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Empire cronie Cameron seeks to impede Russia's international banking abilities

Robert Hutton and Ian Wishart
Bloomberg
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 18:00 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Don't be too hard On U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. After all, he's "just following orders" from the Western banking elite.
The U.K. will press European Union leaders to consider blocking Russian access to the SWIFT banking transaction system under an expansion of sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, a British government official said.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as SWIFT, is one of Russia's main connections to the international financial system. Prime Minister David Cameron's government plans to put the topic on the agenda for a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels today, according to the official, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

"Blocking Russia from the SWIFT system would be a very serious escalation in sanctions against Russia and would most certainly result in equally tough retaliatory actions by Russia," said Chris Weafer, a senior partner at Moscow-based consulting firm Macro Advisory. "An exclusion from SWIFT would not block major trade deals but would cause problems in cross-border banking and that would disrupt trade flows."

Comment: You would think by now that the global elites would get it; Russia and its fight for basic autonomy and economic and political security will not just go away or be hampered by the bluster of western lies, rhetoric, and continued sanctions. But the more these tyrants try to get their way, the greater the shock and the pathological rage they will experience once they realize they won't and can't succeed.

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Cell Phone

Kill switch in smartphones now mandatory in California

Martyn Williams
PCWorld
Mon, 25 Aug 2014 07:00 UTC
Image
Smartphones sold in California will soon be required to have a kill switch that lets users remotely lock them and wipe them of data in the event they are lost or stolen.

The demand is the result of a new law, signed into effect on Monday, that applies to phones manufactured after July 1, 2015, and sold in the state.

While its legal reach does not extend beyond the state's borders, the inefficiency of producing phones solely for California means the kill switch is expected to be adopted by phone makers on handsets sold across the U.S. and around the world.

The legislation requires a system that, if triggered by an authorized user, will lock a handset to essentially make it useless. The feature must be installed and activated in new smartphones, but users will be able to deactivate it if they desire, and it must be resistant to attempts to reinstall the operating system.

Police can also use the tool, but only under the conditions of the existing section 7908 of the California Public Utilities Code. That gives police the ability to cut off phone service in certain situations and typically requires a court order, except in an emergency that poses "immediate danger of death or great bodily injury."

Comment: Under the pretext of fighting against smartphone theft, California has given police yet another means of controlling the citizenry. Section 7908 of the California Public Utilities Code states that the kill switch can be activated "in certain situations and typically requires a court order, except in an emergency that poses "immediate danger of death or great bodily injury."

Translation:
"typically" = not always = we won't care
"emergency" = is what we define it to be

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Snakes in Suits

Top US senator calls for supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Russian 'invasion'


Times of India
Mon, 01 Sep 2014 03:21 UTC

Comment: The only invasion going on is the one the western media is waging against the people.


Image
© Unknown
Robert Menendez, one of the many warmongers.
The head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee called on Monday for supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight what he called a "direct invasion" of the country by Russia.


Comment: That he can be at the head of the Foreign Relations Committee while at the same time calling for war is only possible in a complete pathocracy.


"We should provide the Ukrainians with the type of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for further aggression," Robert Menendez told CNN's "State of the Union" talk show.

"This is no longer the question of some rebel separatists, this is a direct invasion by Russia. We must recognize it as that," he added.

His comments came as Putin raised the stakes in the months-long Ukraine conflict by calling for the first time for statehood to be discussed for the restive east of the former Soviet state.

Kiev has warned it was on the brink of "full-scale war" with Moscow, which Europe fears would put the continent at risk of more widespread conflict.


Comment: Ukraine on verge of collapse as Kiev forces capitulate: U.S. 'catapults the propaganda' with another desperate 'Russian invasion' ploy


Comment:
Big lies and small minds: The powerful "group think" on Ukraine
Washington piles lie upon lie. accuses Russia of having "invaded Ukraine"
Hard truths on Ukraine that the mainstream media suppresses

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Colosseum

As Ukraine is losing the war the West escalates with more Russia sanctions


moonofalabama.org
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:28 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Throughout August the Ukrainian president and cabinet, likely following U.S. "advisers", pushed their army into a big attack on the insurgency held south east areas of the country. But the attack of bad equipped, half trained units ran into problems. Some of them reached their attack targets only to find themselves cut off from any resupply. Without ammunition, gas and food they were locked into place and easy targets for the insurgents artillery.

The attack was stretched too far. The "culmination point in the attack" Clausewitz wrote about was reached and crossed. The negative effects of the attack on its own troops became bigger then the positive effects and the government in Kiev, not recognizing the real situation, still pressed on. It now lost the initiative. The parts of the Ukrainian army not surrounded and caught up surrounded in "cauldrons" retreated to be reorganized.

Some of the "volunteer" territorial battalions are simply going home. There is even a revolt against the defense ministry.
By Aug. 27, the battalion had left the war zone and made its way to the city of Znamyanka in Kirovohrad Oblast. Romanyuk said they were in discussion with the Defense Ministry whether to continue home to their base in Ivano-Frankivsk region, or be sent back to the Anti-Terrorist Operation.

In what is becoming a repeated refrain, the apparent failure of the government to provide its soldiers with even the most basic supplies is undermining both the conduct of the war and the morale of those fighting it.

"They were dumped," said Romanyuk. "And absolutely all the territorial defense battalions are in this position. So they are in revolt against the Ministry of Defense. No one wants to endure this idiotic command anymore, and this inadequate attitude to soldiers, to the needs of the army and the National Guard."

Comment: As has become the routine for western powers, when uncertain of what to do, huff and puff and pretend that you're still the big bad wolf. It should be clear by now that these sanctions are nothing but a show to mask the growing impotence of the western leaders.

Russian State Duma: EU paying the price for US led sanctions on Russia
Sanctions against Russia may backfire on EU - President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz

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Pumpkin 2

Monsanto in Ukraine: EU Association Agreement and IMF loan for Ukraine opens the backdoor for GMO into EU


RT
Mon, 01 Sep 2014 03:05 UTC
Grain harvester
© Reuters / Bogdan Cristel
Ukraine's bid for closer ties with the west could come at a cost. With the IMF set to loan the country $17 billion, the deal could also see GMO crops grown in some of the most fertile lands on the continent, warns Frederic Mousseau.

Very few, not least the Ukrainian population are aware of these details, but according to Mousseau, who is a Policy Director at The Oakland Institute, in return for the cash, Ukraine could very well become a test ground for GMO crops in Europe, something the rest of the European Union has been looking to prevent. RT caught up with the Frenchman, who voiced his concerns at what may lay ahead.

RT: When this $17 billion deal is approved by the IMF and the Ukrainian ban on GM crops is lifted, does that mean it is just a matter of time before Ukrainian farmers grow modified crops?

Frederic Mousseau: This is very likely because there is a lot of pressure from the bio-technological industry, such as Monsanto, to have these approved in Ukraine. It is also part of the EU Association Agreement, which has a particular article which calls for the expansion of bio-technology and GMOs in Ukraine.

RT: If it was one of the pre-conditions of the multi-billion dollar loan, do you think it is fair to say that Monsanto has considerable influence over the IMF and the World Bank and even dictates terms to them?

FM: We saw in 2013 that Monsanto invested $140 million in new seed plans in Ukraine. It is clearly the bread basket of Europe and it is a key target for a company like Monsanto, which sees this huge potential for production and this huge market. Europe has been quite resistant in allowing GMOs, but if they are successful in Ukraine then there might be a domino effect in Europe.
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Newspaper

Hard truths on Ukraine that the mainstream media suppresses

Stephen Lendman
SteveLendmanBlog
Sun, 31 Aug 2014 02:19 UTC
lendman book
© Stephen Lendman
On September 4 and 5, Britain will host a summit meeting of NATO heads of state. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will chair the proceedings.

At issue is justifying the unjustifiable. It's doing so based on Big Lies. It's wrongfully accusing Russia of "illegal actions in Ukraine."

It's suppressing polar opposite truths. It's supporting Washington's imperial agenda. It's presenting a unified anti-Russian front.

It's deploying thousands of combat-ready forces closer to Russia's border. It's "sustain(ing) a robust (Eastern European) presence..."

It's risking the unthinkable. It's risking open East/West confrontation. it's risking global war.

It's risking the use of nuclear weapons able to extinguish life on earth. If enacted, Senate bill 2277: Russian Aggression Prevention Act (RAPA) increases the possibility.

It's called "(a) bill to prevent Russian aggression toward Ukraine and other sovereign states in Europe and Eurasia, and for other purposes."

It's madness. It wrongfully considers Russia an existential threat. It barely stops short of declaring war.
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Alarm Clock

The mother of all blowback: US funded ISIS Jihadis create bind for lame duck Obama

Eric Margolis
EricMargolis.com
Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:50 UTC
lame duck obama
© unknown
President Barack Obama is being lambasted by US Republicans for admitting that "we don't have a strategy yet" for dealing with the rise of the militant group, ISIS, or Islamic State, as it's now known.

Given that the US had made an unbelievable mess of its Mideast policies, the president is right to pause and think, something his shoot - from- the- lip Republican critics rarely do. They are demanding the US attack both Iraq and Syria without asking "what then oh brave Washington warriors?" These are the Republicans who ardently supported George Bush's catastrophic invasion and destruction of Iraq.

The problem is that too many cooks in Washington are spoiling its Mideast soup. In his magnificent new book, "The Sleepwalkers," Prof. Christopher Clark of Cambridge describes how World War I was in part ignited by small numbers of anti-German officials in France, Russia, Serbia and Britain who often undermined their own government's moderate policies.

The same process occurred under President George W. Bush when cabals of neocon officials in the Pentagon, State Department, CIA and media drove the US into a calamitous war whose negative effects are still being felt.
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Treasure Chest

The global vulture elite swap strategy: sovereign debt for territory

Adrian Salbuchi
RT
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:17 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Yiorgos Karahalis
In recent decades, dozens of sovereign nations have fallen into ever-deepening trouble by becoming indebted with the "private megabank over-world" for amounts far, far in excess of what they can ever pay back.

Is this due to bankers' professional malpractice coupled with government mismanagement on a truly grand scale? Or are we seeing global power elite long-term planners slowly achieving their goals?

It takes two to dance the tango

Recurrent sovereign debt crises reflect neither "over-lending mistakes" by bankers and investors, nor "innocence" on the part of successive governments in deeply indebted nations.

Rather, it all ties in with a global model for domination driven by a system of perpetual national debt which I have called "The Shylock Model".

Comment: The US supports vulture capitalism. Economic blackmail is but one instrument to bring countries to support the empire. The following books describe it well: Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins and The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

See also:

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Star of David

A tragedy in three acts: Israel & Palestine

Adrian Salbuchi
RT
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:12 UTC
Image
© Reuters
A Palestinian man salvages gas canisters from the ruins of buildings destroyed by what police said were Israeli air strikes and shelling in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip August 3, 2014.
Israel did not arise from the struggle of a settled indigenous people fighting for territorial independence from Western colonial powers as was the case in dozens of nations throughout the Americas, Africa, Levant and Asia over the past two centuries.

Israel is no ordinary state. It's in a class by itself. Israel was born of the iron will of a small, very close-knit and highly organized ethnic group bent on occupying a specific territory in obedience to ancient religious tradition and highly doubtful historical continuity.

Prologue

Cosmopolitan Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jews combined their leaders' immense political, financial, media and diplomatic clout to ensure European Jews would, against all odds, get their homeland in Palestine. This entailed ignoring the interests and lives of millions of Palestinians living there for many generations, which for the past eighty years has meant untold suffering and millions of dead, maimed and injured throughout the Middle East; today, it even means risking a new global war.

The fight for a Jewish homeland is rooted in 19th Century movements promoting "Zionism": the forced emigration of Central European Jews - notably from Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Germany - into Palestine, as well as North and South America.

The undisputed founding father of International Zionism was Viennese lawyer Theodor Herzl who convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1898. His seminal book, Ein Judenstaat ("A Jewish State") published in 1896 sets out the rationale, method and plan for founding a sovereign Jewish State, discretely leaving the door open for founding not just one but two Jewish states.

Comment: For more insights, see:
  • The Protocols of the Pathocrats

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Heart - Black

Rapacious Israel announces 'unprecedented' land seizure

Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams
Sun, 31 Aug 2014 20:05 UTC
Image
© kelleelund
An Israeli soldier looks on during a protest in the village of Al Ma'sara.
Israel announced on Sunday it was seizing 988 acres of land in the West Bank, an amount described as 'unprecedented' by a peace organization.

The appropriation is reportedly in retaliation for the kidnapping of three Israeli teens in June.

According to reporting by Haaretz, "The appropriated land belongs to five Palestinian villages in the Bethlehem area: Jaba, Surif, Wadi Fukin, Husan and Nahalin."
Ma'an News adds:

Part of the lands being confiscated are already home to the illegal Jewish settlement of Gvaot, part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

Local settlers moved into the area and took over Palestinian land with military support more than a decade ago, but have been living in an area technically unrecognized by Israeli authorities despite their armed protection.

Comment: For more information about what's behind the Israeli land-grab, read Joe Quinn'sIsraeli Collaborators, Provocateur Rocketeers and Cynical Ceasefires.

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