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Light Sabers

Best of the Web: Shameless hypocrisy: U.S. says Russian veto puts UNSC's legitimacy at risk

Julian Borger and Bastien Inzaurralde
Guardian, UK
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 19:17 UTC
UNSC
© Loey Felipe/AFP/GettyThe UN security council discussing the war in Syria earlier this month.
The United States has warned that Russia's continued blanket use of its UN veto will jeopardise the security council's long-term legitimacy and could lead the US and like-minded countries to bypass it as a decision-making body.


Comment: In other words, what the U.S. wants, the U.S. will get, by any means necessary, ignoring the very principles for which the UN is supposed to exist. Yes, the veto can be abused in certain scenarios, as is usually the case regarding Israel and Palestine. But it also functions for the exact reason Russia has put it to use: to veto really bad ideas.


The warning comes as the UN reaches its 70th anniversary and the security council faces a crisis caused by its paralysis over Syria. It has failed to agree concerted action to try to stem the bloodshed, even after more than 220,000 Syrians have died and more than 11 million have been forced from their homes.

Russia has used its veto powers four times to block resolutions on Syria that Moscow sees as damaging to its ally, the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It has also forestalled common action on Ukraine where it is a party to the conflict, having annexed Crimea and pursued a covert military campaign in support of eastern separatists.


Comment: Russia should be praised, not condemned for these. 1) The resolutions on Syria really were damaging. 2) 'Action on Ukraine' is based on the false premise that Russia "annexed Crimea" and "pursued a covert military campaign" there. In fact, the U.S. staged a coup and tried to bait Russia into a military confrontation. The U.S. is wholly responsible for the Ukraine crisis, not Russia.


Samantha Power, the US permanent representative to the UN, said that the US and other countries had increasingly been going elsewhere to have atrocities investigated, and that a "forum-shopping" trend was likely to continue.

Comment: Since when has the U.S. really cared for UN approval to wage their illegal wars? One word: Iraq.

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: From American occupations to European detention camps: Remaking the World in greater Israel's image

David Sanchez
Medium
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
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© UnknownPolice and refugees in Hungary

However they want to address the issue, most people are horrified at the refugee crisis now besetting Europe, with its scenes of chaos, conflict, and desperation. Yet in Israel, at least one high official sees in it not horror, but hope. As Rania Khalek has reported:
"Dore Gold, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, expressed optimism that the refugee influx will shift Europe to the right, making it more sympathetic to Israel's 'security' justification for its ongoing colonization of Palestine.
'Israel always faced the problem in the past that its national security perspective was completely out of sync with how Europeans were viewing the emergence of the European community and the borderless world that was emerging,' the American-born hardliner told The Jerusalem Post.
'In the European models that existed 25 or 30 years ago, it is kind of difficult to hear an Israeli argument. But now things may be beginning to change a little,' posited Gold.
'The European perspective is beginning to sound a little bit more like Israel's perspective on security issues, compared to what it was in the past.'"

Comment: As the World's perceptions of the US and Israel now change, and non-psychopathic people begin to see beneath the veil of lies and manipulation these nations' governments are responsible for, we will become witness to how history is being played out yet again; and note the stark similarities the US and Israel have to regimes of the past and to each other. It will also be interesting to see, based on the unwritten laws of the universe, how their fates converge and how they differ. One thing's for sure though: it ain't gonna be pretty.

See also: Echoes of the Holocaust: Israeli leaders pleased with Europe's cruelty toward refugees

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Yoda

Best of the Web: As Assad pounds ISIS targets, US must rethink Syria strategy

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:12 UTC
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Earlier this week, Bashar al-Assad served notice to ISIS that the tide may have just turned in the battle for Syria. The Kremlin's move to increase its "logistical" and "technical" support for government forces at Latakia appears to have breathed new life into the regime which carried out a series of air raids in the de facto ISIS capital Raqqa on Thursday.

This came amid reports that Assad's forces were using new "highly effective and very accurate" weaponry. "There are modern weapons that the regime didn't previously have, be they rocket launchers or air to ground to missiles," The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.

Needless to say, Russia's move to bolster Assad and the suggestion by Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem that Damascus may soon formally request Russian ground troops for the fight has alarmed Washington which, until now, was content to bide its time until Assad finally fell before swooping in to "liberate" the country from whatever militia managed to prevail. As we outlined on Friday, that option is now officially off the table, as toppling Assad will now mean ISIS, al-Nusra, YPG, and the various and sundry other groups operating throughout the country will need to first defeat Russia, an exceptionally unlikely outcome and one that the Pentagon certainly cannot afford to wait out. With its back against the wall in terms of explaining to the public why it seems more and more like the US would rather allow ISIS to continue to operate rather than ally with Russia and Assad to defeat them, Obama and Kerry folded on Friday, instructing Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to phone his Russian counterpart to begin coordinating anti-terror activities in Syria. Here's The New York Times:

Comment: To learn more about about whats going on with the war in Syria. Read:


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Bulb

Best of the Web: The simple truth: The U.S. caused Europe's refugee crisis

Russ Baker
WhoWhatWhy
Tue, 15 Sep 2015 09:24 UTC
unhcr refugee
© UNHCR / A.KitidA UNHCR staff member distributes blankets to people waiting to cross the Greek-FYR Macedonian border.
One thing you can almost always count on: When a major narrative takes over the news, it will be devoid of any sort of useful context. Put another way, when we are saturated with a "mega-problem," we can be sure that we will not be told the real cause — not if it so happens the US had something to do with it. No, it is always just a new thing to occupy us, to push out other stories, to encourage copious amounts of superficial debate (of the sort that typically rages over spectator sports), that never begins to get at the truth.

And so it is with the epic deluge of refugees fleeing the Middle East for Europe.

I was among the unfortunately small numbers of journalists warning about the rush to war with Saddam Hussein, and pointing out how virtually the entire US establishment was complicit in this charade, thus justifying a war based on counterfeit claims. Shortly after the hostilities, I wrote about the role of The New York Times in stoking the machine, principally via its star reporter, Judith Miller.

But that colossal gamble was just for starters.

Comment: Endless media coverage for weeks, and yet this simple truth is nowhere to be found in mainstream sources. Yes, the U.S. is responsible, but no, it will not take any responsibility. The consequences of its actions are someone else's problem, in this case, Europe. That's how the American Empire rolls: wanton destruction and chaos. Like typical psychopaths, they just don't care. As long as they get what they want.

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MIB

Best of the Web: Total Bollocks from MI5

Craig Murray
Craigmurray.org.uk
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 22:17 UTC
In the last decade, now 7/7 has dropped out of this statistic, only one person has been killed in the UK by an Islamic terrorist attack. Let me repeat that. In the last decade, one person has been killed in the UK by an Islamic terrorist attack. That unfortunate death was Lee Rigby.
mi5 cow

Rigby's tragic murder illustrated how easy it is for terrorists to commit an outrage. Two very disorganised Nigerian nutters murdered him with knives. Unfortunately, if a couple of nutters decide to go at someone on the street, they have a high chance of success.

Which is why you would have to be a lunatic actually to believe MI5's repeated claims during the last decade that there are thousands of dedicated terrorists out there, fanatical determined and organised, but in a decade of constant effort they have succeeded in killing nobody else. There were, MI5 claim, six actual terrorist plots this year but fortunately MI5 saved all of us.

If you believe MI5's stories, there are two possibilities. The first is that we have security services of a quite incredible efficiency, able to foil random terrorism, generally regarded as near impossible. The second is that we have thousands of dedicated terrorists of such incredible ineptitude that they can't manage to kill anybody, even when they could choose any random undefended target in the entire UK and any method from knives to poison to hit and run to shooting to bombs, and don't mind losing their own lives in the attempt. We have rubbish terrorists.
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Piggy Bank

Best of the Web: #PigGate: British PM Cameron once inserted his 'private part' into a dead pig's mouth, claims scorned billionaire Tory supporter


RT
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:57 UTC
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Cameron with two others from his species: Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Fmr. Sec-Gen. of NATO) and General Breedlove ('Supreme Allied Commander Europe' of NATO).
The #PigGate scandal, stemming from a startling claim that David Cameron put "a private part of his anatomy" into a dead pig's mouth at a student initiation ceremony at Oxford, has sparked an endless barrage of jokes and mockery online.

Quoting a "distinguished" contemporary, the Daily Mail reported that the then-future British Prime Minister, in his student days in Oxford, participated in an outrageous initiation ceremony that involved a dead pig's body and at least one of Cameron's "private" parts.


Comment: From the Wikipedia page of the Oxford 'society' that Cameron apparently did this for, we read:
The Piers Gaveston Society is a men-only dining club founded in 1977 at the University of Oxford with membership limited to 12 undergraduates. It is named in honour of Piers Gaveston, favourite and supposed lover of King Edward II of England. While some have described it as an extreme club that hosts secret events which include large amounts of drugs and sex, others have said that the society's events during the 1990s were not as debauched or scandalous as the media portrayed. Claims have been made of events including mass drug-taking and live sex shows.

The club's motto is "Fane non memini ne audisse unum alterum ita dilixisse", which translates approximately to "Truly, none remember hearing of a man enjoying another so much" or, "Certainly I do not remember that I have heard of any man who loved another like this."
We're reminded of the initiation rituals to the all-male 'Skull and Bones' cult at Yale University that the Bushes and John Kerry were members of.

While #PigGate is producing some hilarious reactions among the British public, let's not forget that the debauchery practised by Cameron and his kind are indicative of the psychology of those in power. The cost, to them, of wearing a 'mask of sanity', as psychologist Harvey Cleckley termed it, is that they must regularly take 'vacations into filth' to relieve themselves of the 'burden'- from their perspective - of pretending to be human.

Regarding the initiation rituals of various 'elites', they serve the purpose of 'binding' them to secret societies, clubs and cults that both reward and control their subjects over the course of their future careers. It may be worth considering whether this information is being made public now in order to exert pressure on Cameron and his government; a little reminder, perhaps, that 'we can destroy you'...

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Cameron, top, second from left, as a member of Oxford University's 'Bullingdon Club'


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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Echoes of the Holocaust: Israeli leaders pleased with Europe's cruelty toward refugees

Rania Khalek
The Electronic Intifida
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
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© Michael Gubi/FlickrA scene from Budapest earlier this month; Hungary has responded in a brutal manner to refugees fleeing war.
As most of the world looks on in horror at Europe's atrocious response to refugees escaping war and persecution in the Middle East and Africa, some Israeli officials are quietly reveling in the chaos.

Dore Gold, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, expressed optimism that the refugee influx will shift Europe to the right, making it more sympathetic to Israel's "security" justification for its ongoing colonization of Palestine.

"Israel always faced the problem in the past that its national security perspective was completely out of sync with how Europeans were viewing the emergence of the European community and the borderless world that was emerging," the American-born hardliner told The Jerusalem Post.

"In the European models that existed 25 or 30 years ago, it is kind of difficult to hear an Israeli argument. But now things may be beginning to change a little," posited Gold.

"The European perspective is beginning to sound a little bit more like Israel's perspective on security issues, compared to what it was in the past."

Comment: After the false-flag attacks of 9/11 struck the US, Benjamin Netanyahu came out and said, "This is good for Israel". It's as though any event or world development that construes Muslims as the problem, or supports the idea of the 'the Muslim Problem', is a 'good thing for Israel' simply because it will help rally people to Israel's side. Ironically, this is much the same as Jews were considered 'the Jewish Problem' in the 1930s.

Look at what happened to who considered them so. The same fate awaits those who have not learned from history.

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: The big lie about Russian forces in Syria

Stephen Lendman
Global Research
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 02:17 UTC
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Russian food, tents and medical supplies being unloaded in Latakia, western Syria
Washington continues using Islamic State and other takfiri terrorists as US proxy foot soldiers, waging naked aggression on Syria, largely affecting millions of civilians, creating a human flood of internally and externally displaced people along with mass slaughter and destruction.

Obama, John Kerry and other US officials firmly oppose Russia legitimately aiding its Syrian ally in need - providing political support as well as military weapons, munitions, equipment and technology.

The grand deception about Russian forces and warplanes operating in Syria persists. It's one of many Big Lies circulating to vilify Putin. Moscow has been forthrightly candid all along - explaining its obligation to supply Syria with contractually agreed on weapons, the only nation providing humanitarian aid along with UN efforts.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said over 12 million Syrians need help, larger numbers daily, desperate people enduring deplorable conditions and treatment, Obama's proxy war using IS and other takfiri terrorist foot soldiers fully responsible.
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Yoda

Best of the Web: Gaddafi prophesied Europe's refugee crisis: 'The Mediterranean will become a sea of chaos'


Sputnik
Sat, 19 Sep 2015 10:06 UTC
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Muammar Gaddafi, assassinated spiritual leader of the Libyan Jamahiriya
Millions of refugees storming European borders have definitely come as a surprise to Western politicians. They would not have, if the West only listened to what Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi said months before he was brutally executed.

In fact, some of these people would not be seeking shelter in Europe if their homes were not destroyed as a result of short-sighted aggressive Western policies.

In March 2011, Gaddafi warned that without unified and stable Libya there would be no one to control countless migrants from Africa and the Middle East from fleeing to Europe. Unlike Western leaders, he apparently understood that millions, not thousands will come, should Tripoli fall.

"There are millions of blacks who could come to the Mediterranean to cross to France and Italy, and Libya plays a role in security in the Mediterranean," he told the France 24 television station.

Comment: Indeed, Gaddafi said to Italian newspaper Il Giornale in March 2011:
He also repeated that his government had represented a bulwark against Islamic extremism, which could now be unleashed, triggering more serious unrest in the region.

"If, instead of a stable government which guarantees security, these bandits linked to Bin Laden take control, the Africans will move en masse towards Europe and the Mediterranean will become a sea of chaos," he said.
The spiritual leader of Libya had a habit of telling it like it is:


See also:

NATO Slaughter: James and Joanne Moriarty expose the truth about what happened in Libya

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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Pwned: Russia deftly trolls Cameron's Twitter account after British govt sez Corbyn is 'threat to National Security'

Mikey Smith
Daily Mirror, UK
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 19:45 UTC
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From Russia, with Truth, love, and humor
David Cameron must be used to being mercilessly trolled on line by now - but it's not every day he gets sent snarky messages on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

Among the countless Tweets mocking Cameron's over-the-top warning about Labour being a 'security threat' was one from the Russian Embassy.

They said:
"Just imagine UK media headlines if Russian President called a leading opposition party threat to national security?"

And not satisfied with such world class trolling, the Russian ambassador to the UK followed the tweet up with a full-throated endorsement for Jeremy Corbyn.

Alexander Yakovenko wrote:
"Congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn. Hope for positive change in terms of debate, including on our relations."
Mr Corbyn has previously hinted he'd like to see Britain pursue more cordial diplomatic relations with Russia.
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