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Best of the Web: Mueller's Russiagate indictments still don't add up to collusion

Aaron Mate
The Nation
Wed, 13 Jun 2018 17:11 UTC
ManafortMueller
© Vanity FairPaul Manafort • Robert Mueller
In just over one year, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign and Russia has generated five guilty pleas, 20 indictments, and more than 100 charges. None of these have anything to do with Mueller's chief focus: the Russian government's alleged meddling in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign's suspected involvement. While it's certainly possible that Mueller will make new indictments that go to the core of his case, what's been revealed so far does not make a compelling brief for collusion.

The most high-level Trump campaign official to be indicted is Paul Manafort, as well as his former business partner and Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates. The charges, as a Virginia judge observed last month, "manifestly don't have anything to do with the campaign or with Russian collusion." Instead, Manafort and Gates are accused of financial crimes beginning in 2008, when they worked as political operatives for a Russia-leaning party in Ukraine (and for which Manafort was previously investigated, but not indicted).

There is widespread supposition that Manafort's dealings in Ukraine make him a prime candidate for collusion with Moscow. But that stems from the mistaken belief that Manafort promoted Kremlin interests during his time in Kiev. The opposite appears to be the case. The New York Times recounts that Manafort "pressed [then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor] Yanukovych to sign an agreement with the European Union that would link the country closer to the West - and lobbied for the Americans to support Ukraine's membership." If that picture is accurate, then Manafort's activities in Ukraine during the period for which he has been indicted were diametrically opposed to the Kremlin's agenda.

Comment: See also: UK and US intelligence colluded to smear Trump campaign as Russia lackeys

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Card - VISA

Best of the Web: Slavoj Žižek: EU must create a new world order to stop Donald Trump

Slavoj Žižek
RT
Tue, 12 Jun 2018 08:06 UTC
trump disruptor
While most other western leaders fiddle and seethe, Donald Trump powers ahead as bully-in-chief. A genuine new world order is the only way to stop him.

Trump's impulsive decisions, such as his refusal to endorse the G7 declaration agreed upon in Quebec, are not just expressions of his personal quirks. Instead, they are reactions to the end of an era in the global economic system, reactions which are sustained by an incorrect understanding of what is happening. However, Trump's misguided vision is nonetheless based on the correct insight that the existing global system no longer works.

An economic cycle is coming to an end, a cycle which began in the early 1970s, the time when what Yanis Varoufakis calls the "Global Minotaur" was born, the monstrous engine that was running the world economy from the early 1980s to 2008. The late 1960s and the early 1970s were not just significant for the oil crisis and stagflation; Nixon's decision to abandon the gold standard for the US dollar was the sign of a much more radical shift in the basic functioning of the capitalist system.

Indeed, by the end of the 1960s, the US economy was no longer able to continue the recycling of its surpluses to Europe and Asia because its surpluses had mutated into deficits. As a result, in 1971, the US government responded to this decline with an audacious strategic move: instead of tackling the nation's burgeoning deficits, it decided to do the opposite, to boost deficits.

And who would pay for them? The rest of the world!

Comment: Indeed, it's improbable. Europe has no plan, no vision - it just reacts to events and goes 'huh?'

The actor best positioned for implementing a new and sustainable world order is China, with its 'Dream', 'Belt and Road', 'multipolarity', etc.

The ultimate question is; will Europe facilitate or impede that vision?

But before that can be answered, the postmodernist-ultraliberal elites in Europe have got to get out of the way.

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Vader

Best of the Web: 'Get Trump!' When, Where, And How Will The Empire Strike Back?

James George Jatras
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 15:19 UTC
Trump and American flag cartoon
In any analysis of contemporary international politics it pays to be cautiously pessimistic. As the default mode one can generally expect that any way in which things can go wrong to threaten the peace and security of the planet, they will. Anticipation of improvement is a chump's bet.

That's why the analyst's gut instinct rebels at any indication that things overall may be moving in a positive direction, however haltingly or indirectly.
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Flashlight

Best of the Web: Senator turned away from inspecting Texas Walmart converted into detention center for child migrants

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:16 UTC
walmart texas migrants illegals children
In 2015, Snopes attempted to fact-check "rumors" that "began to swirl in April 2015 when several Walmart stores around the U.S. were abruptly closed due what Walmart claimed were "plumbing problems." Walmarts in Pico Rivera, CA, Livingston, TX, Midland, TX, Brandon, FL, and Tulsa, OK, all suddenly closed their doors, with Walmart corporate announcing that some of those outlets would be shuttered for six months or more. We now know, even though Snopes has not updated its web page, that at least one of those Walmarts is a detention center to house children of immigrant families.


Comment: Not quite. The former Walmart store in question, in Brownsville, Texas - right on the US-Mexico border - is not one of the five Walmarts 'secretly requisitioned' by the government in 2015. Those five were Walmarts in Pico Rivera, California, Livingston, Texas, Midland, Texas, Brandon, Florida, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So the Walmart in this current story is not one of those.

There may be some connection between this Brownsville one and those 'closed for plumbing repairs' in 2015, but it's no secret that this one was refitted for housing migrant children:
'Closed Wal-Mart in Brownsville to Reopen as Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors'
krgv.com, 25 Jan 2017
A non-profit organization will resume the use of an abandoned Wal-Mart in Brownsville as a shelter.

A Southwest Key spokeswoman confirmed the facility is set to open on March. They said it'll be to welcome unaccompanied minors who crossed into the U.S. illegally.

It will be the 4th facility in Brownsville to shelter children, under the age of 17, who have crossed into the U.S. without an adult.

Southwest Key is federally funded by the Office of Refugees Resettlement. The group's mission is to provide a safe environment for unaccompanied children while they wait to be reunited with a sponsor or relative in the U.S.

Officials said the number of unaccompanied children in the past three years has, historically, been the highest. They expect the numbers to remain the same.

According to ORR's website, most children are coming from Central America. They said 15 to 17-year-olds still make the biggest age group.

The website also stated twice as many males are coming to the U.S. than females. The average stay for unaccompanied minors is 36 days.

Southwest Key officials said children are supervised during their stay. The program ensures youngsters have a safe place to sleep, are fed, educated and also have access to healthcare and counseling services.

The program did not confirm the amount of children that will be housed at the facility due security reasons.

Channel 5 News reached out to the city of Brownsville for comment on the opening of the shelter. They declined our request.



U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) attempted to enter the converted Walmart in Brownsville, TX to inspect the living conditions of immigrant children who had reportedly been separated from their parents and were rumored to be kept in cages and concrete floors of the converted Walmart. Merkley streamed live on social media his attempt to enter the facility but was denied entry by Homeland Security.
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Star of David

Best of the Web: The sacrifice of Gaza and the great march of Zionist hypocrisy


The Polemicist
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 20:51 UTC
Palestinian amputees
© Rana ShubairParticipants in Gaza’s Great March of Return on the eighth Friday of the demonstration.
The Great March of Return is a startling, powerful expression of Palestinian identity and resistance. Thousands of Palestinians have come out, bravely and unapologetically, to say: "We refuse to remain invisible. We reject any attempt to assign us to the discard pile of history. We will exercise our fundamental right to go home." They have done this unarmed, in the face of Israel's use of deadly armed force against targets (children, press, medics) deliberately chosen to demonstrate the Jewish state's unapologetic determination to force them back into submissive exile by any means necessary. By doing this repeatedly over the last few weeks, these incredibly brave men, women, and children have done more than decades of essays and books to strip the aura of virtue from Zionism that's befogged Western liberals' eyes for 70 years.

What the Israelis have done over the past few weeks -- killing at least 112 and wounding over 13,000 people (332 with life-threatening injuries and 27 requiring amputation) -- is a historical crime that stands alongside the Sharpeville Massacre (69 killed), Bloody Sunday (14 killed), and the Birmingham Fire Hoses and Police Dog Repression as a defining moment in an ongoing struggle for justice and freedom. Like those events, this month's slaughter may become a turning point for what John Pilger correctly calls "the longest occupation and resistance in modern times" -- the continuing, unfinished subjugation of the Palestinian people, which, like apartheid and Jim Crow, requires constant armed repression and at least occasional episodes of extermination.
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Propaganda

Best of the Web: Daily Mail columnist loses it after former English football player refuses to indulge in Russia bashing

Simon Rite
RT
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 16:47 UTC
Gary Lineker
Former England striker turned TV pundit Gary Lineker's refusal to join in the Russia bashing ahead of the World Cup has provoked Daily Mail columnist Dominic Sandbrook into a now familiar display of ignorance and rage.

Lineker is a much-loved figure among England fans, having scored more World Cup finals goals than any other English player. He became a television presenter after retiring, and has become known as a 'liberal voice' on Twitter.

The former striker was speaking to the Radio Times magazine about criticism surrounding the upcoming World Cup, and gave a view that probably wouldn't have seemed controversial if he wasn't talking about Russia.
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Black Magic

Best of the Web: Death and Resurrection in Kiev: You couldn't make this sh*t up, but Ukraine did

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 08:46 UTC
babchenko
'Yuk-yuk, we haz fooled you!'
So, Arkady Babchenko is alive. And that's really good news. Especially for his wife and six children, who were also led to believe the Russian journalist had been brutally murdered in Kiev on Tuesday night.

However, this sordid little episode badly exposes Russia conspiracy nutters and chancer hacks, who have been taken seriously for too long. And it also shows casual observers just how dreadful standards are of western reportage from Kiev and Moscow.

Because it's long been clear that most hacks focused on these parts believe Russia only lies and its opponents always tell the truth. And, in this regard, Wednesday's 'Lazarus' moment in Kiev may have mortally wounded the hive mind which seems to govern their coverage.

Comment: Clear-out? Not a chance! These types never go away quietly. They can only be compelled by a strong hand, and as long as failed or failing states exist, there will always be safe spaces for them to act out their deviance.

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Pirates

Best of the Web: Nicaragua's bloody unrest has US fingerprints all over it

William Whiteman
RT
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:25 UTC
Protest Nicaragua
© Oswaldo Rivas / ReutersProtest against Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua May 30, 2018
The student-led anti-government movement in Nicaragua is unlike other recent attacks on the Latin American socialist bloc; it emanates mainly from the left of the political spectrum. But that doesn't mean the US isn't behind it.

The so-called marea rosa, or 'pink tide', of allied leftist governments which held sway across Latin America in previous years is being rolled back. Brazil's Dilma Rousseff was removed from power in a right-wing coup, co-conspirators of which have now managed to imprison the current presidential frontrunner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ecuador's Lenin Moreno has stabbed his former leader Rafael Correa in the back by barring him from seeking re-election, while seemingly purging his cabinet of remaining Correa loyalists and beginning the process of allowing the US military back into the country. Alongside other democratic and not-so-democratic removals of leftist governments from power, NATO has nabbed itself a foothold in the region, now that Colombia has joined the obsolete yet aggressively expanding Cold War alliance, in a thinly veiled threat to neighboring Venezuela.

And now it's Nicaragua's turn under the boot. Again.
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Handcuffs

Best of the Web: Technically, he broke the law, but is Tommy Robinson really in prison because he drew attention to 'grooming gangs'?

Douglas Murray
National Review
Thu, 31 May 2018 20:35 UTC
The latest controversy is maddening for many reasons
tommy robinson
Tommy Robinson 'the journalist'. Well, activist. Citizen journalist?

Tommy Robinson is a British political activist and "citizen journalist" who came to prominence in Britain almost a decade ago when he founded the English Defence League. The EDL was a street-protest movement in Britain whose aims could probably best be summarized as "anti-Islamization." It emerged in the town of Luton after a group of local Islamists barracked the homecoming parade of a local regiment returning from service in Afghanistan.

From their earliest protests the EDL's members sought to highlight issues including sharia law, Islam's attitudes toward minorities, and the phenomenon that would become euphemistically known as "grooming gangs." In reality these protests often descended into hooliganism and low-level violence (naturally helped along by self-described "anti-fascists"). The authorities did everything they could to stop the EDL, and the media did everything possible to demonize them. In a foretaste of things to come, very few people made any effort to understand them. And nobody paid any price for (indeed many people benefited from) claiming that the EDL was simply a fascist organization and that anybody who even tried to understand them must be a fascist too. The usual prohibition against sweeping generalizations doesn't seem to apply if the generalization tilts in that direction.
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Heart - Black

Best of the Web: Celebrity atheist Sam Harris shills for Israel - and he's wrong on every point

Marcus Ranum
FreethoughtBlogs.com
Fri, 25 May 2018 14:44 UTC
sam harris jerusalem
© TelegraphHarris illustrates his audio file with this picture of a Hamas M75 rocket that hit Jerusalem in July 2014
WARNING: War, Death, Sam Harris
WARNING: LONG
(0:0) Sam Harris: The question I have now received in many forms goes something like this: "Why is it that you never criticize Israel? Why is it that you never criticize Judaism? Why is it that you always take the side of the Israelis over the Palestinians?" Now, this is an incredibly boring and depressing question, for a variety of reasons.
This is not an auspicious start. Harris begins by framing the (alleged) question he receives "in many forms" in the most severe characterization possible: "never." Doubtless, people have asked Harris variations of that question, but by framing it in terms of "Why is it that you never criticize Israel" Harris deals from the bottom of the deck a bit - he's making it easier for himself. He can just say, "Well, OK, here's some criticism? Are we done?"

Following that, we have what is - unfortunately - a very typical Sam Harris ploy: deriding a straw-man version of a prospective opponent's argument. I had a philosophy professor in college who did this incessantly, and it was infuriating: "surely nobody in their right mind would accept this argument." Basically, putting a rhetorical thumb on the scales against anyone who'd argue the opposite position. Harris uses these rhetorical flourishes often; no doubt he's trying to help feed the stereotype of atheist thinkers as smug and arrogant.
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