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Snakes in Suits

Bojo could ignore Remainer laws to stop No Deal Brexit as opposition MPs push for new deadline

Natasha Clark
The Sun
Sun, 01 Sep 2019 11:34 UTC
pro-Brexit
© Reuters / Toby MelvilleA pro-Brexit demonstration in London.
BORIS Johnson could ignore any new law to block a No Deal Brexit or simply find a way round it, Michael Gove has suggested.

Rebel MPs will this week give Boris the fight of his career as they bid to try to stop the PM taking Britain out of the EU.

They will take control of the Parliamentary timetable after MPs return to work on Tuesday and try to push through a new law in just days aimed at forcing Boris to seek a THIRD Brexit extension from the EU.

Labour's Sir Keir Starmer said this morning it could be their "last chance" to do so before Parliament is controversially shut down for five weeks.

Comment: RT reports:
No alternative: Leaked docs reveal Johnson has no viable substitute for Irish border backstop

The document, prepared for the EU Exit Negotiations Board and dated 28 August, reportedly shows that the findings of all Brexit advisory groups assisting the British government are being kept secret so as not to interfere with Brexit negotiations with the European Union, particularly those that pertain to the backstop issue.

The backstop would ensure the UK would still follow EU regulations governing consumer products, food, animals, and vehicles within the single market guidelines and customs union eliminating the need for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.


So Brexit in name only?


Prime Minister Boris Johnson has flat-out refused to accept a backstop arrangement, a hangover from his predecessor Theresa May and her failed Withdrawal Agreement, while claiming there is a plethora of alternative solutions.

However, according to these leaked documents, none of these aforementioned "abundant solutions" are actually viable and that a hard border could be on the cards.

"It is evident that every facilitation has concerns and issues related to them. The complexity of combining them into something more systemic and as part of one package is a key missing factor at present," the documents read.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is already a third of the way through the 30-day target set by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Johnson to formulate an alternative border proposal. The UK is expected to leave the EU on October 31, with Johnson vowing to do so, "deal or no deal."

The proposed technological workarounds to the backstop are fraught with problems, according to the report.

An artificial intelligence-powered option would not effectively detect disease and chemical contamination of food while onboard vehicle technology to track the location, weight and temperature of food would be susceptible to tampering or gaming.

In addition, checks on physical goods could create weeks-long backlogs and 'quarantine' periods.

The report also undermines the current forerunner to replace the backstop, the "trusted trader" scheme, as it would require substantial infrastructure to work which may prove undeliverable.

The UK's Department for Exiting the European Union has thus far declined to comment on the leaked documents.

Johnson vowed to step up the tempo in Brexit negotiations with the EU while he faces legal challenges to his move to suspend Parliament between mid-September and October 14.
More from RT:
Tories at war: Rebels willing to lose their jobs to block 'no-deal' Brexit

The Conservative Party is in internal open warfare, as its leadership threatens to deselect all Tory rebels planning to stop a no-deal Brexit. Defiant rebels insist they're willing to get the sack over the intractable issue.

This week is being billed by many as 'make-or-break' juncture for the Tory Party, as British MPs return from summer recess with reports that UK premier Boris Johnson has ostensibly warned Conservative Party rebels: defy me on Brexit and get the sack.

As Johnson looks to get Brexit over the line with his planned suspension of parliament on September 9, a rebel alliance of opposition lawmakers, including Conservative MPs, are readying themselves to vote on legislation to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on October 31.

One such Tory MP, Antoinette Sandbach, commenting during an interview on Sky News on Monday, appeared undeterred by the threats to remove the party whip from Conservative rebels. She insisted that she was prepared to "put my job on the line" and vote "against no-deal Brexit" later this week.

Sandbach hit out at the "staggering hypocrisy" of Johnson threatening to remove the whip from those Tories who refuse to back the government in any vote to stop a no-deal Brexit. While Sandbach and other rebels backed former PM Theresa May's deal -three times- Johnson failed to do the same.

It comes as Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg told LBC radio that any move to pass legislation to block the UK leaving the EU without a deal would "essentially [be] a confidence matter" in Johnson's government.

"Is there really a conservative in this country who thinks Jeremy Corbyn should control our legislative agenda?" remarked Rees-Mogg.

On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth II approved Johnson's request to suspend parliament from September 9 to October 14. The move sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from opposition lawmakers, amid accusations that the prime minister was attempting to stage a 'coup' of sorts, by circumventing parliamentary norms at a crucial point in the Brexit process.
Further:
'You don't want an election': BoJo speaks on snap national vote after emergency cabinet meeting

UK PM Boris Johnson pleaded with MPs to avoid another "pointless" Brexit delay, adding that he doesn't want a snap election. He spoke after an emergency cabinet meeting, amid a battle with rebel Tories over an extension of Brexit.

Johnson emerged from 10 Downing Street on Monday evening to loud booing and cheering from a crowd that gathered ahead of the surprise speech.

"I believe we will get a deal at that crucial summit in October, a deal that parliament will certainly be able to scrutinize. And in the meantime, let's let our negotiators get on without that sword of Damocles over their necks, and without an election," Johnson said.

"I don't want an election, you don't want an election. Let's get on with the people's agenda."

However, Johnson wasn't exactly clear on how he would proceed if "tomorrow, MPs will vote with [Labour's] Jeremy Corbyn for yet another pointless delay."

"I don't think they will, I hope that they won't. But if they do, they would plainly chop the legs out from under the UK position and make any further negotiation impossible. And so I say, to show our friends in Brussels that we are united in our purpose, MPs should vote with the government against Corbyn's pointless delay," the PM said.

He stressed that "there are no circumstances in which I will ask Brussels to delay. We're leaving on the 31st of October, no ifs or buts."

Earlier, ITV had reported that a vote on a general election is expected Wednesday.

Bookmakers have slashed the odds on a general election, with a wide-range of media outlets reporting that Johnson will lay down a motion on Tuesday, asking British lawmakers to vote for a snap poll.

James Cleverly, the Conservative Party chairman, refused three times to rule out Downing Street calling an election in the next three weeks, in an interview with ITV News.

A rebel alliance of opposition MPs signaled that they will attempt to stop a 'no-deal' Brexit by tabling a new piece of Brexit legislation - extending the deadline past October 31. If successful, it would risk scuppering Johnson's promise to the UK nation - that Britain will leave the EU with or without a deal by Halloween.

Snap election likely?

This move by rebel politicians may force Johnson's hand into calling an election, but it's far from certain whether it will be given the green light by the majority of MPs. Johnson requires a two-thirds majority of lawmakers in the House of Commons to carry a vote for an election.

Earlier, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, taking questions after his speech on Brexit in Salford, suggested that his party would welcome a general election in all circumstances, but some of his backbench MPs remain unconvinced it would be the right tactic.

Labour MPs Darren Jones and Owen Smith warned that voting for a snap poll would risk seeing a 'no-deal' Brexit materialising. Both politicians signaled that they would not back such a move, and that they may not be alone in their thinking.

In the event that a general election is given the go-ahead, it could be held mid- to late-October, before the Brexit deadline day. The law states that there must be 25 working days between an election being formally called and polling day.
See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Umbrella

What is justice for McCabe, exactly?

Andrew McCarthy
National Review
Thu, 29 Aug 2019 06:30 UTC
Andrew McCabe
© Reuters/KJN
The former deputy director's FBI coddled Clinton and addled Trump. Now he seeks clemency . . . even as he sues the Justice Department.

Hillary Clinton checked every box for a violation of the Espionage Act. So much so that, in giving her a pass, the FBI figured it better couch her conduct as "extremely careless," rather than "grossly negligent." The latter description was stricken from an earlier draft of then-director James Comey's remarks because it is, verbatim, the mental state the statute requires for a felony conviction. It wouldn't do to have an "exoneration" statement read like a felony indictment.

In point of fact, the careless/negligent semantic game was a sideshow. Mrs. Clinton's unlawful storage and transmission of classified information had been patently willful. In contemptuous violation of government standards, which she was bound not only to honor but to enforce as secretary of state, she systematically conducted her government business by private email, via a laughably unsecure homebrew server set-up. Her Obama administration allies stress that it was not her purpose to harm national security, but that was beside the point. The crime was mishandling classified information, and she committed it. And even if motive had mattered (it didn't), her purpose was to conceal the interplay between her State Department and the Clinton Foundation, and to avoid generating a paper trail as she prepared to run for president. No, that's not as bad as trying to do national-security harm, but it's condemnable all the same.

While Clinton's mishandling of classified information got all the attention, it was just the tip of the felony iceberg. Thousands of the 33,000 emails she withheld and undertook to "bleach bit" into oblivion related to State Department business. It is a felony to misappropriate even a single government record. The destruction of the emails, moreover, occurred after a House Committee investigating the Benghazi massacre issued subpoenas and preservation directives to Clinton's State Department and Clinton herself. If Andrew Weissmann and the rest of the Mueller probe pit-bulls had half as solid an obstruction case against Donald Trump, the president would by now have been impeached, removed, and indicted.

And that dichotomy is the point, isn't it?
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Dollar

Sell-outs: Italy's Five Star movement in coalition talks with establishment party to prevent Salvini winning snap election

Lorenzo Tondo
The Guardian
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 19:38 UTC

Comment: So much for the Five Star Movement in Italy being 'populist left', and only in it to 'govern responsibly'. They're blatantly scheming with Italy's establishment to keep Salvini from becoming PM... and themselves in power!

In the current climate, can there really even be a 'populist left' govt, when so much of the globalist agenda is leftist? Like we saw with Syriza in Greece, 'true leftists' are bound to wind up collaborating...


Luigi Di Maio
Sell-out: Italy's Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio arrives for a meeting with the Italian President as part of a second round of consultations with mainstream political parties.
Members of Itay's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) party will vote online on whether they want their party to attempt to form a coalition government with the Democratic party (PD).

Last week, the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was tasked with securing a pact between the two parties and staving off early elections after Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League, collapsed its coalition with M5S.


Comment: ...which he did because Conte, Five Star and the Democrats were already having backroom talks about forming a coalition. Salvini might have triggered its collapse, but that's because Five Star was becoming less and less cooperative as Salvini's poll rating climbed and climbed. They had a plan for the moment when he did that...


M5S, stung by what it saw as a betrayal and keen to avoid a return to the ballot box, agreed to make an attempt to govern with the centre-left PD, which is in the process of rebuilding after a string of election defeats.

About 100,000 people who subscribe to M5S's Rousseau website will have from 9am to 6pm on Tuesday to answer the question: "Do you agree that the Five Star Movement should form a government together with the Democratic party, chaired by Giuseppe Conte?"

Comment: No doubt Di Maio and Conte are telling themselves they're only doing this to 'prevent the return of intolerant fascism', all the while scheming to prevent the (likely) democratic will of the people: Salvini for PM.

More analysis from Dr. Steve Turley:



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Dollars

Key to sustainable economy goes back 5,000 years

Ellen Brown
Truthdig
Wed, 28 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
bas-relief 2 guys
© Klaus Wagensonner/Flickr.jpg
We are again reaching the point in the business cycle known as "peak debt," when debts have compounded to the point that their cumulative total cannot be paid. Student debt, credit card debt, auto loans, business debt and sovereign debt are all higher than they have ever been. As economist Michael Hudson writes in his provocative 2018 book, ...and forgive them their debts, debts that can't be paid won't be paid. The question, he says, is how they won't be paid.

Mainstream economic models leave this problem to "the invisible hand of the market," assuming trends will self-correct over time. But while the market may indeed correct, it does so at the expense of the debtors, who become progressively poorer as the rich become richer. Borrowers go bankrupt and banks foreclose on the collateral, dispossessing the debtors of their homes and their livelihoods. The houses are bought by the rich at distress prices and are rented back at inflated prices to the debtors, who are then forced into wage peonage to survive. When the banks themselves go bankrupt, the government bails them out. Thus the market corrects, but not without government intervention. That intervention just comes at the end of the cycle to rescue the creditors, whose ability to buy politicians gives them the upper hand. According to free-market apologists, this is a natural cycle akin to the weather, which dates all the way back to the birth of modern economics in ancient Greece and Rome.
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Pirates

The pivotal question: 'Who is creating terrorists?'

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
ISIS
A stunning question just popped into my head this morning; "What is it international terrorist groups hope to gain?" Looking at the whole concept of Bush II's 'War on Terror' - I cannot help but wonder if there would be any crisis at all if my country withdrew totally from the world stage. Could it be that my country is the only hurdle standing in the way of peace?

I was reading a report today from the learned author of War and Empire: The American Way of Life, Paul Atwood. The CounterPunch story about America's Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) making blood-money off endless wars is telling. Many of us have spotlighted the corporations that cripple any chance for world peace, but none so effectively as Atwood. This passage encapsulates his argument on our endless war stance:
"In fact, the 'permanent warfare state' has been erected on the backs of American taxpayers by fraudulent claims of threats to our national security. In the case of 'terrorists,' these adversaries were the result of our own interventions in Muslim countries. In truth, no nation is, or ever has been, or ever will be capable of invading the U.S. or otherwise subjecting us to its will."
This leads me to another question, "How do you create an enemy, a terrorist?" I mean, if it is true the corporations that run Washington are behind our ceaseless conflicts, surely they used a prescription and a strategy. The broad view on this can be summed up by Danny Sjursen, who is a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. Sjursen identifies our policies as; "hyper-interventionist, highly militarized foreign policy (that) has defined Washington since at least the days of President Harry Truman." At the heart of this argument is the new Trump National Defense Strategy that calls for about $1.7 trillion in new subs, nukes, and tech weapons to combat America's foes, new and old.

Comment: It's certainly a question worthy of investigation. The full picture may emerge in time, but for the moment - with governments and the media largely not talking about it - we can only guess.

We know that many of the anti-govt 'rebels' in Syria, for example, were actually Pakistani. We know that many of them arrived there via Qatar - and that this is ongoing. We know that the US military base in Qatar was 'instrumental in targeting ISIS' in Syria/Iraq.

How then do the Americans not see that the tiny country they are using as a base to fight ISIS... is also key to ISIS existing at all? Best guess: part of the same base is actually run by the Americans for those who then become 'ISIS'.

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Arrow Up

FM Zarif: Tehran welcomes Russia's concept for Persian Gulf security


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 15:47 UTC
Zarif
© Bria Webb/ReutersIranian FM Javad Zarif
Iran welcomes Russia's initiative on Persian Gulf security and is ready to sign a non-aggression pact with its neighbours, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday after talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
"As for the Persian Gulf security, our stand is really close to the Russian stand. I believe security can be ensured through cooperation and synergy, not resilience ... We have heard [taken note of] Russia's initiative for regional security. We welcome the initiative ... We are also ready to sign a relevant agreement, a non-aggression pact with our neighbours in the Persian Gulf. So, we welcome Russia's concept ... and encourage our Russian friends to move further on the matter."
In response, the Russian diplomat stressed that both Moscow and Tehran are interested in seeing Persian Gulf countries agree on mutually acceptable ways to stabilise the situation in the region. Describing Iranian and Russian initiatives on the matter, Lavrov said:
"Both we and the Islamic Republic of Iran are interested in seeing all the sides, all the countries, all the coastal nations of the Persian Gulf and their international partners, agree on mutually acceptable ways to ensure security in this region, which is the world's top-important region."
The Russian Foreign Ministry unveiled in late July, amid US-Iranian tensions in the region, the Collective Security Concept for the Persian Gulf Region, proposing a "renouncement of permanent deployment of troops of extra-regional states" in the Gulf. The concept promotes multilateralism as the core of the new security system in the region.

Comment: From RT: 2/9/2019: UK mulls drone deployment to Gulf
Britain is considering sending unmanned aircraft to the Persian Gulf, according to reports. The drones would aid military patrols in the region purportedly aimed at protecting British vessels from Iranian naval forces.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has a number of Reaper drones stationed in Kuwait, which are currently participating in missions over Iraq and Syria. These aircraft could soon be re-assigned to provide surveillance as tankers are escorted by the British Navy through the Strait of Hormuz, Sky News reported.

A senior British naval officer told the outlet that Britain believes Tehran poses a threat to merchant vessels. "The direct threat to those British merchant vessels still stands. We've seen nothing to suggest that Iran is going to abide by its international obligations," Commodore Dean Bassett said.


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Document

Putin to sign landmark permanent treaty of partnership with Mongolia


RFE/RL
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 06:16 UTC
Putin
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a permanent treaty on friendship and extensive strategic partnership with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga on September 3 during a two-day visit to the east Asian country, according to an interview published on the Kremlin's website. The document builds on the existing 1993 Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation and will have no expiration date.

It will "take our bilateral ties to a fundamentally new level," Putin told Mongolian newspaper Odriyn Sonin in an interview that was translated into Russian.

Putin leaves late on September 2 to Mongolia's capital of Ulan Bator where he'll first take part in commemorating the 80th anniversary of the two countries' combined victory over Japanese forces on August 20-September 16, 1939, along the Khalkhin Gol River. That victory "was one of the reasons why Japan didn't attack the Soviet Union in 1941 and it delayed its entry into World War II," Putin said.

Infrastructure projects will be high on the agenda, including for the state-run Russian Railways company to upgrade the Ulan Bator Railway. Putin said:
"This is an important transportation artery for Mongolia. Today, Russian-Mongolian cooperation is comprehensive and multilateral, and covers the political, trade, economic, investment, financial, agricultural, scientific, educational, cultural, and sports areas."
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Attention

China's state news agency blasts Western attempts to 'kidnap Hong Kong' warning the end of Beijing's patience

Mitsuru Obe
Nikkei Asian Review
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 02:11 UTC
hong kong
© Reuters / Kai Pfaffenbach
China issued a stern warning to Hong Kong protesters as well as the West on Sunday, reiterating that it will not tolerate any attempt to undermine Chinese sovereignty over the city.

"The end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonize China," stated a commentary piece published by the state's Xinhua News Agency.

The strongly worded message was directed at "the rioters and their behind-the-scene supporters" -- which can be taken as an accusation of Western meddling. It said that "their attempt to 'kidnap Hong Kong' and press the central authorities is just a delusion," adding, "No concession should be expected concerning such principle issues."

The warning came as thousands of people blocked roads and public transport links to Hong Kong's airport. The demonstrations, which started in response to a proposed bill that would have allowed extradition to the mainland, have morphed into a broader rejection of Beijing's growing control over the semiautonomous city.

Comment: More details from the news release: Chinese state media warns 'end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong'

See also:

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Briefcase

Bank of China has approved over $140 billion of credit to fund 600 major projects under Belt and Road Initiative


RT
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 15:04 UTC
Silk Road
© @pexels.comAll roads lead to China
The Bank of China (BOC) has said that, by the end of June this year, it had approved more than $140 billion of credit and funded over 600 major projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Over the past few years, it has continuously invested in economies along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (jointly known as the BRI), according to the bank.

It has established overseas institutions in 24 countries and regions associated with the initiative. Since 2015, the BOC, which is the fourth-largest commercial lender by assets in China, has issued BRI themed bonds five times in seven currencies, with a total value of $14.6 billion.

The interest of international investors, particularly European, in BRI-themed bonds has grown significantly in the past few years, according to the lender.

Comment:

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Light Saber

Lavrov blasts France's ongoing discrimination against Russian media

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 17:10 UTC
Russia media logos RT Sputnik
© Fort Russ
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he discussed with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian the harassment of Sputnik and RT in Paris and stressed the inadmissibility of discriminating against Russian media.

"The situation is not very optimistic, the correspondents of RT France and Sputnik still have no accreditation before the Elysee Palace [headquarters of the French Presidency], if that does not changed in the next couple of days," he said when speaking before the students of the Moscow International Relations Institute (MGIMO).

The foreign minister said that he had raised this issue during the visit of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to France, noting that such treatment of journalists contradicts "all the norms of civilized conduct and the agreements approved on numerous occasions within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe "(OSCE).

Comment: There has been a dedicated effort in several Western countries to shut down Russian media outlets. What is the West, that bastion of liberty and free speech, afraid of? Oh yeah, factual un-spun news that help an average person make sense of the world. Can't have that now, can we? France is particularly discomfited with RT's excellent coverage of the Yellow Vest protests, something the BBC, a mere 200 miles off, refuses to mention.

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