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EU's 'Russian meddling' alert system "at risk of becoming defunct" - because there isn't any

eu flag
© Reuters / Yves Herman
The EU's Rapid Alert System, created to tackle 'Russian meddling', hasn't sounded a single alarm in the six months of its existence, a report has found.

In a piece on the struggles of the ambitious project, the New York Times cited an inside joke popular in Brussels before the European Parliament election in May about the Rapid Alert System: "It's not rapid. There are no alerts. And there's no system."


Comment: It's just a shameless smear tactic.


The system has never issued any warnings, the NYT reports, but not before setting the mood by talking about how "Russian efforts metastasized" during the 2016 election in the US, how analysts spotted "unmistakable signs" of the Kremlin's hand in an Austrian political scandal, and quoting EU officials who speak of "continued and sustained disinformation activity from Russian sources."

Comment: See also:


Penis Pump

British oil tanker slows to 'adjust its arrival time', authorities wrongly blame Iran

british tanker pacific voyager
© Getty
The British registered tanker appeared to veer off course, as it slowed to a stop and began drifting south in the Persian Gulf
A British registered tanker which began drifting off the coast of Iran caused a major scare this morning, with fears that Iranian forces had boarded the vessel.

The Pacific Voyager tanker was en-route from Singapore to Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, when it slowed down and stopped around 6am today.

Iranian officials denied that they had boarded the boat.

Earlier in the week, Royal Marines Commandos boarded the Panamanian-flagged Grace 1, as it passed by Gibraltar. The supertanker, which is owned by Iran, is suspected of carrying crude oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.


Comment: It's obvious who the aggressor is here; Iranian forces did not even board the UK's Pacific Voyager whereas British forces have detained Iran's Grace 1.


Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and a commander in the Revolutionary Guards, said it was Iran's 'duty' to retaliate following the interception of the Grace 1 tanker by Royal Marines and Gibraltar police on Thursday.

Comment: It makes for hysterical headlines but it's all a rather feeble attempt by the US and EU to antagonize Iran. They can't detain all the oil shipments, and, in the end, Russia and China, allies of Iran and Syria, won't stand for it forever, and they'll be forced to join in the retaliation if the West carries on like this:


Attention

Fingers crossed - New York activists file formal complaint with police demanding Hillary Clinton's arrest

Bill & Hillary
© AP Photo / Paul Sancya
Former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton, left, talking during the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Detroit.
The former first lady has been a target among opponents for her numerous suspected crimes including alleged pay-to-play machinations during her tenure as secretary of state, and controversy over her use of a private email server during her time in office.

Activists from Equal Justice Tour, a religious political action group petitioning to have Hillary Clinton "be held accountable" for her alleged "wrongdoing at the Clinton Foundation, Benghazi, Haiti, Email Destruction and Uranium One," have filed a formal complaint with the New Castle Police Department in Chappaqua, New York State, where Clinton has a residence.

On Saturday, the activists live-streamed a video on Facebook showing members of the group walking into the police station and handing over notarized copies of the complaint to an officer. The officer said he would forward the document to his superiors.

Boat

Soros and the 'business' of illegal immigration, a 'criminal phenomenon' - An interview with Francesca Totolo

manlanternboat
© Unknown
The Charon
"Never before has a criminal phenomenon enjoyed widespread international support by governments, political parties, religious and civilian organizations, popular opinion, and never before has a sovereign state renounced to exercise control over its borders."
These opening words by Gianandrea Gaiani are a fitting introduction to Francesca Totolo's latest book Inferno Spa. Gaiani is no stranger to the business of illegal immigration, being an author of several books on the subject. He was interviewed by Gefira in 2017 when the Italian government was then still a center-left pro-migrants coalition. Totolo has agreed to an exclusive interview for Gefira and we recently met her in Florence, where she was presenting her new book.

Francesca Totolo is a freelance investigative journalist and collaborates with a variety of Italian and international press agencies and websites. Her investigations have been published both in Italy and abroad. We could easily call Totolo a diligent - and outspoken - journalist as her new book, which she wrote with Dante's Inferno in mind, involves just that: solid, painstaking, diligent research and fact-checking. The result is the equivalent of an encyclopedia of who's who in the business (Spa is the Italian acronym for joint-stock company, equivalent of the German AG) of the immigrants' industry, an industry which moves an unending flow of human beings and money.

She has divided her book into different sections, entitling them with some of Dante's appellatives in his Divine Comedy: first the ferrymen or Charons who deliver thousands of human beings to the other bank, then the hypocritical NGOs followed by the traitors to the country at all levels, sided by the omnipresent politically correct mainstream media and well-funded organizations of all sorts.

All these infernal characters have in the end one Master Mind, who acts like a modern and nefarious Virgil: George Soros and his mind-boggling network. Totolo is ready to point out, at the conclusion of her book, that Soros is himself an actor, albeit of the highest level, lending his face to higher "movers and shakers behind the curtains", who have already decided that the original European population must be replaced.

Caesar

Korybko: Is Vladimir Putin a social conservative leader?

Putin
© Sputnik
The Russian leader reminded the world of his original appeal as one of its socio-conservative leaders during an interview that he gave to the Financial Times late last week in which he spoke out strongly against liberalism and staunchly defended traditional values.

Part of President Putin's original appeal worldwide was that he was one of the first socio-conservative leaders of a Great Power in the 21st century, though Trump's meteoric rise to power and characteristic showmanship eventually overshadowed the soft power attractiveness of the Russian leader. As if on cue, Putin took the opportunity to proudly display his socio-conservative credentials during an interview that he gave to the Financial Times last week ahead of the G20. While a myriad of topics were covered during this extensive discussion, the most intriguing insight that he shared was about the present state of affairs in the West, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of the audience in that part of the world where his international reputation has been under the most ferocious attack.

Target

Julian Assange, censorship power and the real war on the free press

Assange protest
© Katherin Da Silva/Shutterstock
Don't be fooled: those attacking him want censorship powers not seen since the Nixon administration.

Trump administration officials were enthusiastic when Ecuador decided to expel Julian Assange from its embassy in London, where he had received sanctuary for nearly seven years. British authorities promptly jailed him for jumping bail on sexual assault charges in Sweden, and U.S. officials began plans to have Assange extradited to face espionage charges in this country. He just turned 48 in prison on July 3.

Last month, the Department of Justice added 17 counts to the one-count indictment that it had filed years earlier. His current imprisonment in Britain and the probability of a lengthy extradition battle have delayed the prospect of a high-profile trial in the United States, but that outcome remains Washington's goal. The United States reportedly submitted a formal extradition request on June 6.

The issues at stake go far beyond whether Assange is an admirable (or even a reasonably likeable) person. He symbolizes a crucial fight over freedom of the press and the ability of journalists to expose government misconduct without fear of criminal prosecution. Unfortunately, a disturbing number of "establishment" journalists in the United States seem willing — indeed, eager — to throw him to the government wolves.

Satellite

Trump to Tucker Carlson: He doesn't believe in UFOs, but is open to the possibility

TrumpUfo
© Unknown
US President Donald Trump and '?'
Alien-spotters may take heart from hearing that while US President Donald Trump doesn't believe in UFOs, he is open to the prospect because "anything is possible."

In an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson, the host asked Trump for his views on UFOs in light of a recent briefing about Navy pilots saying they've witnessing strange inexplicable objects traveling at incredible speeds.

"Personally, I tend to doubt it," Trump replied, "I'm not a believer, but you know, I guess anything is possible."

In a potential blow to true believers, the president went on to dismiss claims that the US government has actually gotten its hands on UFO wreckage.


Comment: Carlson's interview also includes reaction and analysis from journalist Nick Pope, who once investigated UFO sightings for the British Ministry of Defense on this topic.


X

'Gaffe Machine' Biden lost the plot: No Russian meddling happened on his or Obama's watch

Biden
© Reuters/Brenna Norman
Democratic 2020 US presidential candidate and former VP Joe Biden at Independence Day parade.
Democratic frontrunner and former VP Joe Biden has been mocked for saying that no election interference happened on his watch. Some took his words as a denial of the establishment narrative about 2016 'Russian meddling'.

Risking an own goal against fellow politicians and the 'intelligence community', which accuse Russia of meddling in the 2016 US election to sow discord and help Donald Trump ascend to the presidency, Biden told CNN on Friday that no election interference happened on his watch, as he unloaded on both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"While Putin's trying to undo our elections, he's actually undoing elections in Europe. Look at what's happening in Hungary, look what's happening in Poland, look what's happening! You think that would happen on my watch or Barack's watch? You can't answer that, but I promise it wouldn't have, and it didn't," Biden told host Chris Cuomo.


Comment: See also:


Dollars

One more Iranian cog needed to get EU's INSTEX payment device working - if ever

EU-Irancogs
© United World International
The financial channel Europe came up with as part of its efforts to keep the nuclear deal with Iran alive, makes no sense if it cannot be used for issuing credits to the Islamic Republic, according to one of its top diplomats.

"We believe that [the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX] will be no good unless there is enough credit," Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said, as cited by Irna.

Apart from credits, if the trade mechanism functioned it would also create revenues for Iran by facilitating purchases of its crude, but none of the elements is working, the diplomat pointed out.

The high-ranking diplomat's statement came on Sunday, just after Tehran announced that it will increase uranium enrichment above the limit set under the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Araghchi also warned that Iran may further reduce its commitments if its European colleagues fail to fulfill theirs.

Comment: See also:


Attention

Iran: Official claims US sent limited strike warning after its drone was downed

US drone debris
© AP/Meghdad Madadi
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division, looks at US drone debris.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps downed a US spy drone over the Strait of Hormuz last month, insisting it violated the country's airspace.

General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran's Civil Defence Organisation, said that Iran received a warning from the US about an upcoming limited strike, after the military shot down a US Navy surveillance drone.

"After the downing of its intruding drone, the United States told us through diplomatic intermediaries that it wanted to carry out a limited operation," Gen. Jalali was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He added that Tehran responded to the warning by saying that it sees any operation as "the start of the war".

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps shot down the an American UAV on 20 June. In a letter to the UN chief Antonio Guterres, Tehran said the drone was flying in stealth mode and was being "engaged in a clear spying operation".