Best of the Web:


Take 2

Best of the Web: Fake News: The Tienditas Bridge "blockade" between Venezuela and Colombia

Justin Emery
Medium
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:17 UTC
Or how to turn an unopened bridge into an international news story to build support for your coup

Edit: Someone has translated the article into Spanish: Traducción Española

Over the last couple of days, you may have seen an image like this in the news:
Puente Tienditas Colombia Venezuela
Puente Internacional Tienditas en la frontera entre Colombia y Venezuela.
This is Tienditas International Bridge (Spanish: Puente Binacional Tienditas) on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. I have a feeling that we will be seeing much more of this bridge in the news over the coming days.

Venezuela is a country in crisis. More specifically, a presidential crisis. The president since 2013, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected in 2018, but the election is disputed by the opposition. An opposition politician, Juan Guaidó, declared himself as interim president on January 23rd 2019 (despite not having stood in the 2018 election). The US and allies (including my country, the UK) have recognised Guaidó as president. Other countries continue to recognise Maduro as president. It appears that Maduro holds more power within the country, particularly as the military still support him.

The presidential crisis is a symptom of ongoing economic and political difficulties within Venezuela. I won't comment on which side is right or who is to blame for the situation, but I do understand that a lot of people are struggling and suffering.

Comment: The job of journalists is not to quote what the authorities say. Their job is to verify that what they say is actually true.

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Quenelle

Best of the Web: Vanessa Beeley: France, the Gilets Jaunes and Syria - Macron's projectionism and totalitarian policy

Vanessa Beeley
Patreon
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 11:44 UTC
gendarme
Just some reflections that have been coming to mind since my participation in the Gilet Jaune march (Acte XII) for those afflicted by state-sanctioned violence since protests began on November 17th 2018.

What I witnessed on Saturday at the end of a peaceful and unified GJ march through the streets of Paris where people came out onto their balconies to wave French flags and yellow balloons as we passed - has shown me the reflection of evil that was capable of financing and promoting the mass-murdering extremist and terrorist groups that have dismembered Syrian bodies and shed Syrian blood on Syrian soil.

That reflection is in the government of Macron and Hollande before him who welcomed the Al Qaeda #WhiteHelmets into the Champs Elysee and the Assemblee Nationale before Macron mutilated, gassed and trampled his own people in the Champs Elysee and across France with the same spit-in-your-face disregard for human life as their terrorist counterparts in Syria.

Comment: Everything they accused Assad of doing is now being done by Macron. Yet where's the outrage? Where's the call for intervention? Where are the White Helmets?

See also:

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Attention

Best of the Web: UK soldiers reveal British Army permitted shooting civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan

Ian Cobain
Middle East Eye
Mon, 04 Feb 2019 17:25 UTC
us troops basra
© AFPBritish soldiers on patrol in Basra in April 2007. The graffiti urges Iraqis to support Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, which was besieging British bases at the time
The British army operated rules of engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan that at times allowed soldiers to shoot unarmed civilians who were suspected of keeping them under surveillance, a Middle East Eye investigation has established.

The casualties included a number of children and teenage boys, according to several former soldiers interviewed by MEE.

Two former infantrymen allege that they and their fellow soldiers serving in southern Iraq were at one point told that they had permission to shoot anyone seen holding a mobile telephone, carrying a shovel, or acting in any way suspiciously.

The rules were relaxed, they say, in part because of concerns that unarmed individuals were acting as spotters for militants, or were involved in planting roadside bombs.

Separately, a former Royal Marine says that one of his officers confessed to his men that he had been responsible for the fatal shooting of an Afghan boy, aged around eight, after the child's father carried his body to the entrance of their forward operating base and demanded an explanation.

Another ex-soldier who spoke to MEE alleges that a cover-up was mounted after the fatal shooting of two unarmed teenage boys, which he says he witnessed in Afghanistan.

A pair of Soviet-era weapons were removed from a store at the British soldiers' base, he said, and placed next to the bodies to give the false impression that the teenagers had been armed Taliban fighters.

This man says he saw similar weapons being stored at other bases. "I'm fairly sure that they were being kept for that purpose. We were visited daily by troops from headquarters, and these weapons could easily have been catalogued and sent back."
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Fireball 2

Flashback Best of the Web: Meteor explodes above Cuba, shockwave shakes homes - 13 Feb 2013, same day as Chelyabinsk blast in Russia


elcomercio.com
Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:26 UTC
february cuba meteor 2013
The plume left by an exploding meteor above Cuba, on the same day as another meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk, southern Russia
The celestial body that fell, and ended with a large explosion that shook houses in the central area of Cuba today, coincided with a rain of meteorite fragments that injured 1,000 people in the Urals region of Russia.

According to the morning news report on a Cuban TV channel from Rodas, Cienfuegos, a region in the center of the country, a very bright light about the size of a bus was seen in the sky and it then exploded. One of the eyewitnesses, a fisherman, told the news channel that "about 8pm local time on Wednesday, I saw a light that crossed the sky and then turned into a very large flame, bigger than the sun, and after about 3 or 4 minutes we heard an explosion".

"The evidence seems to suggest that it was a fireball or bolide, fragments of rock and metal that enter the atmosphere at high speed" said Marcos Rodriguez, a resident of the region who presented himself as an expert on the phenomenon. A woman also claimed that the explosion shook the roof of her house. According to the news report, specialists were looked for fragments that might have fallen to earth.

Today, about 1,000 people were injured when meteorite fragments fell on the Urals region of Russia. The majority of injuries were caused by glass being blow out of buildings by the shockwave, according to the Russian Ministry of the Interior.

Comment: Six years later in 2019, Cuba has been rattled by the detonation in the upper atmosphere of ANOTHER large bolide in February!

Meteor EXPLODES, shatters windows in Pinar del Río, Cuba - after streaking over Florida Keys

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Fireball 2

Best of the Web: Meteor EXPLODES, shatters windows in Pinar del Río, Cuba - after streaking over Florida Keys


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 20:24 UTC
meteorite Cuba
© @rolandoteseSur/TwitterMeteor spotted over Florida and Cuba
Residents in western Cuba reported on Friday that a small meteorite struck the island, triggering the sounds of a large explosion. No injuries have been reported.

Cubans quickly took to social media, sharing photos and video footage of the aftermath. Some have likened the explosion to the sounds of a plane. Early social media reports also suggested that the sounds might have been caused by a satellite explosion.


Comment: Maybe there's something to this concept of 'February Fireballs'? Earth passes through no particularly significant meteor streams - known ones anyway - in February, and yet we keep getting smacked by big 'uns in this month. Not only that, but Cuba in particular was hit almost 6 years to the day!

Flashback: Meteor explodes above Cuba, shockwave shakes homes - 13 Feb 2013, same day as Chelyabinsk blast in Russia

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Venezuela: Another national dismemberment brought to you courtesy of the oilygarchy

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:51 UTC
venezuela oil company
© Reuters
Oligarchy: noun - A small group of people having control of a country or organisation.

Oilygarchy: noun - A small group of people determined to control the world, who use words like "democracy", "human rights" and "freedom" to persuade gullible people to support their plans for toppling the governments of other countries, especially those with large oil reserves.
"Stop what you're doing and care about Venezuela. Yes you! Although we've hardly ever mentioned the country before, and although you may not even be able to point to it on the map, you've just gotta care. You have to. It'd be heartless not to, wouldn't it? The poor people in that country you've hardly heard of and know nothing about, are living under a dictator whose name you don't know. And night after night after night we're gonna keep talking about it until you say it in your sleep: Maduro Must Go! He must be replaced by another man whose name you've never heard of either, but we can assure you he's a good guy. Yessir, he's a good guy alright. Kind. Compassionate. A true democrat. A true lover of freedom. A man of the people. Oh and he's friendly with our oil companies too.

So, c'mon what are you waiting for? Support our nightly campaign to unseat the man whose name you've never heard of, in the country you can't place, with a man whose name you can hardly pronounce let alone remember. And together let's bring about true freedom and liberty for the Venekrainian people, and maybe get ourselves some cheaper oil as well."
Thus spake the Western media in their new campaign to get us to support yet another regime change, brought to you courtesy of Neocon Warmongers Inc., nicely wrapped up of course in the obligatory garb of squishy newspeaky buzzwords like "freedom'n'democracy'n'human rights".

Comment:

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Chess

Best of the Web: Putin Has Offered Erdogan a Very Sweet Win-Win Deal in Syria, Ankara Now Has a Major Decision to Make

M.K. Bhadrakhumar
Indian Punchline
Sun, 27 Jan 2019 17:18 UTC
putin erdogan
The much-awaited meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his visiting Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan in Moscow last Wednesday focused on the the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. The timeframe of the US drawdown or its scope and directions remain far from clear. Meanwhile, attention is riveted on creating a buffer zone in northern Syria, 32 kilometre wide along the Turkish border, which is under discussion presently between Washington and Ankara.

The US special representative on Syria James Jeffrey is expected in Ankara in coming days to carry forward the discussions. From present indications, US may control the airspace over the proposed zone and maintain some sort of presence on the ground as well while Ankara has been maintaining that it has the capability to enforce the zone.

Russia, on the other hand, has consistently voiced its opinion favoring Syrian government control over the regions vacated by the US. Indeed, Syrian leadership also has reiterated its determination to regain control over the entire country.
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Russian Flag

Best of the Web: Like the 'Gerasimov Doctrine' it spawned, it's time to retire the concept of 'Russia-watching'

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:33 UTC
trump binoculars
© Reuters / Antonio Bronic"I can see Russia from here! It's very... big."
If you're interested in Russia, you've surely encountered "Russia Watching." A concept with questionable utility, given far too much credibility on this beat.

As the title implies, "Russia Watchers" don't reside in Russia. Indeed, many have never have done so, at any stage, and some haven't even 'lowered' themselves to visit. Instead, like Peter Sellers' Chance the Gardener, they "like to watch" and are elevated beyond their station by credulous hacks, in a severe case of the blind leading the blind.

And, in a reasonable world, with assiduous and scrupulous media standards, you wouldn't know of their existence and they'd be left to exchange their conspiracy theories with other fantasist busybodies and amateur enthusiasts on Reddit or obscure blogs.

But we don't live on that sort of planet. Sadly, Western coverage of Russia is so dysfunctional that various chancers and charlatans flood the media space debating things like the 'Gerasimov Doctrine' and whether Vladimir Putin has Aspergers or Spine Cancer, or is about to invade the Baltics, or Belarus, or Poland. All on the same weekend. In addition to other topics which either don't exist or would require expertise, and access, these spoofers can't boast.
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USA

Flashback Best of the Web: US blockade prevents 18 million boxes of food reaching Venezuela but commentators still blame Bolivarianism

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Mon, 04 Sep 2017 14:23 UTC
Venezuela police
The Vice President of Venezuela's National Constitutional Assembly, Aristobulo Isturiz, revealed that the US imposed economic blockade on Venezuela has prevented 18 million boxes of food from reaching the country that is suffering from food shortages.

He then went onto highlight that the sanctions affect ordinary Venezuelan people and not the country's leadership, just as US-imposed sanctions on Syria are having the same effect.

Isturiz then revealed that allied countries had to make payment for the food to be reached as the US sanctions prevents Venezuela from making such purchases.

Comment: That's spreading democracy for ya.

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Stormtrooper

Best of the Web: Prominent Yellow Vest activist shot in the head by French police - Becomes 18th protester to lose an eye


RT
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 22:59 UTC
Jerome Rodrigues
© AFP / Zakaria Abdelkafi
A notable figure among the Yellow Vests, Jerome Rodrigues, has suffered a serious eye injury during protests in Paris. The moment when the man was struck by a projectile, likely grenade shrapnel, was caught on video.

The incident occurred at the Bastille Square in central Paris where chaotic scenes of confrontation between Yellow Vests and law enforcement unfolded on Saturday.

Rodrigues had been live streaming from the site when a riot control grenade exploded right before him. After the hit, presumably, by shrapnel from the device, the man collapsed on the pavement with onlookers rushing to help him.

Other footage from the scene, captured by Sputnik France correspondent, show him lying bloodied on the ground, with paramedics providing first aid.

Comment: That's 18 people (official figure) who have had an eye taken from them by police firing at protesters at head-height.

There was a HUGE turnout across France today for Acte XI of the Yellow Vest movement.

The French state is teetering.

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