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Bomb

Best of the Web: Alleged Threat of Iranian Nukes is Hysterical Nonsense Because Iran Doesn't Have a Death Wish

Uri Avnery
Counterpunch
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Netanyahu
Netanyahu tries to rile up support against the bogus "Iranian threat" before the United Nations in 2012
I hate self-evident truths.

Ideals may be self-evident. Political statements are not. When I hear about a self-evident political truth, I immediately doubt it.

The most self-evident political truth at this moment concerns Iran. Iran is our deadly enemy. Iran wants to destroy us. We must destroy its capabilities first.

Since this is self-evident, the anti-nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the five Security Council members (plus Germany) is terrible. Just terrible. We should have ordered the Americans long ago to bomb Iran to smithereens. In the unlikely event that they would have disobeyed us, we should have nuclear-bombed Iran ourselves, before their crazy fanatical leaders have the opportunity to annihilate us first.

All these are self-evident truths. To my mind, all of them are utter nonsense. There is nothing self-evident about them. Indeed, they have no logical basis at all. They lack any geopolitical, historical or factual foundation.
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Briefcase

Best of the Web: Carter Page testimony confirms Trump dossier was the basis of Russiagate

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 19:58 UTC

Comment: This one is a must-read. It shows that the real purpose of the 'Trump Dossier' was to get the 'Russian collusion' train going full speed. The intelligence community even used it as leverage to try to coerce Trump into agreeing with their agenda. They were shocked when he called them on their BS. That must be a rare occurrence, and we wish we were there to see the looks on their smug, lying faces. It's another nail in the coffin of Russiagate, though it's not quite over yet...


Carter Page
© Anton Denisov / SputnikCarter Page
Back in March 2017 a series of articles appeared in the media which alleged that the 'frame' for the Russiagate investigation was provided by the Trump Dossier: the sleazy concoction of smear and gossip compiled by the British ex-spy Christopher Steele.

In an article published 31st March 2017 I expressed some skepticism about this. The scenario outlined in the Trump Dossier seemed to me quite simply too absurd and its unverifiable claims altogether too sensational for me to believe the supposedly mighty US intelligence community could take it seriously.

However, by June 2017 indirect confirmation was starting to appear in the US media that not only did the US intelligence community take the Trump Dossier seriously but that it was in fact the starting point of the whole Russiagate scandal.
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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Soros' vendetta? Paradise Papers leak targets billionaire's political rivals


Sputnik
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 17:53 UTC
george soros
'You will do what I tell you, or I will crash your economy.'
The Paradise Papers leak could have been initiated by US billionaire George Soros, who has repeatedly targeted politicians and public figures standing in his way through controlled media sources, Russian economist, financial and political analyst Ivan Danilov writes for RIA Novosti, explaining who the major targets are.

It is no coincidence that the Paradise Papers scandal, which exposed the British royal family's offshore funds and firms and the businesses of Donald Trump's entourage is being fanned by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a global network funded by US billionaire George Soros, noted Ivan Danilov, a Russian economist, financial and political analyst and author of the popular political blog Crimson Alter.

"If one compiles a list of politicians and organizations that have been recently subjected to media attacks from the Soros-funded consortium - that can rightly be called 'Soros-Leaks' - it would turn out that it is almost entirely comprised of those who stood in the way of the magnate," Danilov wrote for RIA Novosti.

Comment: So we have two ideas here: that the Soros network has been activated to target specific political rivals around the world, thereby pressuring or blackmailing them to 'perform correctly', and we also have an apparent drive to redirect financial flows into the US. Whatever the precise goals of the deep staters behind this latest leak, it's clear now that we have a pattern of Soros orchestrating massive, global-scale blackmail.

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Pirates

Best of the Web: Meet the real Lenin: Traitor, parasite, lunatic

Anatoly Karlin
The Unz Review
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 13:45 UTC
vladimir lenin
Lenin: psycho
There is a general consensus that Stalin was a sadistic tyrant. But the ghost of his predecessor remains "handshakeworthy" on the left hand side of the political spectrum. The SWPLy bobos of Seattle, who would not have been long for the Communist world, erected a statue to him in the city center. The New York Times "celebrated" the centenary of the Russian Revolution with odes to the Bolsheviks' progressivism on the environment, sex, and race (not that Terell J. Starr with his strange ideas of how the USSR "centered the Russian slav" would appreciate it).

Westerners, at least, have a good excuse for subscribing to the self-serving Trotskyite belief that Stalin "betrayed" Lenin's revolution - after all, the bacillus that Germany unleashed upon Russia during its moment of weakness and disarray did more than anyone else to derail De Tocqueville's prophesy and ensure that the 20th century would be an exclusively American one.

Comment: You understand now why Vladimir Putin was in no mood for 'celebrating' the Bolshevik revolution.

Russian Communist Party upset that Kremlin isn't celebrating centenary of 1917 revolution

'The Russian Revolution in Colour' - How the Bolsheviks subverted the 1917 Russian revolution (Documentary)

Over 90 percent of citizens say new revolution in Russia is unthinkable

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Red Pill

Best of the Web: NSA whistleblower William Binney told CIA head DNC leak was inside job


RT
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 16:42 UTC
Mike Pompeo
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersCIA Director Mike Pompeo smiles at the FDD National Security Summit in Washington
CIA Director Mike Pompeo reportedly met with NSA whistleblower William Binney for an hour at CIA headquarters on October 24 at the request of US President Donald Trump. Binney disputes US intelligence claims over Russian hacking of DNC emails in 2016.


Binney is of the belief that someone "with physical access" inside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) leaked sensitive information during the 2016 presidential campaign, as opposed to a sophisticated hack perpetrated by Russian Intelligence.

Trump allegedly told Pompeo that if he "want[ed] to know the facts, he should talk to me," Binney said, as cited by The Intercept. The Intercept interviewed Binney and at least two additional intelligence sources close to the matter for its report.

"I was willing to meet Pompeo simply because it was clear to me the intelligence community wasn't being honest here," Binney said. "I am quite willing to help people who need the truth to find the truth and not simply have deceptive statements from the intelligence community."
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Star of David

Best of the Web: How British Zionism created both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel

Nu'man Abd al-Wahid
Mondoweiss
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 21:26 UTC
Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud with Sir Percy Cox
Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud with Sir Percy Cox.
The covert alliance between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity of Israel should be no surprise to any student of British imperialism. The problem is the study of British imperialism has very few students. Indeed, one can peruse any undergraduate or post-graduate British university prospectus and rarely find a module in a Politics degree on the British Empire let alone a dedicated degree or Masters degree. Of course if the European-led imperialist carnage in the four years between 1914 - 1918 tickles your cerebral cells then it's not too difficult to find an appropriate institution to teach this subject, but if you would like to delve into how and why the British Empire waged war on mankind for almost four hundred years you're practically on your own in this endeavor. One must admit, that from the British establishment's perspective, this is a formidable and remarkable achievement.

Comment: It's diabolical, isn't it? In placing the worst kind of 'Islamic' regime in charge of Islam's holiest sites right next door to the worst kind of 'Jewish' one, it's as if the (then-British) Empire went out of its way to pit Jews against Muslims.

In this light, Israel is the modern Crusader state, which, together with Saudi Arabia, have for the last 100 years been wholly Western creatures, if not outright colonies.

The end of WW I didn't end 'the war to end all wars' - it began a century of endless war and terror; the 'anglo-American century', a Western quest for global hegemony.

Now we can understand why these two regimes support ISIS, why they have full backing from 'on high' in London and Washington, and why they're cooperating against the rival alliance of Iran, Syria, the Houthis and Hezbollah:

Leaked Israeli diplomatic cable reveals Saudi-Israeli plans to provoke war with Iran and demonize Hezbollah

Radical Islam is an invention of European intelligence agencies

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Radical Islam is an invention of European intelligence agencies

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 15:37 UTC
radical islamists terrorists
There are approximately 1.8 billion Muslims on Earth. That is approximately 24% of the world population. They live in regions spanning North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and reaching as far as Southeast Asia. There are Muslim communities in virtually every nation - and in many - they have played a pivotal, constructive, and welcomed role in national development.

If even 1% of the world's Muslims were violent terrorists bent on conquering the world, that would constitute an army 18 million strong - or in other words - larger than the next 20 largest armies on Earth combined. Most critics of Islam infer that the number is actually much higher than 1% - many suggesting that the majority of Muslims either are engaged in or support terrorism. It is logical to conclude that if even 1% were dedicated to terrorism and the "conquest of infidels," the war would have ended in their favor long ago.

It is clear that there is not even 1% across Islam engaged in or supporting terrorism. Across the Arab World, the vast majority of Muslims, Christians, other sects, and the secular, stand united against terrorism. It is clear that a mountain of lies stands between many and the truth - a mountain built so tall that it leaves entire segments of targeted populations in the perpetual darkness of ignorance.
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Star of David

Best of the Web: Leaked Israeli diplomatic cable reveals Saudi-Israeli plans to provoke war with Iran and demonize Hezbollah

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 17:08 UTC
netanyahu and bin salman
Left: Israeli PM Netanyahu, Right: Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Early this morning, Israeli Channel 10 news published a leaked diplomatic cable which had been sent to all Israeli ambassadors throughout the world concerning the chaotic events that unfolded over the weekend in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, which began with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's unexpected resignation after he was summoned to Riyadh by his Saudi-backers, and led to the Saudis announcing that Lebanon had "declared war" against the kingdom.


Comment: The Hariri resignation is most likely a response to the fact that growing Iranian and Syrian influence in Lebanon - as a direct result of Russian involvement in the Middle East over the past 2 years - has made his position as a Saudi stooge untenable. So the Saudis pull him out and force him to resign, then they collaborate with the Israelis in a futile attempt to provoke the Iranians and deal a political blow to Hezbollah. All of this is just an Israeli/Saudi/US 'deep state' reaction to the new powerful Russia/Iran/Syria axis in the Middle East, and a rather impotent one at that.


The classified embassy cable, written in Hebrew, constitutes the first formal evidence proving that the Saudis and Israelis are deliberately coordinating to escalate the situation in the Middle East.

The explosive classified Israeli cable reveals the following:
  • On Sunday, just after Lebanese PM Hariri's shocking resignation, Israel sent a cable to all of its embassies with the request that its diplomats do everything possible to ramp up diplomatic pressure against Hezbollah and Iran.
  • The cable urged support for Saudi Arabia's war against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
  • The cable stressed that Iran was engaged in "regional subversion".
  • Israeli diplomats were urged to appeal to the "highest officials" within their host countries to attempt to expel Hezbollah from Lebanese government and politics.

Comment: The balance of power in the Middle East has undergone a dramatic and swift paradigm change over the last few years. Israel is still stuck in its rather myopic (and pathologically persistent) goal of remaking the region to suit its own vision where it (and its Saudi friends) reign supreme and all other Arab nations are kept in a state of dysfunction and conflict. What Israel (and Saudi Arabia) do next in the region will be a testament to just how irrational their leaders are in their drive to stay on top, despite the desire of many millions of people in the region to simply live in peace.

Previously: A word of caution, however, regarding the cable in question, from Andrew Korybko:
If anyone actually read the leaked "embassy" cable, however, they'd see that it's a stretch to report it as being a "smoking gun" purportedly confirming that the Crown Prince is the Zionist leader's puppet. The document in question doesn't contain any evidence within it that the Saudis' geopolitical bluster is due to any sort of coordination with "Israel", but rather reads like a straight-forward plan for opportunistically capitalizing on this "advantageous" event in order to advance the overlapping interests that Tel Aviv shares with Riyadh vis-à-vis Tehran, Sanaa, and Beirut.
...
Just because two actors share the same interests doesn't necessarily mean that one of them is being controlled by the other, even if one makes a move that's to this pair's collective benefit in that given Neo-Realist context. Saudi Arabia's war-mongering statements against Iran, Yemen, and Lebanon perfectly align with "Israeli" interests, just like Trump's campaign promises to restore pragmatic relations with Moscow also served Russia's interests, though in neither case was the Crown Prince or the current President saying what they did for any other reason than to advance what they subjectively believed to be their country's national interests.

That said, there are indeed actors who stand to gain by purposely misportraying the Saudi-"Israeli" leaks in the previously described inaccurate manner, and it's here where another argument interestingly emerges to debunk the "collusion" narrative.

... it's understandable why the US would be opposed to the Crown Prince's "deep state" coup, even if Trump tweeted otherwise in order to save face after having earlier demanded that the Kingdom "drive out" all corrupt terrorist-supporting individuals such as the pro-American ones who Mohammed Bin Salman ironically just detained.

Nevertheless, the future King reportedly compelled "imprisoned" Prince Alwaleed to sell his shares in 21st Century Fox, thereby endangering anti-Trump tycoon Robert Murdoch's control over the media group, so Trump might indeed see something of a "silver lining" in what just happened.

In any case, the securing of Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030-related reforms and multipolar Great Power partnerships is comparatively more to the US' grand strategic disadvantage than whatever benefits its President might reap from Murdoch's potential weakening, so it's plausible to assert that the US has a clear interest in undermining the Crown Prince.
...
It's very likely that the document is authentic, but the point to focus on here is the reason behind its disclosure, which like all leaks in history had more than an inadvertent coincidental reason behind it. In this instance, the whole point is to discredit Mohammed Bin Salman in the eyes of his countrymen, thereby weakening his newly assertive grip on power and creating space for his citizens to have "second doubts" about what's really going on in the royal halls of power.
...
The so-called "collusion" between Saudi Arabia and "Israel", as supposedly "proven" through the weaponized cable leak, is nothing more than the typical opportunism that Tel Aviv is known for, though that does not say that the two sides haven't collaborated in the past and won't do so again in the future, but just that it's inaccurate to report that the latest events are another example of this.


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Fire

Best of the Web: Britain now under the grips of Russiagate hysteria

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 04:21 UTC
Putin and Cameron
Over the course of the last few weeks a campaign has been launched in Britain spearheaded by the Guardian newspaper to 'delegitimise' the Brexit referendum result by alleging that it was Russian 'meddling' which caused it.

Thus we have seen a series of sensationalist reports insinuating that Arron Banks - the British millionaire who partly funded the Leave campaign - is being funded by Russia, and claims that Professor Mifsud - the London based academic referred to in the Papadopoulos indictment - may have met British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at a fundraising dinner arranged by another MP (Johnson denies it) and that Papadopoulos himself whilst a member of the Trump campaign met a British minister on the fringe of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September 2016.

There have also been insinuations that Russia launched a social media campaign to support Brexit, and even that Russian intelligence is behind the 'black book' setting out various sex allegations against Conservatives ministers and MPs which is currently circulating and which has led to the forced resignation of Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Comment: More astonishing is that they've been at this since last year. See:

Fake news: Are magazines that blame Brexit on Russia legitimate?
US defense industry: Putin is responsible for Brexit

And more recently:

Putin did it! Establishment claims Russia interfered with Brexit

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Unmasking Media Lies: Why BBC's V-for-Vendetta Mask Piece is Fawked Up

Kevin Barrett
Truthjihad.com Blog
Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:53 UTC
Vendetta
© Truthjihad.com Blog

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November!

V for Vendetta may be the most revolutionary film ever made, but don't expect the BBC to tell you that.

"V for Vendetta masks: Who's behind them?" the BBC recently asked.

They published a couple of vague, misleading answers.

The BBC quotes David Lloyd:
"'My feeling is the Anonymous group needed an all-purpose image to hide their identity and also symbolise that they stand for individualism - V for Vendetta is a story about one person against the system...' "

"...It is that image of collective identification and simultaneous anonymity that is appealing to Anonymous and other groups, says Rich Johnston, a commentator on the world of comics."
Blathering about individual vs. collective, the lure of anonymity, etc., without grounding the interpretation in specifics from the film is the worst possible way to answer the question. As a literature teacher - I have four advanced degrees in literature and have taught everything from Chaucer to Hausa Literature to Philip K. Dick - I would award a D at best to any student who offered such a lame interpretation of a story's central symbol.
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