents," the Russian military said.
UPDATE 14/02/2020: The Syrian Army has captured a strategic base in southwestern Aleppo:
According to a field source in the Aleppo Governorate, the Syrian Arab Army, alongside Liwaa Al-Quds and the Local Defense Forces (LDF), captured the 46th Regiment Base and a nearby town after the jihadist rebels withdrew from the area. The source said the Syrian Army and their allies faced virtually no resistance from the jihadist rebels, who withdrew from the base after losing several points nearby.

He would add that the Syrian Army is now pushing towards the strategic town of Al-Atareb, which is located near the Turkish border.

The collapse of the jihadist forces in southwestern Aleppo and eastern Idlib has been a major surprise for the Syrian Army, as even Turkish military intervention has done little to help the militants maintain their ground.
base captured Syria aleppo feburary 2020
© SouthFront.org




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Putin

'He didn't even trust me with a pen!' Russian tycoon Deripaska rubbishes West's Putin money laundering accusation

Jonny Tickle and Bryan MacDonald
RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 20:25 UTC
Oleg Deripaska
© Reuters / Maxim ShemetovOleg Deripaska
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska has poured cold water on American insinuations that he washed funds on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials.

According to Britain's Financial Times (FT), Deripaska called the accusations "unsupported" and "just guesses, rumors and balderdash," adding that if someone brought "something like this to a court in London ... the judge would just tell them: 'Please get lost.'"

On Friday, a letter written by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was published by the FT, detailing the unclassified justifications of why the tycoon was sanctioned. The letter indicates six reasons, all of which include the word "reportedly" or "reported," and provide no source or proof.
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Telephone

Vovan & Lexus target Bernie: Russian pair fake call from 'Greta Thunberg' in latest phone prank


RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 20:01 UTC
thunberg sanders
© Retuers / Sarah Silbiger; Reuters/TT News Agency/Pontus LundahlBernie Sanders participates in the "Climate Forum 2020" in Washington. Inset: Greta Thunberg
Bernie Sanders would apparently wear a gold chain and rap in front of posh cars in order to battle climate change, an idea suggested by Russian pranksters. But being called a KGB sleeper agent proved to be too much.

The Democratic primary frontrunner seems to be the latest target of the comedy duo Vovan and Lexus, who have for years been playing pranks on the world's leading politicians. Their latest hoax was to phone people while posing as Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist, and her father. Representative Maxine Waters and actor Joaquin Phoenix were previously pranked by the fake Greta, and now it was apparently the social democrat's turn.

Comment: Those who take themselves too seriously are the perfect targets for the likes of Vovan and Lexus. Tricksters have the gift of revealing what the powerful would keep secret.

A call to the eco-goddess herself would be glorious. Guys?

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Light Sabers

Russia urges Turkey against 'provocative comments' on Syria


RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 20:03 UTC
turkish tank
© REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Moscow has called for restraint after a Turkish parliamentarian blamed Russia for the recent deaths of Turkish troops in clashes with Syrian government forces attempting to liberate the militant-held Idlib province.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), had argued in the Turkish parliament that Moscow and Damascus were responsible for the deaths of 13 Turkish soldiers over the past week.

"We consider it unacceptable to use the tragic events to 'score points' in the domestic political debate," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, adding that Turkish lawmakers ought to "refrain from provocative comments, which by no means contribute to a constructive dialogue between our countries on the issue of a Syrian settlement."
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Dominoes

Italy's Salvini faces 15 years in jail following Trump-style legal circus aimed at killing off his popularity

Damian Wilson
RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 19:42 UTC
salvini
© REUTERS/Guglielmo
Having voted to lift his immunity from prosecution, the Italian Senate has cynically followed the US Democrats' playbook by creating a legal sideshow to combat the growing popularity of the League's Matteo Salvini.

Salvini's 14-month term as Italy's interior minister was a rollercoaster ride, as he ruled the national political agenda and built a massive power base - much to the chagrin of his former political allies, who are now exacting their revenge.

The Senate vote to lift his parliamentary immunity, meaning a prison sentence of up to 15 years comes into play, is the first step of the traditional ruling class towards stopping the political force that is Salvini - who, even in opposition, has barely spent a day out of the headlines.
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Arrow Down

Clueless Mike Bloomberg hired Fyre Festival marketing team to help him "look cool" for primaries

John Vibes
The Mind Unleashed
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 12:32 UTC
Bloomberg
© Gage Skidmore, Flickr
Mike Bloomberg hired Frye Festival promoters to make his campaign memes. Seriously.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been desperately trying to inject himself into the 2020 election, and according to a recent report from the New York Times. Bloomberg has even gone so far as to hire the marketing team behind the now-infamous Fyre Festival.

Jerry Media, the disgraced marketing firm that played a major role in the botched festival, is involved with a meme campaign that hopes to make the 77-year-old candidate look "cool."

"The Meme 2020 project" is being organized for Bloomberg by Jerry Media executive director Mick Purzycki who played a major role in the failed Fyre Festival.

Comment: More on the Fyre Festival scam:

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Star of David

UK Left slams Labour Party leader candidates who call themselves 'Zionist' or sympathetic to Zionism


RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 18:57 UTC
UK labour party button
© Getty Images / Oli Scarff
The four Labour leader hopefuls all claimed to be Zionist - or sympathetic to the movement - at a special event held by a Jewish wing of the party, drawing outrage from party supporters on pro-Palestinian grounds.

When answering questions posed at the Jewish Labour Movement hustings on Thursday, Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Emily Thornberry unequivocally called themselves Zionist. Their fellow Labour leader candidate Keir Starmer qualified his answer, saying "I don't describe myself as a Zionist, but I understand, sympathize, and support Zionism." The pronouncements quickly ignited the ire of many Labour members who took to Twitter to vent their anger - with some even threatening to leave the party altogether.

Comment: There is no better documentation of how deep Israeli interests reach into British politics than Al Jazeera's undercover expose, The Lobby

Al Jazeera undercover investigation: 4-part series on how the Israel Lobby in Britain influences politics and universities

Part 1:

What will Israel do when the smear of 'antisemtism' doesn't work any more?
Right now, the accusation of 'anti-Semitism' is the political and social equivalent of a nuclear weapon. This is part of the problem with using it so freely to shut down any and all criticism of Israel - much like the term 'racist,' overusing it may lead to it losing all its power against actual racists and anti-Semites. It works for now, and will work for a while yet - until some day soon it doesn't anymore. People can only handle so much hyperbole before they become inured to it. Not everything is the second coming of the Holocaust, and arguing otherwise only cheapens its horrors.

Worst of all, invoking it to shut down speech - however hateful one may find it - actually fuels the very tropes promoted by actual anti-Semites about 'Jewish control' of the media and politics. At the end of the day, the argument of force can never truly replace the force of argument, and sunlight is usually the best disinfectant.


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Chess

India plans to get new frigates from Russia while the US threatens New Delhi with sanctions over purchase of S-400 missile system

Shishir Upadhyaya
RT
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 19:20 UTC
frigate
© RIA Novosti / Alexei Demichev
Despite the modernization of India's defense industry, Indo-Russian military cooperation is still strong — and two Talwar-class frigates will be delivered to New Delhi in 2024. But could competition from the US get in the way?

As part of a $2.2 billion deal with Moscow, the pair of warships, currently under construction at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, will be delivered in two years — and two additional frigates will be built domestically at India's Goa Shipyard under a technology transfer agreement.
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Putin

In phone call, Zelenskiy and Putin discuss next Normandy summit, possible prisoner exchange


RFE/RL
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 19:17 UTC
putin and zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have discussed by phone preparations for a new summit in the so-called Normandy format and a possible prisoner swap, Zelenskiy's office said on February 14.

"Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin paid special attention to the process of releasing Ukrainian citizens being held in temporarily occupied territories of Donbas [districts controlled by Russia-backed separatists since April 2014], Crimea, and the Russian Federation," the office said.

After his upset win in presidential elections last year, 41-year-old former comedian Zelenskiy managed to negotiate a long-awaited prisoner exchange with Russia that saw the two countries exchange dozens of prisoners in September and December.
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