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Pierre Omidyar's Funding of Pro-Regime-Change Networks And Partnerships With CIA Cutouts

Alexander Rubinstein & Max Blumenthal
MintPress News
Wed, 20 Feb 2019 12:35 UTC
"To [Omidyar] it's about... integrating things together to give technocrats, business executives and government officials a God's-eye view of the world - to manage and control society more efficiently."

¬ Yasha Levine, author of Surveillance Valley: The Military History of the Internet
omidyar
© Pillars of Peace Hawaii | Editing by MintPress News
Pierre Omidyar introduces the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet for his public talk, 'Advancing Peace Through the Power of Aloha'.
As we have seen in part one of this investigation, billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar has partnered closely with many of the U.S.-funded outfits that fulfill the role the CIA used to play during the Cold War in backing opposition media and civil society in countries targeted for regime change. However, Omidyar has also sought state-of-the-art design solutions from a shady U.S. government national security consulting firm with a myriad of ties to the hawkish D.C. foreign policy establishment.

In February of last year, USAID's Global Development Lab published a series of reports furnished for it by a small, Arlington, Virginia-based company focused on design solutions for national security problems, with a mere 10 employees listed on its website and eight on its LinkedIn page. Those reports caught the attention of journalist Michael Igoe at Devex on Tuesday.

The company, Frontier Design Group, analyzed the feasibility of essentially militarizing USAID. The report proposals like "Rapid Expeditionary Development" (RED) teams. Those teams would be embedded with U.S. Special Forces, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration outside of typical USAID areas of operation.

Comment: Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in an interview on NBC a couple of years ago that Russians are "genetically driven to co-opt and penetrate" other countries.

There are certainly large numbers of people "genetically driven to co-opt and penetrate" other countries, but they aint Russian.

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Attention

Venezuelan minister: 'Opposition planned to kill people at border and frame National Guard'


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 20:49 UTC
Venezuelan border
© AFP 2018 / Cristian Hernandez
The Venezuelan opposition, led by self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, attempted to force US-sponsored humanitarian aid into the country, including through Colombia, where an aid collection centre is located. Maduro has refused to allow in such aid, calling it a "fake show" and a ploy to oust him from power.

Venezuela's Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information, Jorge Rodriguez, has claimed that the opposition was planning to kill people crossing the Simon Bolivar Bridge in the western state of Tachira after receiving humanitarian aid across the border between Venezuela and Colombia.

"The first false-positive [fabricated] operation planned the theft of a tank by two terrorists. It was planned to use that stolen military vehicle to cross the Simon Bolivar Bridge, hitting all pedestrians along the way and trampling them to death, and then blaming the National Guard and the government of Nicolas Maduro", the minister said at a press conference in Caracas.
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Arrow Down

Defeated in Syria: US is at the wrong end of 'might makes right'

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Syrian Army personnel
With Damascus and its allies firmly in control of Syria and its future - the war having been decided on the ground rather than "politically" as envisioned by Western politicians, media, and policymakers - the US proxy war against Syria has all but failed.

Despite the obvious defeat - and as contemporary American history has illustrated - the US will unlikely relent and instead, do all within its power to complicate the war's conclusion and disrupt desperately needed reconstruction efforts.

Encapsulating current American intentions in Syria is a Foreign Policy article titled, "The New U.N. Envoy to Syria Should Kill the Political Process to Save it."

The article - written by Julien Barnes-Dacey of the NATO-Soros-funded European Council on Foreign Relations - suggests the otherwise inevitable end of the conflict be delayed and that reconstruction aid be held hostage until political concessions are made with the militarily-defeated foreign-backed militants dislodged from much of Syria's territory by joint Syrian-Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah efforts.

The article makes an unconvincing argument that maintaining Idlib as a militant bastion, delaying the conflict's conclusion, and withholding reconstruction aid will somehow positively benefit the day-to-day lives of Syrian civilians despite all evidence suggesting otherwise.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Anger in the UK: May asks for yet more time to amend Brexit deal

Alice Ritchie, Lachlan Carmichael
Yahoo News
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
MayTusk
© PA Images
British PM Theresa May • European Council chief Donald Tusk
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday called for still more time to renegotiate her Brexit deal, and drew outrage by suggesting parliament may not be able to vote on the text until just 17 days before Britain leaves the EU.

Business leaders and MPs reacted with anger and dismay at the news, which also prompted fresh calls to delay Brexit to avoid a damaging "no deal" exit on March 29. Three of May's ministers had earlier warned that the House of Commons would seek a delay if there was no breakthrough this week.

May had raised the possibility of a vote on her deal in the coming days, but said on Sunday she was still negotiating with the European Union.

"As we're continuing with those talks, we won't bring a meaningful vote to parliament this week," she said at a summit of European and Arab leaders in Egypt. "But that will happen by March 12. And we still have it within our grasp to leave the European Union with a deal on March 29."

Lawmakers last month rejected her withdrawal deal, and since then, May has sought to address their concerns about its so-called "backstop" plan for the border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

Comment: See also:

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Stop

Trump to delay increase in tariffs on Chinese goods after 'substantial progress' in trade talks


RT
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 22:55 UTC
US-Chinamoneyhand
© Supply Chain 23/7
US President Donald Trump has promised to extend the temporary truce in the trade war with China, claiming that talks between the sides were so "productive" that he might even meet his counterpart Xi Jinping in person soon.

Trump hinted that an agreement might be concluded during a face-to-face meeting with Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, but gave no concrete time frames, saying that "additional progress" was needed.



Beijing and Washington are struggling to come to an agreement before the March 1 deadline that marks the end of a 90-day truce the leaders agreed-to when they met in Argentina late last year.

Comment: See also:

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Pirates

EU calls for peaceful "Venezuelan-owned resolution" of crisis


TASS
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:14 UTC
venezuela flag
© AP Photo/Andrea Comas
On February 28, the EU will discuss preparations for a new ministerial meeting of the Contact Group on Venezuela
The European Union stands for resolving the Venezuelan crisis peacefully, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Maja Kocijancic said at a press conference in Brussels on Monday.

"We need a peaceful political and democratic and Venezuelan-owned resolution of this crisis. This obviously excludes the use of force," she said.

On February 28, the EU will discuss preparations for a new ministerial meeting of the Contact Group on Venezuela, Kocijancic noted, adding that no date for the meeting had been determined so far.

Comment: So the EU declared Guaido as Venezuela's president despite the fact that by the country itself had legitimately voted Maduro as its leader, but now its calling for a 'peaceful Venezuelan-owned' resolution? So has the EU suddenly changed its mind or is it just looking to appear impartial while the US and its lackeys stir up trouble? Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?

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Briefcase

Lavrov: North Korea should have iron-clad security guarantees for full denuclearisation


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 11:12 UTC
USA/DPRK summit
© Reuters/Jorge Silva
Vietnamese Police stand guard outside the North Korea USA summit's media center in Hanoi, Vietnam February 23, 2019.
Pyongyang should be given iron-clad security guarantees if it agrees to full denuclearisation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated.

"North Korea should be provided security guarantees in case a complete denuclearisation really take place. And those guarantees must be iron-clad", the minister said at Valdai forum in Vietnam.

Lavrov continued by saying that the six-party format that includes North Korea, the United States, Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan may be revived to address the Korean Peninsula issue provided that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump make progress at the upcoming summit in Hanoi.

"I hope that the six-party mechanism, primarily on issues of peace and security, can be very useful if there is progress in bilateral communication between the United States and North Korea", Lavrov said in Ho Chi Minh City.

The minister stressed that there had already been some improvements in the North Korean problem and urged the UN Security Council to lift some of its sanctions with regard to inter-Korean projects in order to further facilitate a settlement.
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Eye 2

VP Pence affirms Washington's support for usurper Guaido: US issues fresh Venezuela-related sanctions


RT
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:46 UTC
maduro hat supporter
© Global Look Press / Humberto Matheus
The US has announced a fresh round of Venezuela-related penalties, adding four new individuals to a list of people already subject to Washington's hit-list of restrictions.

Former Venezuelan vice president Ramon Carrizales and former minister of defense Jorge Garcia Carneiro have both been added to the list, along with Socialist Party politicians Rafael Lacava and Omar Prieto.

The new sanctions come as relations between Washington and Caracas continue to deteriorate over the US' decision to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, and repeated calls by top American officials for current President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

Comment: Where are the 'empty shelves'? US journalist Max Blumenthal discovers well-stocked supermarkets in Caracas

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Bad Guys

Bavarian minister complains US only pushing own interests in EU when blasting Nord Stream 2


Tasnim News Agency
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 18:19 UTC
oil pipeline construction
Germany needs as many ways to purchase gas as possible, and thus the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline meets the country's interests, Bavaria's Minister President Markus Soder told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview.

The politician noted that "US interest in their own gas sales in Europe" underlies the threat voiced by US Vice President Mike Pence during the Munich security conference over the purchases of energy resources.

"To pursue your own goals in economics is normal. However, it is unconvincing to link such interests to security issues," Soder pointed out. "It is difficult to understand the US government when they call German cars a risk to national security, and then sits down at the same table as we do at NATO," he added, Sputnik reported.

Soder noted that Germany is interested in all possible options for gas purchases especially after the country ditched peaceful nuclear development and coal. "Can't understand, why the pipeline that comes from Russia via Ukraine, should be safer than a direct pipeline between Russian and Germany", Bavaria's minister president stated.

Comment: Europe is starting to wake up and act in its own interest. High time.

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Rocket

Prove a negative: Politics trump intel in US-Russia nuke treaty pullout

Scott Ritter
The American Conservative
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 17:51 UTC
Russia Missile

Russian missile development facilities, undisclosed location
The United States has a track record of asking nations to prove a negative when it comes to compliance with arms control agreements, and then holding them to account when they fail to do so. The deficit of integrity over U.S. claims against Iraq regarding weapons of mass destruction and Iran and its nuclear program speaks volumes about how corrupt America's policymaking apparatus has become. Now the United States is making the same mistake again by pulling out of the INF Treaty, which it claims Russia violated.

"A high degree of confidence is required before the United States will publicly charge another party with violation of an international agreement." Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) Thomas Graham, Jr. delivered those remarks during testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 1994. At that time, the ACDA served as the lead agency regarding arms control compliance. The intelligence community supported the ACDA's mission of making firm compliance judgments by providing the necessary intelligence information and analysis.

ACDA was supported in this effort by the CIA's Arms Control Intelligence Staff, or ACIS. ACIS provided intelligence support tailored for the specific compliance monitoring and verification requirements stemming from arms control agreements such as the INF Treaty and the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START). It brought a different skill set and mindset than the work being done by the CIA's Nonproliferation Center, or NPC, whose targets were less structured and far more nebulous and nuanced. It was one thing to assess that nation A was exporting technology capable of supporting nuclear enrichment to nation B; it was far different to determine that Russia had destroyed its silos to the depths mandated by a treaty.

For the former, there was far more latitude in interpreting data used to make assessments. The latter required a level of specificity that was unforgiving and often difficult to achieve.
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