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Sun, 21 Apr 2019
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At least 207 killed, 500 injured after eight explosions rock Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday UPDATES


RT
Sun, 21 Apr 2019 06:33 UTC
Sri Lanka attacks on Easter Sunday
© Instagram / jeevan_rajeevan
Six explosions rocked Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka as Christians began Easter Sunday celebrations, with at least 50 killed and hundreds injured, local authorities confirmed.

The blasts occurred at around 8:45am local time at St. Anthony's Church in Colombo and St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, a Catholic-majority town outside of the capital. The Zion Church in Batticaloa on the eastern coast was also targeted.

At around the same time, the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury five-star hotels were also hit, police confirmed. All attacks appear to have been coordinated.

At least 52 people were killed, media reported, citing police.


Comment: Update: At least 207 people killed, around 500 injured from the 8 blasts in Sri Lanka.
At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in a series of bomb blasts that hit luxury hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, leaving the entire country in a state of lock-down.

The first wave of attacks struck at the heart of the country's minority Christian community during busy Easter services at churches in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Sunday morning.Additional blasts ripped through three high-end hotels, the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury, all in capital city Colombo.




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Gold Seal

The Saker interviews Dmitry Orlov

The Saker
The Unz Review
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 12:00 UTC
Dmitry Orlov

Dmitry Orlov
If I had to characterize the current international situation using only one word, the word "chaos" would be a pretty decent choice (albeit not the only one). Chaos in the Ukraine, chaos in Venezuela, chaos everywhere the Empire is involved in any capacity and, of course, chaos inside the US. But you wouldn't know that listening to the talking heads and other "experts" who serve roughly the same function for the Empire as the orchestra did on the Titanic: to distract from the developing disaster(s) for a long as possible.

I decided to turn to the undisputed expert on social and political collapse, Dmitry Orlov whom I have always admired for his very logical, non-ideological, comparative analyses of the collapse of the USSR and the US. The fact that his detractors have to resort to crude and, frankly, stupid ad hominems further convinces me that Dmitry's views need to be widely shared. Dmitry very kindly agreed to reply to my questions in some detail, for which I am most grateful. I hope that you will find this interview as interesting as I did.

Comment: See also:

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Che Guevara

Massive pro-Assange protest erupts in Ecuador's capital - President Lenin quashes it with riot police


RT
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 10:49 UTC
Quito police riot
© Ruptly
Assange protest in the streets of Quito, Ecuador
Riot police have attacked scores of people who flooded onto the streets of Ecuador's capital and branded their president a "traitor." Protesters were venting anger at the decision to hand Julian Assange over to the UK.

The massive rally in Quito was held to voice unease over the role Ecuador played in arranging for Julian Assange's arrest last week in London. The situation became more tense when police - wearing heavy riot gear - clashed with protesters, using batons to chase them down the street.

A Ruptly video shows some protesters being beaten and taken to the ground amid the demonstration.


Comment: A SOTT reader in Quito, Ecuador informs us that:
Approximately 20,000 citizens of all ages and backgrounds - although especially lower income workers and middle class social-media users - took part in a peaceful protest.

The people were seriously pissed! Chants and cries inundated the streets:
"Traitor! Traitor!... Free Julian Assange... You betrayed our Sovereignty!... Out with the Son of a Bitch!... Lenin Moreno, You're going down!"
There were a considerable amount of activists with Anon Guy Fawkes masks. The historical center was made inaccessible by riot police and at around 7:30pm, some of the younger men couldn't contain their indignation and things got violent, from both sides: stone throwing, tear-gas bombs, swinging batons...

At the moment of this writing, the privately-owned mass media has kept the general public seriously misinformed of international reactions to Assange's arrest event...



From RT: Roger Waters slams UK as accomplice of US Empire in Assange saga:
"To think that the UK has become such a willing accomplice and satellite of the American Empire that it would do such a thing in contravention with all laws, moral, ethical, and actual legal restrictions is absolutely, stunningly appalling and makes me ashamed to be an Englishman.

"If we let the UK get away with allowing him to be extradited to the United States, we allow the United States government, at their whim, to torture him and to detain him possibly for the rest of his life."


See also:

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Sherlock

Chief architect of Notre Dame: 'We installed new detection system in 2010, and completely rewired the cathedral, so the fire wasn't caused by electrical short-circuit'


Sott.net
Thu, 18 Apr 2019 11:55 UTC
mouton archtiect engineer notre dame

Former chief architect/engineer of Notre Dame Cathedral, who oversaw renovation of its electrical wiring and installed a modern fire detection sytem in 2010
French media reports citing an interview with the former French Inspector-General for Historic Monuments Benjamin Mouton, who oversaw the installation of state-of-the-art fire prevention systems in the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2010, and who was responsible for the building from 2000 to 2013, cast doubt on today's leak to the Associated Press that the fire was likely caused by an electrical short-circuit.

Benjamin Mouton was interviewed live on TV on Monday evening as the fire continued to burn the 850-year-old symbol of French culture and history. Here's what he had to say:
"I don't understand this at all. The fire's spread is extremely curious. With really old oak like that, it's super-hard, so you'd need a lot of smaller wood to first get the fire hot enough for the oak beams to burn.

In 2010 we replaced all the electrical wiring, so there's no way this was sparked by a short-circuit. We put new wiring in place according to modern standards. And we went even further; we installed state-of-the-art fire protection and detection systems in the cathedral.

At all times, there are always two men on standby in the Cathedral, day and night, to go investigate anything the moment an alarm goes off, then if necessary to call the fire emergency services.

I am really stunned that this [the fire] has happened. It's incomprehensible."
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Fire

Notre Dame Cathedral worker claims Paris' largest church was DELIBERATELY set on fire

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 06:20 UTC
Notre Dame fire
The famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is on fire, with one worker claiming that the blaze was deliberately set.

The roof of the historic building has completely collapsed.


"The cause is not yet clear, but officials say it could be linked to renovation work," reports the BBC.

However, TIME columnist Christopher J. Hale tweeted, "A Jesuit friend in Paris who works in #NotreDame told me cathedral staff said the fire was intentionally set."

Comment: See also:

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Cross

Saint-Sulpice in Paris was DELIBERATELY set on fire - ANOTHER attempt to set church ablaze was made 3 days prior


LCI.fr
Mon, 18 Mar 2019 20:29 UTC
saint-sulpice

Paris' second-largest church was DELIBERATELY set on fire last month
According to the latest available information, accidental cause has been ruled out by investigators one day after the Saint-Sulpice church fire in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Investigations are continuing

In the aftermath of the Saint-Sulpice fire, the investigators have already drawn some conclusions. Our sources say that the incident began Sunday at around 1:30pm, at an entrance to the church overlooking Palatine Street in the 6th arrondissement, and that its cause was "human" and "deliberate."

"The near-disaster occurred close to a spot where a homeless person's clothes were stored - though this person was not present at that time," said our source. This same source stated that "accidental origin of an electrical or technical nature, or negligence, have been discarded."

"It's now a question of whether the perpetrator is someone who isn't all there in the head, or has some sort of mental instability. There are known homeless persons who come often, but they are typically peaceful," comments another source.


Comment: Saint-Sulpice church remains open. But after what just happened to Notre Dame cathedral, for how much longer?

Something is clearly going on here. Notre Dame is Paris' largest church (cathedral), and Saint-Sulpice is its second-largest.

We're not aware of any further information from officials in France about what took place at the Saint-Sulpice. It's as if they caught someone doing it, discovered who they were, then covered up for them.

Given this precedent just three weeks before Notre Dame, it's reasonable to suspect that it too was deliberately targeted.

Manufactured 'clash of civilizations/religions', anyone?

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Blackbox

What If Mainstream Media's Message About Putin Was Delivered in Orwell's Language?

Patrick Armstrong
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 16:38 UTC
war is peace orwell
The West is under attack by Putin; he is at war with us and wars demand extreme measures. Putin's influence is spreading: everywhere he is nibbling away at the foundations of democratic society. He is the dictator of Russia; still evil, still an empire; Russians are genetically driven to co-opt and penetrate and gain favour: it's who they are and what they do. Russian scum! Putin interferes in referendums and elections all over the democratic world. A world that, for no good reason except his own needs, he calls his enemy. When his bots swung the US election and made his puppet POTUS, the world community began to wake up to the threat. Putin is bent on restoring the USSR and, until he can, he assembles an empire of losers, basket-cases and rogue states. When the weather is cold, we should fear him more. Putin's whole existence depends on having an enemy and we are that enemy. We must defend against Putin's threat to democracy; he threatens our democracy because he hates democracy and he fears democracy. We must defend against these multi-faceted, aggressive, unacceptable, bullying, continual and sinister attacks on the Rules-Based International Order which our democracies uphold. (Added to which, he's short and can't hide the fact and that makes him a megalomaniac.)

I humbly offer a few proposals so that we can better defend our precious heritage of democracy against his attacks.
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Fire

Coincidence? Fires destroy 3 old Orthodox churches in New York City, Sydney and Melbourne on Orthodox Easter Sunday


CBS
Mon, 02 May 2016 19:27 UTC

Comment: Notre Dame Cathedral being completely destroyed this Holy Week reminds us about a series of major fires during Easter three years ago...


Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St Sava
© getty
The charred remains of the roof of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St Sava, which went up in flames in Manhattan, NYC, on May 1st.
Investigators in three cities are looking into large fires at Orthodox churches that occurred around the religion's Easter celebrations and caused widespread damage.

The blazes in New York City, as well as Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, caused only minor injuries, according to multiple reports.

The New York City conflagration on Sunday at the Trinity Chapel Complex that was host to the Serbian Orthodox Church in Manhattan produced dramatic images of flames shooting through windows that filled social media.

FDNY investigators haven't given any indication yet what started the blaze, reports CBS New York. Only the church caretaker was injured when he rushed in to try and put the fire out, which began shortly after parishioners had wrapped up Easter celebrations at the cathedral.



Comment: Curiously, the Valaam monastery in Russia also caught fire on Easter Sunday, 2016.

The British Daily Mail came up with a conspiracy theory: Catholics around the world conspired to torch these churches because they're upset at the Orthodox Church for blocking the canonization of a Croatian Cardinal suspected of collaborating with the Nazis.

With no evidence provided, this rather sounds like someone was 'blowing smoke'. There could, however, be more to this cluster of events than symbolic connection...

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Airplane

UK police: 'Drone' that shut down Gatwick Airport for days last December 'could see what was happening on runways, was eavesdropping on radio communications'


RT
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 16:57 UTC
gatwick airport drone ufo
© Getty
UK military deployed equipment at the airport to 'catch' the 'drone' but it evaded them every time
The drone attack that caused chaos at Gatwick before Christmas was carried out by someone with knowledge of the airport's operational procedures, the airport has said.

A Gatwick chief told BBC Panorama the drone's pilot "seemed to be able to see what was happening on the runway".

Sussex Police told the programme the possibility an "insider" was involved was a "credible line" of inquiry.

About 140,000 passengers were caught up in the disruption.

The runway at the UK's second busiest airport was closed for 33 hours between 19 and 21 December last year - causing about 1,000 flights to be cancelled or delayed.

In his first interview since the incident, Gatwick's chief operating officer, Chris Woodroofe, told Panorama: "It was clear that the drone operators had a link into what was going on at the airport."

Comment: Yes, it was a 'drone' alright, a really OUT THERE one with intelligence beyond our ken!

See also:

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Eye 1

Chelsea and Julian are in jail. History trembles

Craig Murray
craigmurray.co.uk
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 12:00 UTC
Assange book arrest
© Ruptly
Julian Assange being removed from the Ecuadorian embassy
Tonight both Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are in jail, both over offences related to the publication of materials specifying US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and both charged with nothing else at all. No matter what bullshit political and MSM liars try to feed you, that is the simple truth. Manning and Assange are true heroes of our time, and are suffering for it.

If a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours had been convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge with no jury, with a lengthy jail sentence to follow, can you imagine the Western media reaction to that kind of kangaroo court? Yet that is exactly what just happened in London.

District Judge Michael Snow is a disgrace to the bench who deserves to be infamous well beyond his death. He displayed the most plain and open prejudice against Assange in the 15 minutes it took for him to hear the case and declare Assange guilty, in a fashion which makes the dictators' courts I had witnessed, in Babangida's Nigeria or Karimov's Uzbekistan, look fair and reasonable, in comparison to the gross charade of justice conducted by Michael Snow.

Comment: See also:


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