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Gear

Best of the Web: Russian MoD: Terrorists readying chemical attack to frame Damascus & provide pretext for US airstrikes


RT
Sat, 25 Aug 2018 09:10 UTC
A US Air Force B-1B Lancer
© AFPA US Air Force B-1B Lancer
Terrorists are preparing a chemical weapons attack to frame Damascus and provoke an international reaction, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that it would be used as a pretext for the US and its allies to strike Syria.

The attack would be used as a pretext for US, UK and French airstrikes on Syrian targets, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov said. USS 'The Sullivans,' an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, was already deployed to the Persian Gulf a couple of days ago, he added.


Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry has accused the United States, the United Kingdom and France of preparing to carry out new strikes against Syria under the pretext of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government forces.
"The Western countries' actions in spite of their public statements are aimed at another sharp deterioration of the situation in the Middle East region and the disruption of the peace process on the territory of Syria," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov noted.



The destroyer has 56 cruise missiles on board, according to data from the Russian Defence Ministry. A US Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber equipped with 24 cruise missiles, has also been deployed at the Qatari Al Udeid Airbase.

Comment: See also: White Helmets coordinating with al-Nusra to stage chemical attack in Idlib, aiming to accuse Syrian army

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USA

Best of the Web: The American Dream? It's the American Scream

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik News
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 18:04 UTC
Court Room Sketch
© AP Photo/ Dana VerkouterenThis courtroom sketch depicts Paul Manafort, seated right row second from right, together with his lawyers, the jury, seated left, and the U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III, back cent
Just like when the medieval executioners tortured their prisoners to scream out for "mercy", so today two former aides of US President Donald Trump are put being on the rack to extract a begging response. If they finger the president, then maybe mercy will be shown to the prisoners.

Trump's former lawyer and his campaign manager are facing lengthy prison sentences for financial fraud and political campaign irregularities. Michael Cohen could get five years in jail, while Paul Manafort faces a soul-crushing 80 years behind bars. A de facto death sentence, given his age.

The set-up here is so obvious and pathetic. Both men are being dangled by the feet ahead of their sentencing, with the blatant purpose of forcing them to incriminate Trump, and in that way, Trump's political enemies finally get their long-held objective of impeaching the president.

This is how the "American Dream" really operates. It's dirty, grim, and brutal, and has very little to do with democracy or rule of law. Forget the emblems of supposed American civility, the white-picket fences, apple pie in bourgeois comfort, old glory fluttering down at the courthouse, and all those other imaginary democratic virtues.

American politics has more in common with Francis Ford Coppola's classic movie, The Godfather, illustrating how organized crime is intertwined with politicians and lawmakers. Mob practices are more the currency of American politics than dainty civic duties. In reality, it's not the American Dream, it's the American Scream.

Comment: Trump is nowhere near as rotten as the rest of them, but yes, he has taken rotten positions (not least, maximum support for whatever Israel wants).

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Lucy Komisar: I've Been Browder's Number One Journalist Critic for Two Decades. What President Trump Should Know About Handling Him

Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop
Fri, 20 Jul 2018 12:51 UTC
Browder deposition
Sleazy US oligarch William Browder admits in U.S. Federal Court deposition that Sergei Magnitsky didn't go to law school or have law degree, which means he lied to President Trump.
Dear President Trump,

William Browder sent you a letter before your meeting with President Putin, and I'd like to offer you a perspective about Mr. Browder that you probably aren't getting elsewhere. I am copying the form of his letter, but substituting Browder where he wrote Putin, and including facts you and the public probably don't know. Though there are indications your State Department does know.

As a journalist, I've have been investigating Mr. Browder for nearly two decades. I'm probably his number one enemy journalist. He had me banned from a public talk December 2016 at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton where he feared I would ask him about his corruption.

As he said with some irony about President Putin, Mr. Browder is a bald-faced liar. Whatever he tells you, it's not true.

Comment: As with all psychopaths, Browder accuses Putin of what he himself is guilty of. Ms. Komisar turned the tables. The result is a most useful guideline for handling the dangerous, slippery Mr. Browder.

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Caesar

Best of the Web: Putin goes to a wedding and, in passing, solves Europe's problems

Rostislav Ishchenko
Stalker Zone
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
putin merkel drink
Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard. Originally published in Russian here: ukraina.ru

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin wasn't the first Russian poet. Before him there was Zhukovsky, Derzhavin, and even Lomonosov. Beautiful, melodious verses were composed by many also after Pushkin. Nevertheless, he is "our everything". Without him, without Pushkin's language, not just Russian poetry, but the Russian language itself is incomplete...

Pushkin is exact and extremely laconic. He knows how to pack many meanings into only a few words. And he doesn't use excess words. Do you remember: "Up there a prince in passing captures a fearsome tsar". Just one word - "in passing" [two words in English - ed]. But how it characterises both people and process! Solving more important problems, in between times, a certain prince at the same time captured a fearsome (i.e., mighty, strong, dangerous) tsar (and it means he conquered him, his army, and his state).

Comment: For more, check out: Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update

See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Trump Ditches Europe, Europe Bluffs, Russia and China Carry on With Eurasian Integration

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USA

Best of the Web: Trump is basically right: The media is no friend of the American people

Robert Bridge
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:16 UTC
Mainstream media
© Defend Democracy Press
Over the course of his turbulent presidency, Donald Trump has accused various media companies, with special attention reserved for CNN, as being purveyors of 'fake news.' In one early-morning Tweet last year, he slammed the "FAKE NEWS media" as the "enemy of the people."

This week, over 300 US newspapers ran editorials on the same day - an event in itself that points to some high degree of collusion and groupthink - denouncing Trump's insensitive portrayal of them, as if the notion that journalists were not in the same sleaze league as lawyers, politicians and professional con artists never crossed anyone's mind before. Even the peace-loving Mahatma Gandhi recommended "equality for everyone except reporters and photographers."

But is the MSM really an "enemy of the people?"

Comment: See also:

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Seismograph

Best of the Web: Major 7.3 earthquake strikes northern Venezuela, causing minor damage - Largest quake in 118 years


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 21:43 UTC
earthquake hit the Northern Venezuela coast
© REUTERSPeople evacuate a building following tremors in Caracas after an earthquake hit the Northern Venezuela coast
A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 has struck the northern coast of Venezuela, forcing the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to briefly issue a warning for coastal areas within a 300 km radius of the epicenter.

The deep jolt, registered by USGS at depth of 123 km, was most strongly felt around the Gulf of Paria area but has also shaken buildings in the capital, Caracas. However, according to the Venezuelan Seismological Research Foundation, the earthquake was somewhat smaller and a lot more shallow, measuring 6.3 in magnitude and less than a kilometer deep.

After issuing an initial tsunami warning for the Venezuelan coast and neighboring Trinidad & Tobago, as well as Grenada, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) updated its alert, noting that "there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake." People along the coast are still asked to "remain observant" and to exercise "caution" near the sea. Sea fluctuations "up to 30 cm" above or below normal tide may still take place over the course of the next few hours along the coastal areas, the PTWC advised.
caracas building earthquake
© Federico Parra/AFP/Getty ImagesPart of the abandoned skyscraper Torre de David leans precariously in Caracas after the quake.

Comment: According to USGS, there have been 17 previous earthquakes with magnitude of over 6 in the region, though large earthquakes are rare. Tuesday's quake was the largest within 155 miles (250 kilometers) of this location in over a century. See our Earthquakes topic section for more recent increased seismic activity.

Now for the big question: is it 'just a coincidence' that this quake strikes Venezuela, and not far from Caracas, at this time? Socio-political upheaval mirrored in planetary upheaval?

Or could there have been some measure of 'direction' (as we suspect happened with the Haiti earthquake in 2010)?

At the very moment this one struck, Venezuela's leaders were celebrating a "revolutionary" new economic plan they hope will rescue Venezuela's stricken economy:
According to Associated Press, the confusing moments after the quake were captured on state television as Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela's most powerful politicians, was delivering a speech at a pro-government rally. "Earthquake!" many members of the audience cried, pointing to the ground, as Cabello and others looked from side to side.
Here it is here; around the 2-min mark:



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Attention

Flashback Best of the Web: Tommy Robinson legal defense, protest campaign and prison release financed and arranged by Daniel Pipes' ultra-Zionist organization


The Burning Blogger of Bedlam
Sat, 14 Jul 2018 21:05 UTC
Daniel pipes tommy robinson
Daniel Pipes (left), and Tommy Robinson... wearing a Mossad t-shirt?
He does seem to have a lot of friends. Some in high places; lots of them in not very high places at all. Later today, lots of them will be out in the street again, apparently embracing their role as 'useful idiots' in a scripted pantomime.

This is really an add-on to the much larger piece I published here about Far-Right agent-provocateur and Zionist operative Andrew McMaster, Paul Harris, Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, 'Tommy Robinson': whose arrest for contempt of court sparked protests and a great deal of outrage in recent months - based on a carefully contrived narrative that actually doesn't really work.

While some people took offense or exception to my pointing out the bloody obvious (that 'Robinson' is a 'race war' psy-op agent working for one or more agencies), the latest information regarding Mr 'Robinson's' situation would seem to put the matter to rest.

Specifically, it appears that Robinson's legal expenses are being picked up by a Zionist/Neo-Con think-tank (The 'Middle East Forum').

Comment: When 'Tommy' was subsequently released from prison on August 1st, Pipes' MEF issued another press release:
The full resources of the Middle East Forum were activated to free Mr. Robinson. We:
  1. Conferred with his legal team and made funding available to them;
  2. Funded, organized and staffed the large "Free Tommy" London rallies on June 9 and July 14 (see The Times, The Guardian, and the Independent);
  3. Funded travel by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) to London to address the rally; and
  4. Urged Sam Brownback, the State Department's ambassador for International Religious Freedom, to raise the issue with the UK's ambassador.
Just how much funding, organizing and 'bringing pressure to bear' for the 'new right', 'alt-right', or whatever it's called, is coming from certain interests vested in getting the world to hate Islam and Muslims as much as they do?

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: 65 Years Ago This Week: The 1953 Iran Coup - A Crime Authored in London And Washington

John Wight
RT
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 18:28 UTC
1953 Iran coup
© INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP / AFP
This week marks 65 years since the Western-orchestrated coup in Iran. August 19, 1953 is the day that Iranians were taught a hard lesson in the rules of the game when it comes to empire and hegemony.

For on this day, the country's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, was overthrown at the hands of Washington and London. It was, by any measure, an act of international banditry that continues to cry out for just redress.

Operation Ajax was planned, organized and unleashed by the CIA in conjunction with MI6 in response to the decision that was taken by Mossadegh - acting with the support of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) - to nationalize Iran's oil and husband the resulting revenue for the benefit the Iranian people.

Up to this point, the lion's share of the revenue garnered from the exploitation of Iranian oil was sucked out of the country by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) - the British state-owned oil company established in 1908 with this objective in mind and the forerunner of today's global oil conglomerate BP.
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Blue Planet

Best of the Web: Hello, and welcome to the real Iran!

Andre Vltchek
countercurrents.org
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 11:24 UTC
Iran
© Andre VltchekYoung filmmakers working on the streets of Tehran
Have you ever considered the possibility that almost everything that you have been told about the world by the Western mass media is a lie and fabrication?

I am sure you have, at least lately, when the insanity of Western propaganda is becoming very clear and obvious. But what about the extent of indoctrination you were subjected to?

If you live in Europe or North America, how poisoned are you by the lies about Cuba and Venezuela, Russia and China, North Korea and yes - about Iran? Are you beyond recovery? If you see the truth, if you were confronted by reality, would you still be able to recognize it, or would you perceive it as propaganda and lies?

I have just left Tehran, a city with a tremendous history and culture, overflowing with museums, theatres, wonderfully kept parks dotted with modern art sculptures. It is a city with modern and fully subsidized public transportation, consisting of high-tech metro, ecological bus ways, as well as suburban trains. A city of tall trees, and quiet squares, of elegant cafes, and extremely educated and kind people.

Comment: A refreshing look at what daily life on the ground in Iran is like. While no country is 'perfect' without a doubt Iran is not the pariah that the West makes it out to be. The people of Iran are not interested in 'regime change'. In fact they are more interested in tackling unemployment than the regime. For that they have only to thank the US and endless sanctions designed specifically to hurt their economy. Despite that, the people of Iran are smart, strong and resilient as ever. See also:

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Bug

Best of the Web: Bombshell: Courts documents reveal #MeToo movement leader raped teenage boy then paid him off


RT
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 10:38 UTC
Asia Argento
Not so glorious now, is it? Asia Argento, the actress who kickstarted last year's global anti-men campaign. Was she paid to do it?
Asia Argento, an Italian actress and director at the forefront of the #MeToo campaign that brought down producer Harvey Weinstein over sexual assault, herself reportedly assaulted an underage actor, and paid him to stay silent.

Court documents reportedly seen by the New York Times outline allegations by Jimmy Bennet, actor and rock musician, who says Argento sexually assaulted him when he was 17 and she was 37. The age of consent in California, where the alleged assault took place, is 18.

Comment: Watch now as they defend her by saying "but that wasn't rape - it was consensual..."

As we said at the time, while we would, hypothetically, extend our sympathy to the actual individual victims of rape (preferably, shown to be such in a court of law), the entire batch of claims was rendered dubious-by-association because of the 'public shaming' witch-hunt manner in which they became known.

In any event, Hollywood - and other dens of iniquity - ranks among the least deserving venues of public sympathy.

And what does this say about the shallow, vapid nature of people - the world over - who fell for this emotional guff? The whole #MeToo nonsense was one great big spasm of emotional incontinence.

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