Welcome to Sott.net
Sat, 23 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Attention

Desperate times, desperate measures? US calls emergency IAEA meeting regarding Iran, having spurned it for 3 years


RT
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 02:44 UTC
IAEA
© Dean Calma/IAEA
The IAEA in session
The US has called an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog after Iran's uranium stockpile exceeded the 2015 nuclear deal's limits. That's the same body whose reports of Iran's compliance Washington has ignored for years.

"The international community must hold Iran's regime accountable," US Ambassador to International Organizations Jackie Wolcott said in a statement calling for a special meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors to discuss what it calls the group's "latest, concerning report" on the Iranian nuclear program. "The United States strongly supports the IAEA and its verification efforts in Iran," the statement continued.

Such support is new for the US, which ignored years of IAEA reports certifying the Iranian government was compliant with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal in order to pull out of that deal unilaterally last May, reimposing sanctions while declaring Iran was violating it.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Star of David

Anti-Semitism accusations against Labour are a disgrace & insult to Holocaust victims: Noam Chomsky


RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 17:40 UTC
Noam Chomsky
Progressive intellectual Noam Chomsky has voiced his opinion over the ongoing barrage of "anti-Semitism" allegations against the Labour party, calling them a "disgrace" and an "insult to the memory" of Holocaust victims.

The left-wing icon rallied in support of the party led by Jeremy Corbyn, and MP Chris Williamson in particular, arguing that the embattled politician did not say anything anti-Semitic in reality.

"The way charges of anti-Semitism are being used in Britain to undermine the Corbyn-led Labour Party is not only a disgrace, but also -to put it simply - an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust," Chomsky told independent journalist Matt Kennard in an e-mailed statement.


Comment: The charge of anti-Semitism against Labour and Corbyn has been one of the most overblown nothingburgers of identity politics nonsense in recent years. Even otherwise insightful critics like Sargon of Akkad (who isn't shy to point out what he sees as expressions of Jewish identity politics) treat the accusations as something "everyone knows". If you want real anti-Semitism, you can easily find it among alt-right 4chan trolls, but the charges against Labour are overblown.

      Read More...
Chess

Fearful US "grants" China an oil waiver on Iran sanctions

Steve Brown
The Duran
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 17:15 UTC
Trump Xi
Florida Senator Marco Rubio posted a typical whining comment on June 28th, "The Administration stopped issuing sanctions waivers for Iranian oil exports in May, yet China just received massive oil cargo from Iran. The tanker Saline, capable of carrying 1 million barrels, docked in Jianzhou bay on June 20."

To illustrate how far things have fallen in the west, the prospect that one nation - any nation - may determine on behalf of any other sovereign nation the means by which it trades, is not only absurd, but supremely dangerous.

While this is no surprise to most people, when US threats of gunboats and sanctions fail to intimidate nations like China and Russia, then that creates a sense of alarm in US State. While the US B-team bandies about empty threats on the world stage — Trump claimed he was minutes away from striking Iran for Iran's defensive strike on a US Global Hawk RQ-4 on June 20th, then he backed down, full of doubt — the US State Department is now preparing to issue a special use waiver to China, allowing China to purchase Iranian oil.

Comment: As if the US is in a position to "grant" anything to China. It is China, with its infinite patience, that is allowing the US to save face. A fact that will likely be quietly brought up in future negotiations.

      Read More...
Bad Guys

Maduro uses Venezuelan Independence Day to call for dialogue, Guaido whines he will denounce 'dictator'


RT
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 17:05 UTC
maduro guaido
© Reuters / Handout / Ivan Alvarado
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and pretender Juan Guaido
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for reconciliation and talks with the US-backed opposition that has repeatedly tried to unseat him, while its leader Juan Guaido doubled down on denouncing Maduro's "dictatorship."

"There is room for all of us within Venezuela," Maduro said in an Independence Day speech on Friday to a group of senior military officials in Caracas, continuing to push for resuming mediated talks with his recalcitrant rival, who declared himself president in January with Washington's backing. "We must all give up something in order to reach an agreement," Maduro said.

The latest round of talks in Oslo, Norway was cancelled following the death of former naval captain Rafael Acosta in prison a week after he was arrested on charges of treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow Maduro. While the opposition claims Acosta was tortured in custody, Commander Remigio Ceballos announced without naming him that the military "regretted the events related to the loss of the retired naval official" and said the government was investigating what led to Acosta's death.
      Read More...
Star of David

Israeli Defense Ministry is dedicated to covering up evidence of the Nakba - Haaretz

Jonathan Ofir
MondoWeiss
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Palestinian Nakba
Israel has a secret Defense Ministry department which is assigned the task of making Nakba archives disappear. Today the Israeli daily Haaretz has published an extensive investigative report by Hagar Shezaf titled "Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs".

The department is called "Director of security of the Defense establishment", acronym MALMAB in Hebrew. In Hebrew it sounds even more obsessive, because the word describing "Defense" and "Security" is the same ('Bitahon'), thus the "Director of Security of the Security Establishment". So, what is the security establishment securing itself from?

Ostensibly, it was about searching archives for sensitive information concerning Israel's secret nuclear program. But it becomes clear that the department has treated information about the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine (and also later expulsions) as a strategic threat. Thus, archives that had already been approved for declassification by the censor, already open and already cited, have been put into vaults again by order of these officials.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
TV

'Putin's America' and a 'politicized military': Bizarre criticisms of DC Independence Day military parade


RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 02:33 UTC
DC parade
© Global Look / Stefani Reynolds
As Washington, DC prepared to celebrate Independence Day, Time Magazine editor at large Anand Giridharadas cast a sinister shadow over the festivities, suggesting a planned military parade is a sign he lives in 'Putin's America.'

Giridharadas tweeted the alarmist missive earlier this week, ahead of Thursday afternoon's parade, and was soon taken to task by several commenters who noted the editor's utter lack of context or historical perspective.

"I understand the hostility to Trump, but we've had military equipment in parades before in America," one user responded, adding "It's not exactly unprecedented. Let's not cross over into derangement."

Comment: RT reports that some generals refused to take part for fear of the military appearing politicized:
Fox News host Lou Dobbs angered Twitter with a snarky remark about US military brass, who he called "snowflake generals" after some decided not to show up at the 4th of July military parade amid politicization concerns.

Dobbs took a swipe at the generals on Twitter as he commented on reports alleging that, contrary to US President Donald Trump's claim, senior Army and Navy officials are less than "thrilled" about appearing alongside the commander-in-chief at the grandiose military show-off central to this year's 4th of July festivities.

"No wonder these Snowflake Generals haven't won a war since 1991," Dobbs wrote, provoking a massive backlash online.

CNN reported on Thursday, citing a military insider, that the top military officials were asked to appear alongside Trump, but grew uneasy about it amid concerns the parade may turn into a giant Make America Great Again rally, which would put them in potential violation of the Pentagon's political neutrality rules.

The July 4th celebration, touted by Trump as a 'salute to America', has seen tanks and warplanes parade through Washington, as well as protests by opponents of the costly (the White House has refused to say exactly how costly) military extravaganza, which has drawn scathing criticism from the anti-Trump crowd.

Dobbs' remarks may not sit well with many of Twitter's own 'snowflakes', but he is not wrong about at least one thing: despite its numerous military adventures, victories have been few and far between for the US, with its latest involvements, like Iraq and Afghanistan, turning into drawn-out fiascos costing hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives - mostly those of local civilians.

Still, he faced a torrent of criticism online, with many pointing out that Dobbs did not served in the military.


Trump himself was exempted from serving in Vietnam due to a medical condition, namely bone spurs in his heels, but his opponents have been skeptical of the validity of that diagnosis.

The Pentagon earlier announced that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps chiefs won't be in attendance for the military parade, but would sent substitutes.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford and acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper are expected to show up.
Hereticus Economicus reminds us of the relentless US wars of aggression around the planet, and, as noted above, this began long before Putin came to power. H.E also lists the other countries that partake in military parades - surely they aren't all be beholden to Putin?
And if we contrast all the war crimes, all the corruption, all the theft, all the injustice perpetrated by US administrations since WW2 up to the present, including Donald Trump's administration - we see a clear pattern of militarism, hypocrisy, consistent war profiteering, violence, and death. "Fascism" didn't start with Trump or the GOP. It didn't stop with Obama or the Democrats. US financial and military hegemony is BIPARTISAN. It always was. Always will be. Liberals, kindly spare us of your hypocrisy, of your false humanitarianism. The World doesn't believe it.

Now, then, let's see some of the other countries who display military units during their national day celebrations: Mexico, South Africa, Romania, China, Iran, France, Russia, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Italy, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain, Austria, Vietnam, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, and many, many other countries.


      Read More...
Quenelle

Corbyn wishes Amazon "many happy tax returns" on its 25th anniversary

Mark Sweney
The Guardian
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 10:45 UTC
corbyn amazon
© Jeremy Corbyn/Twitter
Jeremy Corbyn writing 25th birthday card to Amazon.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has sent a barbed birthday card to Jeff Bezos to mark Amazon's 25th anniversary, wishing the company "many happy tax returns" and demanding it pays more UK tax, pays its staff better and improves working conditions.

Amazon UK paid only £1.7m in corporation tax in 2017, its most recent annual public filing at Companies House, as pre-tax profits tripled to £72m. Turnover at its British business, which handles the packing and delivery of parcels and functions such as customer service, rose 35%, from £1.46bn to £1.98bn.

Corbyn's birthday message to the world's richest man, who has just finalised the world's biggest divorce settlement, worth $38bn, says: "Dear Jeff. Happy Birthday. You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. This year, pay your fair share of taxes, give your hard-working staff a pay rise and respect workers' rights. Many Happy Tax Returns, Jeremy."

Comment: It's unlikely that any giants of the business world will pay their fair share anytime soon, because then the UK's unscrupulous politicians, who are often found to reaping similar benefits, might be expected to pay theirs too:

      Read More...
People 2

Tunisia bans veil from government buildings following spate of attacks


Daily Mail
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 12:34 UTC
niqab veil

Tunisia has banned the niqab face cover in 'public institutions' (stock photo)
Tunisia has banned the niqab veil in 'public institutions'.

Under the new rules, people wearing the Muslim face covering will not be allowed to enter government buildings.

Tunisian Prime minister Youssef Chahed has brought in the new measure 'for security reasons', his office said.

Chahed signed a circular on Friday 'banning access to public administrations and institutions to anyone with their face covered', a spokesman said.

The 'security reasons' were not explained, but Tunisia has been rocked by a series of explosions in recent days.

Comment: Tunisia certainly seems to be of interest to the chaos creators operating in the region, and, as evidenced by the 'Arab spring', it's clearly vulnerable to their machinations:

      Read More...
Dollars

'G'bye dollar, t'was nice knowing you!'

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
buckshred
© Getty Images
Over the past two years, the White House has initiated trade disputes, insulted allies and enemies alike, and withdrawn from or refused to ratify multinational treaties and agreements. It has also expanded the reach of its unilaterally imposed rules, forcing other nations to abide by its demands or face economic sanctions. While the stated Trump Administration intention has been to enter into new arrangements more favorable to the United States, the end result has been quite different, creating a broad consensus within the international community that Washington is unstable, not a reliable partner and cannot be trusted. This sentiment has, in turn, resulted in conversations among foreign governments regarding how to circumvent the American banking system, which is the primary offensive weapon apart from dropping bombs that Washington has to force compliance with its dictates.

Consequently, there has been considerable blowback from the Make America Great Again campaign, particularly as the flip side of the coin appears to be that the "greatness" will be obtained by making everyone else less great. The only country in the world that currently regards the United States favorably is Israel, which certainly has good reason to do so given the largesse that has come from the Trump Administration. Everyone else is keen to get out from under the American heel.
      Read More...
X

Mueller report wrong on Trump Tower meeting, deceptively promotes Browder hoax

Lucy Komisar
Consortium News
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Nataliya Veselnitskaya
© Lucy Komisar
Nataliya Veselnitskaya
A "key event" described in the Mueller Report is the Trump Tower meeting where a Russian lawyer met with the president's son Donald Trump Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Russiagaters have been obsessed with the meeting saying it was the smoking gun to prove collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to steal the 2016 election. Months after Mueller concluded that there was no collusion at all, the obsession has switched to "obstruction of justice," which is like someone being apprehended for resisting arrest without committing any other crime.

The Mueller report thus focuses instead on "efforts to prevent disclosure of information about the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russians and senior campaign officials."

But the report on this topic is deceptive. Ironically, as it attacks Donald Trump and top campaign officials for lying, the report itself lies about the issue the meeting addressed.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts