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Vader

Best of the Web: US regime change plan hatched 8 years ago proposed Venezuelan power blackout as 'watershed event' to 'galvanize public unrest'

guaido duque pence
© Associated Press/Martin MejiaPretend "president" Juan Guaido, Colombian President Ivan Duque (C), and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence
A September 2010 memo by a US-funded soft power organization that helped train Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaido and his allies identifies the potential collapse of the country's electrical sector as "a watershed event" that "would likely have the impact of galvanizing public unrest in a way that no opposition group could ever hope to generate."

The memo has special relevance today as Guaido moves to exploit nationwide blackouts caused by a major failure at the Simon Bolivar Hydroelectric Plant at Guri dam - a crisis that Venezuela's government blames on US sabotage.

It was authored by Srdja Popovic of the Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), a Belgrade-based "democracy promotion" organization funded by the US government that has trained thousands of US-aligned youth activists in countries where the West seeks regime change.

Eye 1

Best of the Web: 'Influencing human behavior': UK MoD-funded psychological warfare research project leaked

group of people
© Global Look Press / West Coast Surfer
The UK Defense Ministry is actively looking for a contractor for its new psychological research, which is allegedly aimed at boosting troops' performance and well-being. Some details of the project are quite unnerving, though.

The ministry's agency known as the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) has been seeking contributions from specialists in the fields of psychiatry, neuroscience and social sciences that would help the military shape its future strategies and policies. The University of Cambridge was particularly shortlisted by the DSTL among the four organizations it said were eligible for taking part in an almost £70 million ($92.4 million) research program known as the Human and Social Sciences Research Capability (HSSRC).

At first glance, the whole study appears to be mostly aimed at supporting the troops and improving their performance in the rapidly changing environment of the "21th century in the UK and globally." Five out of six research areas listed in the Cambridge tender bid that gives a detailed insight into what appears to be the nature of the project are dealing with typical personnel issues pretty much every country's military could face nowadays.

The list includes providing "novel approaches... to support delivery of a sufficient, capable, motivated and cost-efficient workforce," helping the military to develop necessary skills, optimizing personnel performance and improving the troops' psychological and physical health.

Bad Guys

Best of the Web: We are being lied into war again

Mike Pompeo
© CNN screen shotSecretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" to give host Jake Tapper the Trump administration's take on Venezuela.
I was 23 when we invaded Iraq, and I wasn't sure it was based on lies, but something deep down in me told me it was based on lies. Kinda like if your blind date shows up and you notice he has a 2004 flip phone.

It seems vaguely worrisome, and no explanation he can haltingly supply will put you at ease. Plus, anyone else who acts like it's normal also becomes suspect.

The invasion of Iraq just felt like it was a lie to me. And it turned out that I was right, that it was a lie, and that the entirety of the mainstream media and our government were either wrong or lying and, most of the time, both.

Now our government and our media are trying their damnedest to lie us into another war, this one with Venezuela. They tell us the Venezuelan people are desperate for necessities like toothpaste, while independent journalists show piles of affordable toothpaste in Caracas.

Comment: WW1 too. The Lusitania was lured into a trap by British and American spooks. "Live bait," Churchill called it.

Check out The American Trajectory: Divine or Demonic by David Ray Griffin for the full history of US false-flag attacks to justify America's aggressive wars.


Attention

Best of the Web: British parliament nullifies Brexit referendum result by voting for UK to remain in EU

british parliament jobsworths
"I can't let you do that, it's more than my job's worth."
UK MPs have voted to take a 'no-deal' Brexit off the table for good as they passed a motion that rules it out in a decisive 321 to 278 vote.

The option of a no-deal was first ruled out by MPs after an amendment originally tabled by Caroline Spelman passed by a close vote of 312-308.

The Spelman amendment says the House "rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement and a framework for the future relationship."

The MPs then voted on the main motion, as amended, passing it with an even greater margin of 43, with 321 voting in favor and 278 against.


Comment: Yes, our title is not explicitly what they did. But it's what they did.

It's all one big manipulation to restore the 'dictatorship of the parliamentariat' from 'those populist hordes who dare defy us'. They endlessly vote about voting, as if their form of democracy is in any way aligned with the popular will.

As we said on June 22nd 2016, the UK isn't going anywhere. The only way it is, is through fundamental change. Look to France for an idea as to how difficult it is to get politicians to listen to reason these days.


Stock Down

Best of the Web: Boeing is screwed: EU and India follow China's lead in banning 737 Max planes from their airspace - UPDATE: Trump grounds all US 737 Max aircraft

boeing 737 Max
© Getty'Nothing to see here!' American and Southwest airlines continue to fly their 737 Max 8s in the US
The European Union and India have banned the Boeing 737 Max from flying over their airspace to ensure passenger safety.


Comment: It's one thing to mandate the grounding of all such planes, but you know they know something is seriously wrong when they won't even let the planes traverse their airspace.


They join a long list of countries in suspending the plane, including the UK.

It comes after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, killing 157 people on board. It was the second fatal accident involving the 737 Max 8 model in less than five months.

US officials say the aircraft are still safe to fly.

However, the US Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union is now calling for the Federal Aviation Administration "to temporarily ground the 737 Max fleet in the US out of an abundance of caution".

Comment: They apparently needed to install an 'anti-stall system' because the plane was prone to stalling upon take-off. American pilots reported the plane making "recurrent sudden downward pitches" upon take-off last year.

We don't claim to know exactly what the technical issue is, but it's fairly clear that US allies like the EU and UK would not be taking such precautionary measures if they did not have specific information about a fatal design flaw.

Keep in mind that Boeing is a mega-corporation and major branch of the US military-industrial complex, effectively making it the US government itself, so most of what you'll read about this in the media is damage control on its behalf.

UPDATES 21:30 CET

Canada has banned the 737 Max from flying in its airspace, citing "new data from validated satellite tracking," despite earlier this week saying that grounding them would be "premature."

An hour later, Trump announced that the US, among the last countries to do so, would also ground all 737s. He apparently went above the FAA, which has been batting for Boeing all week, and has yet to make a follow-up announcement.

Boeing stocks have, pardon the pun, taken a nose-dive.


Pistol

Best of the Web: Rogue States: CIA accused by Spanish authorities after vicious armed attack on North Korean embassy in Madrid

The North Korean embassy in Madrid.
© ULY MARTÍNThe North Korean embassy in Madrid.
Investigators from the Spanish police and National Intelligence Center (CNI) have linked an attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid on February 22 to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US intelligence agency. The CIA has denied any involvement but government sources say their response was "unconvincing."

If it is proven that the CIA was behind the attack, it could lead to a diplomatic spat between Madrid and Washington. Government sources say that it would be "unacceptable" for an ally to take such action. Not only would it mean that the US agency had operated on Spanish soil without asking for authorization or informing the authorities, it would also be a violation of the international conventions that protect diplomatic delegations.

What's more, unlike other intelligence activities - such as cyberattacks, which are characterized by their discretion, the attack on the North Korean embassy was especially violent. On February 22 at 3pm, 10 masked men carrying alleged imitation weapons broke into the embassy, located north of the capital in the residential area of Aravaca. They tied up the eight people inside and put bags on their heads. The victims were beaten and interrogated. A woman managed to escape from a window on the second floor and her screams for help were heard by a neighbor, who contacted the police.

Comment: For these cowboys, the 'frontier' never ended when they hit California.

The Spanish version of the report has additional details (machine translated by Moon of Alabama):
After analyzing the recordings of the security cameras in the area, questioning the hostages and analyzing the diplomatic vehicles used in the flight, it has been possible to identify some of the assailants. Although the majority were Koreans, at least two of them have been recognized by the Spanish information services for their links with the American CIA.

The indications that point to the US espionage service, in probable cooperation with that of South Korea, are so strong that Spanish interlocutors have contacted the CIA to ask for explanations.
One of the darkest aspects of the assault on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid is the interrogation to which the head of the command, who called himself The Entrepreneur, subjected the charge of business, leading the diplomatic delegation since the ambassador was expelled. The head of the commando separated the diplomat from the rest of the hostages and locked himself alone with him. It is not known what he intended, but the current head of the Pyongyang delegation in Madrid probably knows a lot about Kim Hyok Chol, head of the North Korean delegation in the nuclear negotiations before the US, with whom he coincided when the latter was ambassador in Madrid, between 2014 and 2017.
Absolutely outrageous behavior in normal civilization, but S.O.P. for American spooks.


X

Best of the Web: Censorship hitting Left, Right, and Non-Aligned media: Now Zero Hedge gets the ban-hammer from Facebook - UPDATES: Facebook backs off, 'it was a mistake'

zuckerberg water
Over the weekend, we were surprised to learn that some readers were prevented by Facebook when attempting to share Zero Hedge articles. Subsequently it emerged that virtually every attempt to share or merely mention an article, including in private messages, would be actively blocked by the world's largest social network, with the explanation that "the link you tried to visit goes against our community standards."


We were especially surprised by this action as neither prior to this seemingly arbitrary act of censorship, nor since, were we contacted by Facebook with an explanation of what "community standard" had been violated or what particular filter or article had triggered the blanket rejection of all Zero Hedge content.

To be sure, as a for-profit enterprise with its own unique set of corporate "ethics", Facebook has every right to impose whatever filters it desires on the media shared on its platform. It is entirely possible that one or more posts was flagged by Facebook's "triggered" readers who merely alerted a censorship algo which blocked all content.

Comment: See, it's not just 'conservative' sites being hit. 'Leftist' ones too, and old-timer, non-aligned sites like Zero Hedge and SOTT. The censors are - more or less - going after the most truthful sites first.

It's difficult to define what exactly crosses their 'red lines' of 'ideological infringement' because the reasons given, and the offending subject matter, are different each time, but it's essentially the censors acting 'on instinct' at the behest of the hive mind that controls them.

See also: UPDATE 12/10/2019: The social media community has reacted negatively to the ban, which Facebook has so far refused to comment on:
Users complained that Facebook blocked their attempts to share stories published by popular anti-establishment blog Zero Hedge, citing the violation of community standards, 'abusive' content, and 'errors' among the reasons.

"Over the weekend, we were surprised to learn that some readers were prevented by Facebook when attempting to share Zero Hedge articles," the publication wrote on Monday, calling the practice an "arbitrary act of censorship."



According to the blog, "virtually every attempt to share or merely mention an article, including in private messages, would be actively blocked" by Facebook with the explanation that the content breached the social network's community standards.

Some users on social media reported experiencing problems while trying to share Zero Hedge's stories on Facebook.

"Facebook has outright banned all posting of Zero Hedge links," right-wing commentator and host Paul Joseph Watson has tweeted.


Zero Hedge said that it didn't receive any notice from the tech giant, and its attempts to reach out to Facebook "have so far remained unanswered." The publication noted that some of its content may have been flagged by "triggered" readers. It also suggested that the Silicon Valley-based company may have decided to pull the plug on Zero Hedge as retribution for publishing stories critical of Facebook.

Bloomberg, which covered the story, said the social network didn't immediately respond to a comment request.

Mark Zuckerberg's company has come under fire from right-wing groups and public figures who accuse it of liberal bias and censoring conservatives. Last year, Facebook effectively banned controversial radio host Alex Jones and his show InfoWars, citing "hate speech."

In a similar fashion, the company suspended several prominent left-leaning anti-establishment pages, including groups tracking police brutality in the US.

Last month, Facebook, without any prior notice, promptly blocked four pages with millions of subscribers, run by Maffick Media, including 'In the Now' - for supposedly concealing the fact that they were partially funded by Russia. The pages have since been unblocked.

Launched in 2009, Zero Hedge is an anonymous anti-establishment blog. Its authors publish articles under the pen name Tyler Durden - a reference to the character from the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The image of Durden, portrayed by Brad Pitt in the 1999 Hollywood adaptation, serves as the blog's logo on social media.
UPDATE 2: Breitbart reports Facebook is now claiming Zero Hedge blacklist was 'a mistake'
"We were especially surprised by this action as neither prior to this seemingly arbitrary act of censorship, nor since, were we contacted by Facebook with an explanation of what 'community standard' had been violated or what particular filter or article had triggered the blanket rejection of all Zero Hedge content," Zero Hedge explained, adding,
"it is just as possible that Facebook simply decided to no longer allow its users to share our content in retaliation for our extensive coverage of what some have dubbed the platform's 'many problems', including chronic privacy violations, mass abandonment by younger users, its gross and ongoing misrepresentation of fake users, ironically - in retrospect - its systematic censorship and back door government cooperation (those are just links from the past few weeks)."
Public figures, including Infowars Editor-at-Large Paul Joseph Watson and Thiel Capital Managing Director Eric Weinstein, also reported problems with posting Zero Hedge links.


The block prompted condemnation from President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., MEP Nigel Farage, and others, with Trump Jr. declaring, "The censorship continues. How does ⁦@zerohedge⁩'s content not 'meet community standards?' FB doesn't agree with them and they hit the platform's obvious flaws at times. That's it and it's disgusting!"



The Facebook block, however, was eventually reversed, with a Facebook spokesman claiming the problem was a "mistake."

"This was a mistake with our automation to detect spam and we worked to fix it yesterday," claimed the spokesman. "We use a combination of human review and automation to enforce our policies around spam and in this case, our automation incorrectly blocked this link. As soon as we identified the issue, we worked quickly to fix it."

As reported by Bloomberg, "Since being founded in the depths of the financial crisis, Zero Hedge has built a dedicated following by serving up a mix of hardcore financial analysis and populist political commentary," and the blog is "known for its bearish bent and anti-establishment commentary."

Breitbart Tech reached out to Facebook for comment.
UPDATE 13/03/2019: Many are not buying Facebook excuses on the Zero Hedge posting ban:
The incident added fuel to longstanding allegations that Mark Zuckerberg's company harbors a bias against conservative and anti-establishment voices. Many commenters online remained skeptical as to whether Facebook's actions against Zero Hedge were an honest mistake.



Zero Hedge confirmed on Wednesday that the bewildering ban was "reversed" and things went back to normal. The blog's authors noted that they don't know which stories Facebook branded as "spammy," as the social network still hasn't contacted them.



Chalkboard

Best of the Web: Scientists see how bone marrow treatment for cancer can also benefit individuals with symptoms of schizophrenia

man graphc
A bone-marrow transplant treated a patient's leukemia - and his delusions, too. Some doctors think they know why.

The man was 23 when the delusions came on. He became convinced that his thoughts were leaking out of his head and that other people could hear them. When he watched television, he thought the actors were signaling him, trying to communicate. He became irritable and anxious and couldn't sleep.

Dr. Tsuyoshi Miyaoka, a psychiatrist treating him at the Shimane University School of Medicine in Japan, eventually diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. He then prescribed a series of antipsychotic drugs. None helped. The man's symptoms were, in medical parlance, "treatment resistant."

A year later, the man's condition worsened. He developed fatigue, fever and shortness of breath, and it turned out he had a cancer of the blood called acute myeloid leukemia. He'd need a bone-marrow transplant to survive. After the procedure came the miracle. The man's delusions and paranoia almost completely disappeared. His schizophrenia seemingly vanished.

Comment: See also:


War Whore

Best of the Web: Lisa Page said FBI discussed charging Hillary Clinton with 'gross negligence' in 2016, and DOJ told them no

hillary clinton cell phone
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her phone in October 18, 2011
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page testified last year that officials in the bureau, including then-FBI Director James Comey, discussed Espionage Act charges against Hillary Clinton, citing "gross negligence," but the Justice Department shut them down.

Newly released transcripts from Page's private testimony in front of a joint task force of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees in July 2018 sheds new light on the internal discussions about an investigation into Clinton's emails. This goes back to the FBI's "Midyear Exam" investigation, which looked into whether Clinton committed crimes when she sent and received classified information on her unauthorized private email server while serving as secretary of state.

Comey cleared Clinton of all charges in a press conference on July 5, 2016.

Page told the committee that the FBI "did not blow over gross negligence." Responding to a question from Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Page testified the FBI, including Comey, believed Clinton may have committed gross negligence. "We, in fact - and, in fact, the Director - because, on its face, it did seem like, well, maybe there's a potential here for this to be the charge. And we had multiple conversations, multiple conversations with the Justice Department about charging gross negligence," she said.

Stock Up

Best of the Web: Italy is linking up with China's Eurasian megaproject, and there's nothing Washington can do to stop it

All roads seem to lead to Rome as Italy expresses its love for China's Belt and Road Initiative
colosseum
© AFPChinese tourists just can’t get enough of Venice, Florence, Rome – and shopping in Milan.
President Xi Jinping is due to arrive in Italy for an official visit on March 22. The top theme of discussion will be the New Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

A day earlier, in Brussels, the EU is to debate a common strategy related to Chinese investments in Europe.


Comment: This, no doubt, was scheduled in response to the bilateral Italy-China summit.


A substantial part of the EU is already linked de facto with BRI. That includes Greece, Portugal, 11 EU nations belonging to the 16+1 group of China plus Central and Eastern Europe and, for all practical purposes, Italy.