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Pocket Knife

Authoritarian narrative managers claim White Helmets founder was driven to suicide by Syria skeptics

Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
Sun, 29 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
le mesurier white helmets
On Her Majesty's Top Secret Service
Imperialist spinmeisters are trial-ballooning a new Syria narrative that is so breathtakingly stupid it needs its own article solely for the purpose of mockery.

On Christmas Eve PBS aired a bizarre segment on the death of James Le Mesurier, the former military intelligence officer who founded the extremely shady propaganda construct known as the White Helmets. The segment makes relentless, ham-fisted appeals to emotion, even attempting to associate the White Helmets with Armistice Day using wistful camera pans over poppy flowers and misty war memorial art exhibits, but by far the most yogurt-brained part is its repeated suggestions that Le Mesurier killed himself because people had been accusing him of being a propagandist.

"And now a story of a humanitarian trying to help Syria: the suspicious death in Turkey last month of James Le Mesurier, the co-founder of the White Helmets rescue organization in Syria," opens PBS News Hour's Judy Woodruff. "Friends and colleagues fear that he may have been murdered or driven to suicide by a campaign of character assassination."

Comment:

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Attention

2019: The year of peak green bullsh*t

Ben Pile
Spiked
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 22:35 UTC
Greta Thunberg
© Getty
2019 was the most extraordinary year of green bullshit yet. Despite the planet being a wealthier, healthier and safer place than it was when fears of global warming first appeared on the political agenda in the 1980s - and despite the failure of more than half a century of green prognostications - crazy and destructive green ideas still dominate politics.

Royal hypocrisy

In 2019, green doublespeak went mainstream. Harry and Meghan had intended to 'eco-signal' by warning us about climate change. At the same time, they were hopping on private jets to stay in luxury villas. Despite attempts by some celebrities to defend the royal couple from criticism, newspapers across the world pointed out that actions speak louder than words. What Harry and Meghan's royal hypocrisy showed was that elite environmentalism is less about saving the planet than about telling people how to live and to know their place.
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Stock Down

Rouhani says US sanctions cost his country $200B


RFE/RL
Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:35 UTC
Rouhani
© President.ir/AFPIranian President Hassan Rouhani meets with representatives of the petrolchemical industry, Tehran, December 30, 2019.
Iran's president has said that U.S. sanctions have cost Iran $200 billion in lost foreign income and investment over the past two years. President Hassan Rohani made the comments while launching a railway project near Tehran on December 31.

"Iran would have earned $200 billion surplus income...if the country were not involved in an economic war," he said.

Since the United States abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has lost 90 percent of its oil exports, a key source of revenue. Its currency has plummeted and inflation has surpassed 40 percent.

Rohani also questioned arguments from hard-line conservatives who criticize him and who say that the sanctions have not affected Iran. "What should we do? When there is no food and water, you are still in danger no matter how strong you are," he said.
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Footprints

Turkey set to send Syrian rebel fighters to fight Haftar in Libya

Ragip Soylu, Harun al-Aswad
Middle East Eye
Fri, 27 Dec 2019 11:31 UTC
Syrian fighters
© AFPTurkey-backed Syrian fighters gather on a road between the northern Syrian towns of Tal Abyad and Kobane.
Turkey will deploy Syrian rebel fighters in Libya to fight against the forces of Khalifa Haftar, sources told Middle East Eye on Friday.

Ankara had already reached out to several allied Syrian rebel groups about the deployment. A Turkish source said that the Sultan Murad Division, an armed group made up of Syrian Turkmen fighters, is among the groups set to be sent to North Africa.

The Syrian opposition source said that the Suqour al-Sham Brigades, a faction founded to fight Syrian government forces early in Syria's war, had already accepted the plan and transferred some of its forces to Turkey ahead of deployment.

Faylaq al-Sham, a rebel group with close ties to Ankara, is expected to take the lead due to its members' previous partnership with Libyan forces. A Syrian source said:
"Tripoli-based forces previously sent weapons and ammunition to help Syrian rebels in 2011. They even sent some commanders to help them. Faylaq al-Sham returned the favour by sending officials to advise Tripoli-based forces in 2014 against Benghazi forces."

Comment: See also:

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Cell Phone

US Army follows Navy in banning soldiers from using TikTok over security concerns


KTLA5
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:57 UTC
tiktok
The US Army has banned the use of the hugely popular short video app TikTok by its soldiers, calling it a security threat.

The Army has joined the Navy in barring the use of the app on government-owned phones, following bipartisan calls from lawmakers for regulators and the intelligence community to determine whether the Chinese-owned app presents a threat to national security and could be used to collect American citizens' personal data. Military.com was the first to report on the decision.

"There was a Cyber Awareness Message sent out on 16 December identifies TikTok as having potential security risks associated with its use," Army spokesperson Lt. Col Robin L. Ochoa told CNN on Monday night. "The message directs appropriate action for employees to take in order to safeguard their personal information. The guidance is to be wary of applications you download, monitor your phones for unusual and unsolicited texts etc., and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information."


Comment: Of course there are security risks when using TikTok. Just as there are with Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. In case anyone hasn't noticed, everyone is stealing everyone's data - whether state or private. That's just the way things are these days. So if you're concerned, don't use any of them.


Reuters reported that the Navy also made a similar decision in mid-December, telling sailors that anyone who hadn't removed the app from their government-issued phone would be banned from the Navy intranet.

Comment: The U.S. is only concerned about foreign governments coercing tech companies, especially China (and Russia). They're not so concerned with American companies who are just as guilty of stealing and selling information. It's understandable, though extremely hypocritical. After all, the NSA just wants a monopoly on stealing private data.

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Cell Phone

Huawei says 'survival is our first priority' in 2020 as western boycott bites deeper


The Guardian
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:29 UTC
Huawei logo
© REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoA Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 22, 2019.
Chairman Eric Xu warns that hit from US sanctions means telecoms firm must 'go all out' to maintain sales

The embattled Chinese telecommunications company Huawei says "survival" is its first priority after announcing sales were hit hard by a boycott from western countries.

Eric Xu, the company's chairman, said estimated sales revenue would reach 850bn yuan for 2019 (US$121bn) - up roughly 18% from the previous year, but much lower than initially expected.

In January this year, the company, which was banned from working with American firms over national security fears, forecast sales revenue of US$125 billion.
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Handcuffs

Israel arrested over 5,500 Palestinians in 2019 - Annual occupation report


Samidoun
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:08 UTC
Palestinian prisoners’ families rally for their release
© Anne Paq, ActivestillsPalestinian prisoners’ families rally for their release
The following report was issued on 30 December 2019 by Palestinian prisoners' institutions and associations (Palestinian Prisoners' Society, Prisoners' Affairs Commission and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association). Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network translated the report into English.

In 2019, Israeli occupation forces arrested over 5,500 Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territories; among them were 889 children and at least 128 women.

The Palestinian prisoners' and human rights institutions, Palestinian Prisoners' Society, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Prisoners' Affairs Commission, indicate that the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in occupation prisons to the current date is approximately 5000, including 40 women, approximately 200 child detainees and 450 Palestinians held in administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial.

The following report aims to shed light on the reality of prisoners in the occupation prisons as well as the most prominent repressive acts exercised against them by the occupation authorities in 2019.

Torture is an ongoing policy of the occupation against Palestinian prisoners

During 2019, Israeli occupation forces continued to use torture as a tool of revenge and coercion against the prisoners to strip them of their human dignity and, most importantly, coerce them to give confessions during the interrogation period. According to investigation, 95% of detainees are subjected to torture, from the moment of arrest, through interrogation or even after transferring them to detention centers.
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Question

Iran, China & Russia execute joint naval exercise: A security trilateral to counter US presence?

Shishir Upadhyaya
RT
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 18:17 UTC
russian navy
© AFP / Iranian Army officeThe Russian navy Neustrashimyy-class frigate ‘Yaroslav Mudry’ during joint Iran-Russia-China naval drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman.
A first-of-its-kind combined naval exercise by Iran, China and Russia has wrapped up in the Gulf of Oman. The US has been watching closely, as it could be the beginning of a security coalition to counter American influence.

The Iranian Navy had announced that the December 27-30 exercise, codenamed Marine Security Belt, was aimed at enhancing maritime security in the region, which has witnessed a series of attacks on ships transiting the vital shipping lane - the same attacks for which the US has been blaming Iran. The US, along with its allies, maintains a strong naval presence in the region, and a European Union mission led by France is also known to be operating there.
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Whistle

Embassy row: US & Germany jump into spat over WWII outbreak between Russia and Poland

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:05 UTC
Soviet
© RIA NovostiSoviet Soldiers liberating Warsaw, Poland, March 1, 1945
The dispute between Warsaw and Moscow over what started the Second World War - yes, really - has now expanded to Poland's allies, as first the US and then the German envoy chimed in with revisionist history.

"Dear President Putin, Hitler and Stalin colluded to start WWII. That is a fact. Poland was a victim of this horrible conflict," US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher tweeted on Monday - in both English and Polish, suggesting that her message of "collusion" was intended more for domestic consumption than for the Russian head of state.

"Dear Ambassador, do you really think that you know about history any more than you do about diplomacy?" the Russian embassy in Warsaw responded, in English. This likely referred to the fact that Mossbacher used to be the CEO of a cosmetics company before President Barack Obama appointed her to a diplomatic commission in 2015. She was sent to Warsaw in September 2018 by President Donald Trump.


Comment: Zing!


Comment: Poland's self-defeating actions in other spheres of politics provide insight into just how deluded some of their people running the show really are:

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Padlock

Iran seizes foreign tanker with "illegal" oil in Hormuz


RFE/RL
Mon, 30 Dec 2019 19:28 UTC
iran tanker
Iranian naval troops frequently interdict smaller vessels in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz for alleged smuggling of fuel.
Iranian state media are reporting that the country's paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has seized a foreign tanker and crew that it says were carrying illegal oil.

The December 30 reports did not say what country's flag the ship was flying.

But the Iranians said the vessel was carrying more than 1 million liters of fuel and was taken into custody on December 29 near Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to an IRGC press statement quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency.

Some reports suggested there were 16 Malaysian crew members aboard the ship, while others said 12 "foreign nationals" were detained with the ship.

Comment: See also:

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