Best of the Web:

Best of the Web: Hollywood's 'Captain Marvel' blockbuster is the latest US military propaganda push

Ben Norton
The Grayzone
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:51 UTC

The Pentagon was deeply involved in the production of the hit Hollywood film Captain Marvel, and is using the movie to spread recruitment propaganda.

The superhero blockbuster Captain Marvel is a perfect case study for how the United States military uses Hollywood to spread propaganda.

The US military is at the center of the plot of Captain Marvel. The film's protagonist, Carol Danvers, is a former US Air Force pilot who becomes a superhero after absorbing the powers of an advanced technology created by another US military scientist. (That scientist happens to be a member of the advanced alien race known as the Kree, who for unexplained reasons decided to do groundbreaking military research for, of all the myriad places in the universe, the US of A).

As soon as the film opens, it bombards viewers with two hours of non-stop US military propaganda. And it is not even subtle; at the plot's climax, Captain Marvel changes the colors of her suit to match those of the American flag.

Comment:

Best of the Web: Israel unleashes massive airstrikes on Gaza in reprisal for 2 'accidental' rocket launches - UPDATE

RT
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 16:14 UTC

Israeli aircraft bombed Gaza after two rockets allegedly fired from there targeted Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported in the rocket attack.

Explosions were reported in Khan Younis, on the south side of Gaza, early Friday local time. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was striking "terrorist targets."

The attack comes after two missiles were registered incoming from Gaza on Thursday evening, with air-raid sirens going off in Tel Aviv. Initial reports said the Israeli Iron Dome defense system shot down one of the missiles, while the other hit an open area, but the IDF later denied them, RT's Paula Slier reported.

Comment: Israeli media the next morning widely reported that those two Palestinian 'rockets' were 'probably fired accidentally' during 'maintenance'. What a weird thing to say... unless it's because you know damn well the Palestinians didn't fire anything and are trying to account for why there's no evidence that the Palestinians fired anything and they are vociferously denying having fired anything.

Comment: The timing of the strike allegedly by Islamic Jihad militants, is certainly suspicious, as is the uncharacteristic targeting of Tel Aviv. Did Bibi have infiltrators create a false flag incident so he can polish up his "tough guy" credentials ahead of the elections? The attacks are also a convenient distraction from his corruption charges.

The IDF has hit the Gaza Strip with over 100 missile strikes:

© (L) Israel Defense Forces / Twitter; (R) Mohammed Salem / Reuters100 missiles rain down on Gaza March 14, 2019
Israeli jets and helicopters hit around 100 Hamas-linked targets in Gaza on Thursday overnight, the Israeli Army has said. The air raids were conducted in response to rockets launched from Gaza at Tel Aviv.

A Hamas HQ in Gaza's downtown Rimal district, a rocket-manufacturing site and militant training ground, were among the targets hit, according to the military.

The airstrikes were made in retaliation to rockets launched from Gaza into Israeli territory, towards Tel Aviv. Both rockets were intercepted and destroyed by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system.

"Hamas terror group bears the responsibility for everything going on in and out of Gaza," the IDF said.

After the IDF raid into Gaza, Hamas fired two more rockets into Israel on Friday, both of which were also destroyed mid-air, the military reported. Aerial attack warning sirens were heard in the city of Sderot and the Sha'ar HaNegev municipality near the Gaza border.

Watch Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett duck and weave when questioned about Israel's part in escalating the cycle of violence.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett blames Hamas for firing two rockets into Israel

"Hamas has been shooting rockets at the southern part of Israel for roughly a year now and now they shot two rockets at the Tel Aviv area. It's time to defeat Hamas, it's time to demilitarize the Gaza Strip," he told RT.

Bennett blamed Arabs for turning Gaza into a failed state, to which Israel now must retaliate.

"When we handed it over to the Arabs, they turned it into a radical Islamic terror state and now it's time to fight back against that state and we will."

The minister dismissed as "utter nonsense" the argument that both sides have been equally responsible for the violence that is raging in the region.

"We left Gaza. We want peace. The moment they stop shooting missiles at my children's school and kindergarten is the moment there will be peace."

Bennett, who is a member of the Israeli Security Cabinet and a proponent of his own version of a one-state solution, also brushed off international calls for Israel to stop its rampant settlement construction.

"As long as it's up to me, I would build for Jews anywhere in Israel, because this is our home. I would build much more Jewish communities within our land."

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement controlling Gaza, and Israel have been locked in a violent confrontation for years. Israel calls Hamas terrorists, whose continued influence and attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians justifies whatever military action Israel choses to inflict on Palestinian territory. The militants pose as a guerrilla force fighting for the liberation of Palestinian lands and people from Israeli occupation and oppression by whatever means they deem necessary.

The situation surrounding Gaza has been tense since last year, when Palestinians began regular protests, which occasionally escalate into riots, on the wall that Israel built to separate the area. Israel is accused of using excessive force against the protesters, with dozens of people killed and hundreds injured by snipers. The Israelis insist that the protests are a ploy by Hamas to give cover to attacks on Israel and undermine the Jewish nation's reputation.

UPDATE 15/03/2019: Hamas vows to find perpetrators of rogue rocket attack on Tel Aviv:

The statement follows Israel Defence Force spokesman Avichay Adraee stating that Israeli troops attacked around 100 targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning in response to the 14 March shelling of Tel Aviv from Palestinian territory.

The Palestinian Hamas militant group, which openly calls for Israel's destruction, has pledged to take action against those who launched rockets on Tel Aviv on Thursday.

"We are following up on the firing of rockets from Gaza against the national consensus and the ministry will take measures against the violators," the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The statement comes as the Times of Israel quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying that the group "has no interest in an escalation" with Israel. The official added he "has no idea" who fired rockets toward Tel Aviv on 14 March.

Daoud Shehab, spokesman for the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad (PIJ), for his part, rejected reports of the PIJ being behind the rocket fire, slamming them as "baseless lies and claims".

He also pointed out that his group is "committed to the ceasefire understandings [between Hamas and the Jewish state]" as long as Israel "halts its aggression against the Palestinian people".

Earlier on Friday, Israel's Kan public broadcaster and Palestinian media reported that Tel Aviv and Hamas had agreed on a ceasefire after the Thursday rocket fire. Israel has not confirmed the reports.

Israel Defence Force spokesman Avichay Adraee, in turn, wrote on his Twitter page that "in response to the rocket fire at Israel, some 100 [Hamas] terrorist targets have been hit across the Gaza Strip".

The rockets fired toward Tel Aviv were the first such shelling since 2014, and they reportedly did not hit residential areas and caused no direct injury.

Hamas seeks the creation of an independent state of Palestine and wants Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied after the 1967 war. The movement, which is blacklisted by Israel as a terrorist organisation and repeatedly exchanged rocket strikes with Tel Aviv, governs the Gaza Strip independently of the Palestinian Authority.

Best of the Web: Russia wipes US in Rand corp wargame, just in time for a defense budget increase

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:40 UTC

A recent US war-game report certainly made dramatic headlines claiming that in a conventional war with either Russia or China, American forces would get a whipping.

All the more remarkable was that the assessment came from the Rand Corporation, which is closely aligned with the Pentagon. It may seem therefore a rather rude admission by a Pentagon-funded think tank that US military forces would be so humiliated by would-be adversary Russia or China.

The Rand lead analyst put the scale of defeat for the American side rather colourfully. "The US would get its ass handed to it," he is quoted as saying.

The simulated war scenario found that US military formations in every domain would be vanquished.

What's going on here? Is the Pentagon, through its think tank, really admitting to such stark defeat? No.

Comment: Following the first ever audit of the Pentagon, at a cost to the taxpayer of $360 million, it was revealed that, even after changing the rules, billions (and maybe even trillions) of dollars were unaccounted for, to which the Pentagon responded that the result was "irritating".

Below are some shameful stories that show just how some of that money is being spent:

Best of the Web: Economist Ricardo Hausmann's 'morning after' for Venezuela: The neoliberal brain behind Juan Guaido's economic agenda

Anya Parampil
MintPress News
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC

While online audiences know YouTube comedian Joanna Hausmann from her videos making the case for regime change, her economist father has flown below the radar. His record holds the key to understanding what the U.S. wants in Venezuela.

If you've followed Venezuela-related news on social media, you've undoubtedly stumbled across a video released by comedian Joanna Hausmann in which she promises to tell you, What's Happening in Venezuela: Just the Facts. Despite a title designed to instill confidence in the uninformed viewer, upon closer examination the "facts" presented in Hausman's video hardly stand the test of reality.

Hausmann, for example, attempted to pass off dubious assertions that Venezuelan opposition leader "Juan Guaidó is not right wing," and that he "did not just declare himself president" of the country. She also claimed that President Nicolas Maduro "made up" the National Constituent Assembly, neglecting to mention that that governing body was clearly defined in the country's 1999 Constitution, and was ratified by 71.8 percent of the country through a democratic vote.

Hausmann's performance ended with a teary-eyed appeal for sympathy: "On a personal level... my father is exiled from going back home." For a video dedicated to "just the facts," Hausmann's rant omitted an especially pertinent piece of information: her exiled father and the rest of her family are no ordinary Venezuelans, and are, in fact, key players in the bid to bring down the elected government.

Much of Hausmann's script echoed talking points outlined by her father, Ricardo Hausmann, in a 2018 article ominously entitled "D-Day Venezuela." The piece amounted to a plea for the U.S. to depose Maduro by force, with Hausman arguing that "military intervention by a coalition of regional forces may be the only way to end a man-made famine threatening millions of lives."

But Ricardo Hausmann is much more than a prominent pundit. He is one of the West's leading neoliberal economists, who played an unsavory role during the 1980s and '90s in devising policies that enabled the looting of Venezuela's economy by international capital and provoked devastating social turmoil.

Best of the Web: 49 killed and more than 40 seriously injured in New Zealand terror attack at 2 mosques - UPDATES

Louis Casiano, Samuel Chamberlain
Fox News
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 10:52 UTC

© AP Photo/Mark BakerA man reacts as he speaks on a mobile phone outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

One person has been charged in connection with a "well-planned" terrorist attack that killed 49 people and injured dozens more in two New Zealand mosques on Friday, authorities said.

The New Zealand police said four people -- three men and one woman -- were in custody in connection with the mass shooting at both places of worship in the city of Christchurch. The charged male suspect is expected to appear in court Saturday, Police Commissioner Mike Bush told reporters at a news conference. He said the principal suspect was a 28-year-old Australian-born citizen who earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said none of the suspects were on any security watch lists.

"These are people who I would describe as having extremist views, that have absolutely no place in New Zealand," Ardern said.

Bush clarified that police found two improvised explosive devices in one vehicle after the shooting. One was disabled and police were working to defuse the second Friday night.

Comment: UPDATE 15/3/2019 7:43: RT summary of events:

This is what we know about the attacks so far.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush has confirmed that 49 people have been killed, over 20 more injured.

Children were among those with gunshot wounds admitted to hospitals.

A man in his late 20s was charged with murder and is set to appear in court tomorrow, police said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that a number of improvised explosives were found attached to the assailants' vehicles, but it is not clear whether they were planning a suicide attack. The explosives were then defused.

Four suspects have been arrested; one of them has been confirmed to be an Australian national by the country's prime minister. None of them were on any security watch lists.

PM Ardern called the tragedy "a terrorist attack" by "extremist right-wing" perpetrators, describing it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days."

The national security threat level has been changed to "high," the PM said, adding that New Zealand was targeted because of its values, which "cannot be shaken."

According to police, the attack was a "very well-planned event," and officers will be dispatched around mosques "to ensure nothing further occurs."

One of the gunmen identified himself on social media as a 28-year-old Australian named Brenton Tarrant.

Tarrant used a GoPro camera to livestream the attack on the Al Noor Mosque.

His weapons were inscribed with references to famous European battles against Muslims and neo-Nazi slogans. One of the battles referenced is the 1683 Battle of Vienna against the Ottoman Empire.

Tarrant posted a lengthy online 'manifesto' in which he declared his hatred toward "Muslim invaders" and cited Norwegian right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik as an inspiration.

Shortly after the beginning of the livestream, Tarrant reportedly said "Remember lads, subscribe to Pewdiepie," referring to popular YouTube blogger Felix Kjellberg. The YouTuber responded by saying he felt "absolutely sickened having my name uttered by this person." He also offered condolences to the victims.

The Bangladesh national cricket team was training near one of the mosques and was about to enter the building but fled when shots were heard. All players made it back safely to their hotel.

More background on the shooters:

The man said to be behind the deadly New Zealand mosque shootings is an Australian who vowed to fight against 'Muslim invaders'. Inspired by a Norwegian terrorist, he livestreamed himself while shooting worshippers.

The attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand claimed 49 lives, the police comissioner confirmed. Four people were detained in connection with the tragedy.

The man, identified himself on social media as a 28-year-old Australian named Brenton Tarrant, used a GoPro to livestream the attack on the Al Noor Mosque. The footage was promptly removed by Facebook at the request of police, but parts of it were published by local media. The POV-style video showed the gunman driving up to the mosque and taking firearms out of the trunk of his car.

The weapons contained inscriptions referencing famous European battles against Muslims and neo-Nazi slogans. One of the battles referenced is the 1683 Battle of Vienna against the Ottoman Empire.

Shortly before the attack, he published a 73-page 'manifesto' in which he vowed "revenge" against Muslim "invaders." According to reports, he also wrote that he was inspired by right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.

He apparently picked the particular mosque to attack because a church once stood at the same place. He also mentioned a 2017 terrorist attack in Stockholm where five people died. One of them was an 11-year-old girl, who the shooter wrote he would avenge.

UPDATE 15/03/2019 - 22:00 CET

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ahern has announced new gun control measures after it's claimed one of the gunmen acquired his weapons in the country legally. Quite how the gunman "got a Category A firearms license in 2017" when he only arrived in New Zealand from Australia in 2019 has not yet been explained...

Best of the Web: Rouhani's visit to Iraq is a slap in the face to Trump

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:05 UTC

While the US has had a strategy to contain and isolate Iran, Iran continues to seek and build friendships with its regional neighbors. There are many indications that the US will not tolerate this for much longer.

As an aspiring journalist, it is hard to keep up with which country is at the top of Donald Trump's "to-bomb" list, given the target appears to change every week or so. Since the infamous days of his campaign trail up until the present day, the US president has held a deep animosity towards Tehran. However, the government's focus appears to shift away from the Islamic Republic periodically - one minute it's North Korea, every April since his election he also decides he briefly wants to bomb Assad in Syria, and most recently, his entire administration has raved incessantly about Venezuela.

No matter how the news cycle goes, and no matter the sort of historical death-squad arming psychopath Trump appoints as Special Envoy to Venezuela, at the end of the day the media focus inevitably continues to fall back on Iran (and with it, Donald Trump's keen and hawkish eye).

Comment: Netanyahu has made it quite clear that he won't stop till he's dragged the world into a war with Iran - because Israel isn't capable of taking Iran on alone: At Trump summit Netanyahu declares "common interest of war with Iran" sparking backlash from Tehran

Also check out SOTT radio's:

Best of the Web: McCain associate David Kramer was in contact with a dozen reporters regarding Steele dossier

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:56 UTC

An associate of late Arizona Sen. John McCain described in detail his contacts with a dozen journalists and several government officials regarding the infamous Steele dossier, according to a transcript of a court deposition unsealed Thursday.

David Kramer, a former State Department official, said in a deposition on Dec. 13, 2017 that he provided a copy of Christopher Steele's dossier to reporters from McClatchy, NPR, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed and CNN's Carl Bernstein.

He also shared the report with State Department official Victoria Nuland, Obama National Security Counsel official Celeste Wallander and Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Best of the Web: No more joking around: Colbert invites Tulsi Gabbard on The Late Show to smear her in person

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:36 UTC

Hawaii Congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where instead of the light, jokey banter about politics and who she is as a person that Democratic presidential candidates normally encounter on late night comedy programs, the show's host solemnly ran down a list of textbook beltway smears against Gabbard and made her defend them in front of his audience.

Normally when a Democratic Party-aligned politician appears on such a show, you can expect jokes about how stupid Trump is and how badly they're going to beat the Republicans, how they're going to help ordinary Americans, and maybe some friendly back-and-forth about where they grew up or something. Colbert had no time to waste on such things, however, because this was not an interview with a normal Democratic Party-aligned politician: this was a politician who has been loudly and consistently criticizing US foreign policy.

After briefly asking his guest who she is and why she's running for president, Colbert jumped right into it by immediately bringing up Syria and Assad, the primary line of attack employed against Gabbard by establishment propagandists in American mainstream media.

Comment: Stephen Colbert is so NPC right now.

Best of the Web: 'Constructive ambivalence' masks complex scheme to contain US in Middle East

Alastair Crooke
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:29 UTC

It was the eleventh, and perhaps the most important meeting between President Putin and PM Netanyahu on 27 February, writes the well-informed journalist, Elijah Magnier: "The Israeli visitor heard clearly from his host that Moscow has no leverage to ask Iran to leave - or, to stop the flow of weapons to Damascus ... Moscow [also] informed Tel Aviv about Damascus's determination to respond to any future bombing; and that Russia doesn't see itself concerned [i.e. a party to such conflict] ".

This last sentence requires some further unpacking. What is going on here is the mounting of the next phase of the Chinese-Russian strategy for containing the US policy of seeding hybrid disorder - and of pouring acid in to the region's 'open wounds'. Neither China nor Russia wish to enter into a war with the US. President Putin has warned on several occasions that were Russia to be pushed to the brink, it would have no choice but to react - and that the possible consequences go beyond contemplation.

In short, America's recent wars have clearly demonstrated their political limitations. Yes, they are militarily highly destructive, but they have not yielded their anticipated political dividends; or rather, the political dividends have manifested more as an erosion of US credibility, and of its appeal as a 'model' for the world to mimic. There is now no 'New' Middle East that is emerging anywhere that casts itself in the American mold.

Trump's foreign policy-makers are not old-style 'liberal' interventionists, seeking to slay the region's tyrannical monsters', and promising to implant American values: that wing of US neo-conservatism - perhaps unsurprisingly - has assimilated itself to the Democratic Party and to those European leaders desirous of striking (a supposedly morally 'virtuous') pose in contra-distinction to Trump's (supposedly amoral) transactional approach.

Comment: Yes indeed, it's all about containing the US, quietly, all the while the US believes it is containing Russia/Iran/anyone who dares defy it!

See also: Bolton and Netayahu meet to discuss staying in Syria, Iran and the occupied Golan heights

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

Max Blumenthal
The Grayzone
Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:27 UTC

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.

Years ago I read Gregg Braden's book, The God Code. I do not remember the whole premise, but he had determined that there was a computer-type code...

ReRan

looks like a natural kill zone , herd them in keep them there

andy

The people of Germany are beginning to reject the greenie movement because it has brought nothing but disappointment with lots spent for no gain....

Peter Jennings

Excellent read! Thanks, Laura and Ark! 🙂❤️

slbeaudry

The us apparently place full of "older farts" don't know better.... (or could give a shit - bout the rest of us) the youth in the us are starting...

Buffalo_Ken

Best of the Web:

Best of the Web: Hollywood's 'Captain Marvel' blockbuster is the latest US military propaganda push

Best of the Web: Israel unleashes massive airstrikes on Gaza in reprisal for 2 'accidental' rocket launches - UPDATE

Best of the Web: Russia wipes US in Rand corp wargame, just in time for a defense budget increase

Best of the Web: Economist Ricardo Hausmann's 'morning after' for Venezuela: The neoliberal brain behind Juan Guaido's economic agenda

Best of the Web: 49 killed and more than 40 seriously injured in New Zealand terror attack at 2 mosques - UPDATES

Best of the Web: Rouhani's visit to Iraq is a slap in the face to Trump

Best of the Web: McCain associate David Kramer was in contact with a dozen reporters regarding Steele dossier

Best of the Web: No more joking around: Colbert invites Tulsi Gabbard on The Late Show to smear her in person

Best of the Web: 'Constructive ambivalence' masks complex scheme to contain US in Middle East

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

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