Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 13 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Dollar

Key Assange prosecution witness part of academic cluster that has received millions from UK and US militaries

Matt Kennard, Mark Curtis
Consortium News
Fri, 02 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Old Bailey
© Wikimedia Commons
Old Bailey
Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis provide post-trial revelations about Dr. Nigel Blackwood, who claimed that Assange's risk of suicide is "manageable" if extradited.

One of the U.S. prosecution's key medical witnesses in the Julian Assange hearing, who claimed that Assange's risk of suicide is "manageable" if extradited to the U.S., works for an academic institute that is funded by the U.K. Ministry of Defence and linked to the U.S. Department of Defense, it can be revealed.

Dr. Nigel Blackwood, a reader in forensic psychiatry at King's College London (KCL), told the extradition hearing in London last week that Julian Assange was suffering only "moderate" depression.
  • U.S. prosecution witness works at Institute of Psychiatry funded by U.K. military although is not personally funded by it.
  • Witness leads research group which works "in collaboration" with centre set up with U.S. Department of Defense funding.
  • He co-leads the group with academic whose work is often funded by U.K. military.
  • Institute's partner department is closely linked to the Anglo-American military and intelligence communities and created a course for British intelligence officers on behalf of the U.K. government.
  • Responding to Declassified, witness says: "I had no conflicts [of interest] to declare."
  • Revelations come following end of Old Bailey hearing on Assange's U.S. extradition.
Giving evidence as an expert witness for the U.S. prosecution, Dr. Blackwood rebutted other experts' findings on the seriousness of Assange's condition, adding his suicide risk was "manageable." He told the court: "Mr. Assange has proved himself to be a very resilient and very resourceful man and he has underplayed that."

At the request of U.S. prosecution lawyers, Dr. Blackwood examined Assange during two meetings in March. In his written submission to the court, he said that it would "not be unjust" to extradite Assange to the U.S. Declassified has discovered that Dr. Blackwood's professional work at KCL is linked to a cluster of academic groups which are funded by or associated with the British and American militaries.

Comment: 'Risk of suicide is manageable'...depending on what, exactly? Murder? (But that would be deemed 'suicide'.)

      Read More...
Dollar

Billionaires' wealth rises to $10.2T amid Covid crisis

Rupert Neate
The Guardian
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 21:01 UTC
Bezos
© Lindsey Wasson/Reuters
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person worth $74bn so far this year.
The world's billionaires "did extremely well" during the coronavirus pandemic, growing their already-huge fortunes to a record high of $10.2tn (£7.8tn).

A report by Swiss bank UBS found that billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter (27.5%) at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes.

The report found that billionaires had mostly benefited from betting on the recovery of global stock markets when they were at their nadir during the global lockdowns in March and April. UBS said billionaires' wealth had hit "a new high, surpassing the previous peak of $8.9tn reached at the end of 2017". The number of billionaires has also hit a new high of 2,189, up from 2,158 in 2017.
      Read More...
Bad Guys

While urging a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Putin confirms Russia will fulfil defense-pact obligations to Armenia

Jonny Tickle
RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 18:10 UTC
Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan
© Press office of Armenian Defense Ministry PAN Photo via AP
In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020 photo, an Armenian soldier fires an artillery piece during fighting with Azerbaijan's forces in self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the ongoing military face-off in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh a "tragedy" and has indicated his willingness to honor Russia's long-standing mutual defense treaty with Armenia, if required.

Speaking to the Rossiya TV network, Putin noted that two million Azerbaijanis and over two million Armenians live in Russia, and that "a huge number of Russian citizens maintain close, friendly and even familial relations with both republics."

"This is a tragedy," the president said. "We are very worried, because Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh are all territories inhabited by people who are not strangers to us."

Comment: Though the conflict has been simmering for decades, the situation now seems to be developing into another Syria. All the same behind the scenes players are involved

      Read More...
Arrow Up

Trump 'feeling great,' intends to be present at next presidential debate

Emily Zanotti
The Daily Wire
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump
© Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House via Getty Images
US President Trump back at work.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he is "feeling great" and that he intends to square off with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the next presidential debate, set to take place next week in Miami, Florida.

"I am looking forward to the debate on the evening of Thursday, October 15th in Miami. It will be great!" Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, just hours after he was discharged from Walter Reed hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19. The president "met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria," according to White House doctor, Sean Conley.

"FEELING GREAT!" the president added.

As The Daily Wire reported late Monday, the president left Walter Reed hospital around 6:30 pm Monday evening and returned the White House, where he will continue to receive treatment for COVID-19. The president was given an additional dose of corticosteroids on his way out of the medical center and will reportedly receive one last dose of Remdisivir, an anti-viral medication under emergency FDA approval for the treatment of coronavirus symptoms, on Tuesday.

Comment: Though Trump has umph, Biden wants debate called off if Trump still has Covid:
"Well, I think if he still has Covid, we shouldn't have a debate," Biden told reporters on the campaign trail in Hagerstown, Maryland on Tuesday, despite saying he was anticipating the October 15 event and suggesting it would have to "follow very strict guidelines."

Biden has vacillated on whether the event should take place.

On Monday, the Democratic candidate said he would "listen to the scientists" and participate so long as they deemed the event safe, making no reference to whether the president remained Covid-positive. Less than one day later, Biden's stance appears to have changed, now only agreeing to debate if the president no longer carries the virus.

Some observers, including former GOP Representative David Jolly and a number of media pundits, have recommended both the presidential and VP debates be held virtually to avoid risk of infection altogether, however neither candidate has endorsed the idea.
On average, coronavirus patients with "mild to moderate" symptoms remain infectious for around 10 days, according to the CDC, opening the possibility that the president could safely debate by October 15. However, some patients continue to be contagious for up to 20 days, though typically they experience more severe symptoms or "critical illness," which Trump so far appears to have avoided.
The President likely now has 'immunity'. Biden only agreed to the second debate because he assumed Trump would not be able to participate.

      Read More...
Footprints

Tucker Carlson: Trump released from hospital undermines media and Democrat 'propaganda', 'lies' about Covid-19

Jeff Poor
Breitbart
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump
© Getty Images/Fox 29
US President Donald Trump, October 4, 2020
Monday, Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson opened his program by offering his thoughts on why the media and President Donald Trump's political opponents seemed angered by Trump's departure from Walter Reed Medical Center after a two-day stint to help overcome his COVID-19 diagnosis.

Carlson speculated that Trump's recovery and remarks downplaying the fear of the virus undermine what the media have been telling the public for months.


Transcript as follows:

Comment: Looks like Trump 'positively' proved 'Fraudci' wrong!

      Read More...
Arrow Down

EU says ruling Ukrainian party 'knee-deep' in corruption: MEPs threaten Kiev with cuts to financial aid and visa-free travel

Jonny Tickle
RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:33 UTC
Zelensky
© Genya Savilov/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Three MEPs have threatened Ukraine with cuts to financial assistance and access to the EU visa-free travel regime, accusing Kiev of failing to deal with widespread corruption and of "spreading Kremlin-backed disinformation."

The threat was included in an open letter to the parliamentary faction leader of Ukraine's ruling Servant of the People party, David Arakhamia, who had previously rubbished the prospect of losing such privileges.

The letter read:
"[The] president himself envisaged the 'Ukraine of his dreams' where 'teachers receive real salaries - and corrupt officials real jail time'. 17 months later, we cannot but see that the dream is showing cracks and many of those cracks are knee-deep in your party, Mr Arakhamia.

"We cannot but see that the corruption perception in Ukraine in 2020 fell back to the 2017 mark. The praised reforms are backsliding."
      Read More...
Bell

Urine, blood, hearsay: OPCW report gives the German game away, reveals no novichok, no Navalny crime

John Helmer
johnhelmer.net
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:46 UTC
navalny
A report issued by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), dated on October 6, has failed to identify the poison weapon which Alexei Navalny and his supporters claim was used to attack him in a Tomsk hotel on August 20.

Instead, the OPCW claims to have found "biomarkers" of Navalny's metabolic disorder which may have been caused by an unidentified chemical poison. According to a leading British organophosphate chemist, these "biomarkers" may not have been caused by a crime.

"Biomarkers is the wrong term. Biomarkers means metabolites or other compounds which are not the parent nerve agent compound. The vagueness could mean anything," the expert, who has requested anonymity, concludes. "As always, we need the compound name, but the labs are indicating that somehow they knew they were not identifying a metabolite. Somehow the Germans and the two other labs knew that the compound they identified were not metabolites, they were the parent novel compound. How could they know this?"

The OPCW report, which has been exceptionally delayed before public release, also acknowledges that it did not investigate the Tomsk hotel water bottles which Navalny and his associates have claimed to be the murder weapon. The OPCW analysis also ignored Navalny's clothing, which he and his associates have insisted to be additional evidence of the alleged assassination attempt.

"If this were expert evidence at the Old Bailey," a London criminal law source comments, "the defence would rise to say it is evidence of the victim's illness. It is not identification of the weapon. It's not evidence of a crime. So there is no case to answer here. The prosecution's case has failed and should be dismissed."
      Read More...
Briefcase

Big guns: Accused Epstein sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell hires lawyer who defended Osama bin Laden henchman

Lee Brown
New York Post
Wed, 07 Oct 2020 16:34 UTC
ghislaine maxwell cries bail hearing

Ghislaine Maxwell at her bail hearing
Accused Jeffrey Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell has hired a "super lawyer" who once represented one of Osama bin Laden's henchmen, legal papers show.

Bobbi Sternheim filed papers Monday in New York's Southern District Court to note that she "hereby appears as counsel for Defendant Ghislaine Maxwell" in her sex-trafficking case.

Sternheim's law firm, Fasulo Braverman & Di Maggio, called her a "recognized leader in the local and national criminal defense bar for litigating difficult and complex cases."
      Read More...
Attention

All fake, always has been: DNI declassifies handwritten notes from John Brennan, 2016 CIA referral on Clinton campaign's collusion operation

Sean Davis
The Federalist
Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:34 UTC
brennan biden
Top U.S. intelligence officials were so concerned heading into the 2016 election that the Russians were aware of and potentially manipulating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's plans to smear Donald Trump as a Russian agent that they personally briefed President Barack Obama on the matter, newly declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents show. CIA officials also requested that the FBI investigate Russian knowledge of the Clinton campaign's collusion smear operation.

Newly declassified handwritten notes from former CIA Director John Brennan show that the U.S. intelligence community knew in 2016 that Russian intelligence was actively monitoring, and potentially injecting disinformation into, Clinton's anti-Trump collusion narrative. The intelligence concerning Russia's knowledge of Clinton's campaign plans was so concerning to Brennan and other national security officials that they personally informed Obama of the matter in the Oval Office in the summer of 2016. The handwritten notes from Brennan were declassified by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe and provided to Congress on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the declassified notes, Brennan and the U.S. intelligence community knew months prior to the 2016 election that the collusion smear was the result of a campaign operation hatched by the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

"We're getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED]," Brennan's handwritten notes state. "Cite alleged approval by Hillary Clinton - on 26 July - of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to villify [sic] Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security services."

Comment: Brennan is trying to cover his ass, via the ever willing CNN:



      Read More...
Eye 2

"There are Trillions at Stake" - Washington's lobbyists threatened by Trump's MAGA policies

sundance
The Burning Platform
Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
Washington Mordor
With 30-days left before the election perhaps it's worthwhile remembering what all of this opposition is about.... Something 99% of American voters do not quite understand.

Congress doesn't actually write legislation. The last item of legislation written by congress was sometime around the mid 1990's. Modern legislation is sub-contracted to a segment of DC operations known as K-Street. That's where the lobbyists reside.

Lobbyists write the laws; congress sells the laws; lobbyists then pay congress lucrative commissions for passing their laws. That's the modern legislative business in DC.

When we talk about paying-off politicians in third-world countries we call it bribery. However, when we undertake the same process in the U.S. we call it "lobbying".

CTH often describes the system with the phrase: "There are Trillions at Stake." The process of creating legislation is behind that phrase. DC politics is not quite based on the ideas that frame most voter's reference points.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts