Best of the Web:


Bullseye

Best of the Web: No, We Don't Want Notre Dame Turned Into Another Secular Solar-powered Eco-garden

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Fri, 10 May 2019 08:07 UTC
Vincent Callebaut
© Vincent Callebaut ArchitecturesVincent Callebaut Architectures proposal for the Notre Dame renovation.
Using the destruction of one of the prime Christian sites in the world as a chance to push your pet environmental agendas is disrespectful to Notre Dame's heritage. Also, architects, please stop putting fake tiny parks everywhere.

Top French design bureau Vincent Callebaut Architectures has gone viral with its plans to replace the roof of the medieval cathedral with a glass shell filled with solar panels.

Underneath will be a "sustainable" farm capable of producing 21 tons of fruit and vegetables each year, to be given out for free to the homeless. Not coincidentally, perhaps, this is at least the third eco-garden proposal that has been made public, while the vast majority of the submitted designs for the planned reconstruction feature a glass roof.

Comment: Perhaps the only acceptable design should be an exact replica, and, where possible, using the same materials while reviving the craftsmanship that made Notre Dame the masterpiece that it was. This process may also give the architects, craftsman, witnesses and visitors an idea of what it took to inspire those to commit themselves to such an awesome task in the first place: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Heart - Black

Best of the Web: New book claims Obama told family Trump's victory a result of Hillary's 'scripted, soulless campaign'

Daniel Bates
Daily Mail
Thu, 02 May 2019 14:08 UTC
ObamaClinton
© APTo Obama and his team, however, the real blame lay squarely with Clinton. 'She was the one who could not translate his strong record and healthy economy into a winning message.'
Barack Obama admitted 'this stings' after the 2016 election result and spent the night watching the movie Dr Strange to try and distract himself, a new book claims.

The former president went from being confident that Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump to seeing it as a 'personal insult' that she lost. Obama could not believe the American people had 'turned on him' for a man he had written off as a 'cartoon'.

As the dust settled Obama told his family that 'this hurts' and blamed Clinton who 'brought many of her troubles on herself' and ran a 'scripted, soulless campaign'.

The eye-popping details are in the new edition of Obama: The Call Of History by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. The book was originally released in July 2017 but has been updated with extensive new reporting throughout Obama's time in office - and the run through of election day is electrifying.


Comment: See also:

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Георгиевская ленточка

Best of the Web: Immortal Regiment marches take place across the globe


Russia Beyond
Wed, 08 May 2019 14:17 UTC
immortal regiment
© Tati Gavrilova /lookbook.mediaImmortal Regiment march in NYC, 4th May 2019
Descendants of WWII soldiers take part in processions to commemorate the memory of their relatives.

It originally began in 2012 in the Siberian city of Tomsk, but this year, the Immortal Regiment is held in more than 110 countries and 500 cities all over the world. People join the processions holding the portraits of their relatives who fought in World War II, and every year the number of participating cities grows.

1. New York, U.S., May 4
Immortal regiment NYC
© Tati Gavrilova /lookbook.media

Comment: Western elites don't see this as 'free of politics', which is why they neither participate in them, nor report on them.

Anything with the potential to improve perceptions of Russia must be either ignored or attacked.

It's a crying shame because WW2 commemoration is a great way to build cross-cultural bridges.

In the meantime, these serve as useful community-building exercises for the tens of millions of Russian/Eurasian emigrés around the world.

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Георгиевская ленточка

Best of the Web: Hurrah! Highlights of the May 9th Victory Day Parade in Moscow


Sputnik
Thu, 09 May 2019 13:23 UTC
may 9th victory parade moscow
© SputnikPutin speaks at the 74th anniversary WW2 Victory Parade in Moscow
A military parade to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War was held on Moscow's Red Square on 9 May. The parade showcased sophisticated Russian military hardware, including tanks and missile systems.

Interestingly, Russian-made Aurus luxury cars were for the first time used during the parade to transport Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who inspected the event, and Oleg Salyukov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces, who was in charge of the parade.

Aurus vehicles are part of the Kortezh project, which envisages the creation of luxury cars for top state officials. The cars, which are on a par with foreign analogues in terms of performance characteristics, are already used by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country's Federal Protective Service.


Comment: There is still nothing like it in the West, partly because Nazism was never an existential threat there, and partly because military parades are 'bad', or something...

Immortal Regiment marches were also held across Russia today. Between those and Victory Day parades, it's estimated that over half of Russia's population of 150 million people are participating.

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: US hawks threatening an apocalyptic war with Iran, and most Americans don't seem to care

Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
Tue, 07 May 2019 09:42 UTC
jet plane
This is the closest that the U.S. has been to a war with Iran in decades, and yet most Americans are either clueless or they don't seem to believe that it could actually happen. And I certainly don't think that President Trump wants a war, but he is surrounded by war hawks that have been pushing an extremely aggressive "get tough" policy with Iran. The Trump administration just canceled the waivers that were allowing other nations to continue purchasing Iranian oil, and the goal of that move is to reduce Iranian exports to zero. But oil exports are 40 percent of the Iranian economy, and the Iranians understand that this move could absolutely cripple their economy. The Iranians have threatened to close the straight of Hormuz in retaliation, and that would almost certainly provoke a U.S. military response. In addition, it is being reported that on Wednesday the Iranians will announce that they are taking steps to restart their nuclear program...
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to announce small steps to resume his country's nuclear program. According to the New York Times, that will include conducting research on centrifuges that can make nuclear fuel, and curbing nuclear inspections from observers.



Comment: What Rouhani actually said was that if there was no progress in the next 60 days they would start increasing uranium enrichment levels, but, for the moment, they have no intention of leaving the JCPOA entirely.


Comment: See also:

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Colosseum

Best of the Web: Failed coup in Venezuela: Behold the empire's breathtaking weakness

The Saker
The Unz Review
Tue, 30 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Venzuelan protests
The Empire has suffered painful defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, but one has to admit that these are "tough" countries to crack. The Empire also appears to have lost control of Libya, but that is another complex country which is very hard to control. We also saw all the pathetic huffing and puffing with the DPRK. But, let's be honest, the US never stood a chance to bully the DPRK into submission, nevermind invading or regime-changing it. Syria was much weaker, but here Russia, Iran and Hezbollah did a world class job of repelling all the AngloZionist attacks, political and military. Besides, I for one will never blame Trump for not listening to Bolton and not triggering WWIII over Syria (yet?)

But Venezuela?!

No Hezbollah or Iran backing Maduro there. And Venezuela is way too far away from Russia to allow her to do what she did in Syria. In fact, Venezuela is in the proverbial "backyard" of the US and is surrounded by hostile puppet regimes. And yet, tonight, it appears that the US puppet Guaidó has failed in his coup attempt.
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Attention

Best of the Web: Portuguese pilot in French jet shot down and captured by Haftar's liberation forces - Confesses to being tasked with destroying Libya's civilian infrastructure


RT
Tue, 07 May 2019 12:59 UTC

Comment: In case anyone is still wondering why hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern refugees/migrants are flowing into Europe...


portugal pilot libya
The alleged Portugese pilot shot down over Libya
The pilot of a fighter jet shot down south of Tripoli by the Libyan National Army is allegedly a Portuguese fighting in Libya as a "mercenary," Haftar's forces claim, as photos of the captured pilot covered in blood emerge online.

Photos posted on social media show a bloodied man in military-style clothes without any distinctive badges surrounded by forces said to be loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar of the Libyan National Army (LNA).

Citing Haftar's forces that sent her the photos, the Independent's Middle East correspondent Bel Trew said the man was a "foreign national" from Portugal. While Trew chose to crop out the man's face, plenty of uncensored photos have emerged elsewhere from the same scene.

The pilot was allegedly captured after his jet was shot down over the Wadi al-Hira area, located south of the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Earlier, there were conflicting reports about his nationality, with some media outlets claiming he was an Italian. The LNA Military Information Division has since claimed he was a "Portuguese mercenary."

Comment: This is what Western mercenaries have been doing to Libya since 2011.

RT reports further:
In one short clip, military personnel can be heard asking the bloodied detainee if he is military, and what he is doing in Libya. While the response is hard to decipher through the chaos, he seems to answer that he is a civilian contracted to target infrastructure.

The pilot is said to have been piloting a French-made Mirage F1 warplane in the service of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which Haftar's forces are battling for control of the war-torn country's capital Tripoli. A separate video posted to Twitter shows clouds of black smoke at the alleged crash site.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari has accused the GNA of resorting to employing foreign mercenaries, and recently said that a separate Mirage F1 downed at the end of April had been piloted by an Ecuadorian national named Boris Reyes, who allegedly died during the crash.




Despite international calls for dialogue, fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli has erupted into violent conflict between Haftar's forces and the GNA, leaving dozens dead on both sides. Libya has spiraled into chaos since NATO-backed Islamist rebels overthrew and executed the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Interview With The Moriartys - New Light on Benghazi, And Liberating Libya

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Megaphone

Best of the Web: The 'Yellow Vests storm Paris hospital' fake news story: "I was there. Here is what really happened"

Ramin Mazaheri
The Saker
Sun, 05 May 2019 19:57 UTC
protest injury
© APA man, his face covered in blood, is assisted as he walks away during the May Day protest in Paris, May 1, 2019. Francois Mori
The French government has been forced to shamefully admit that they made totally false accusations that May Day Yellow Vest anti-government protesters tried to break into the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital in order to "attack", "assault" and "steal". Countless mainstream media are just as covered in ignominy for having repeated these untrue claims.


Comment: See also: French interior minister slammed over fake news of hospital attack by Yellow Vests


I was right there when it happened, covering it for PressTV, so I witnessed exactly what transpired.

In fact, I even gave a live interview at the exact time of the incident, just after 4pm. I don't have a copy of that for now, but I hope to get one soon: certainly, I can explain what happened and why.

Why it happened: A new rule permitting even worse police brutality against Yellow Vests
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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: US State Department publishes, then deletes, sadistic Venezuela hit-list boasting of economic ruin

Anya Parampil
The Grayzone
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:38 UTC
Pompeo
© AP/Sait Serkan GurbuzUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The Grayzone has obtained a list of "key outcomes" on Venezuela deleted out of apparent embarrassment by the State Department. It boasts of wrecking the nation's economy, destabilizing its military, and puppeteering its political opposition.

On April 24, six days before self-proclaimed Venezuelan "interim president" Juan Guaido's attempt to violently overthrow Venezuela's democratically elected government alongside a handful of military defectors, the U.S. State Department published a fact sheet that boasted of Washington's central role in the ongoing coup attempt. After realizing the incriminating nature of its error, the State Department quickly acted to remove the page.

The Grayzone has obtained a full copy of the expunged report. The deleted page puts to bed any claims of Guaido's independence from Washington, as the State Department emphasizes the fact that he "announced his interim presidency... in January" at the the top of a section dedicated to breaking down "key outcomes" of U.S. efforts with regard to Venezuela.
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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: Tulsi Gabbard has proved she is ready for America. Is America ready for her?

John Wight
RT
Mon, 06 May 2019 17:14 UTC
tulsi
© Global Look Press / KC McGinnis
Since announcing her bid for the Democratic Party nomination in 2020, Tulsi Gabbard has been on a one-woman quest to confront America with reality.

In speech after speech, interview after interview, and in social media post after social media post, the Democratic Party congresswoman from Hawaii has served up a merciless indictment of US militarism, making the elementary point that Washington's obscenely inflated defense budget and its addiction to regime change wars, military interventions and the subversion of sovereign governments in pursuit of the full spectrum dominance that lies at the heart of the malignant creeds of neoconservatism and liberal interventionism, is harming rather than protecting the interests of the American people.

The harm is measured in an 'official' poverty rate of 12.3 percent, in other words 39.7 million people. It is measured in a homelessness crisis of indictable proportion, affecting over 500,000 people. And it is measured in the fact that as one of the richest countries in the world, tens of millions of its citizens are without healthcare.
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