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Good luck with that: US lawmakers want strategy developed to have Assad removed from power and Russia to pull out of Syria


Sputnik
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:03 UTC
aleppo
© REUTERS / Omar Sanadiki
The American lawmakers have called on the US Administration to develop a strategy for the conflict-torn Syria aimed at having Syrian President Bashar Assad leave the post as well as having Russian and Iranian forces pull out from the country, the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a press release.

The release was issued following the passage of a resolution by the House of Representatives.

"Today, the House of Representatives passed H. Res. 1165, which condemns the Assad regime and its backers for their continued support of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria," the release said.

The committee's Chairman Ed Royce said before Tuesday's vote that the conflict will not end in Syria until Assad leaves power and both Russia and Iran withdraw from the country.
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Bad Guys

Twitter dons the jackboot of the Israeli military, stamps out visibility of potential war crimes and human rights abuses

Ali Abunimah
The Electronic Intifada
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 04:42 UTC
Israeli commando unit

Palestinian media released images of the Israeli commando unit discovered in Gaza. Israel’s military censor has banned Israeli media from showing these images.
The Electronic Intifada was forced by Twitter to delete a tweet linking to a story that has been subject to Israeli military censorship.

In recent days, other publications and individuals have faced the same demand, indicating that the social media firm has agreed to become an enforcement arm for Israel's efforts to control information about potential war crimes and abuses of Palestinian rights.

While Facebook has become notorious for enforcing censorship on behalf of Israel, this is a new turn by Twitter.
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Snakes in Suits

Google CEO Sundar Pichai incredulously claims company has no bias against conservative media

Charlie Nash
Breitbart
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:52 UTC
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
© Alex Wong/ Getty
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
After Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai about reports of Google's bias against conservatives during Pichai's hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, Pichai denied any bias, dodged questions, and claimed human employees were unable to manipulate algorithms.

"Google has revolutionized the world, though not entirely in the way I expected. Americans deserve the facts objectively reported," declared Rep. Smith. "The muting of conservative voices by platforms has intensified, especially during the presidency of Donald Trump. More than 90 percent of all Internet searches take place on Google or its subsidiary YouTube, and they are curating what we see."

"Google has long faced criticism for manipulating search results to censor conservatives. Conservative individuals and organizations have had their pro-Trump content tagged as 'hate speech,' or had their content reduced in search results. An enforcement of immigration laws has been tagged as hate speech as well. Such actions pose a grave threat to our democratic forum of government," he continued.
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MIB

A very British coup: The spies who smear 'Russia-friendly' British politicians perceived to be 'Russia-friendly'

George Galloway
RT
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:29 UTC
spies
© Getty Images / Joseph Golby
It's cold in Auchtermuchty. Few people know it exists except as a Scottish tongue-twister involving Ecclefechan and Milngavie. It's particularly cold in a derelict mill there around Christmas time, but this year it's hotting up.

The British spies hiding out there have been brought in from the cold by good old-fashioned journalism. Or rather "ex-spies" if their legend is to be believed. Ex-military intelligence men who now work in the charity sector. Except their declared purposes are not charitable at all, however worthy some might think them to be.

The Institute for Statecraft is registered in Gateside, Fife, which is a long way from Whitehall and the RAC Club at Pall Mall where most espionage dramas are set. But the work of espionage in Britain must now be of a very significant level if the heads of MI5 and MI6 are prepared to allow millions of pounds worth of work to be subcontracted to amateurs in a mill in Auchtermuchty.

But amateurs make mistakes and the illegitimate child of the Institute for Statecraft, the so-called "Integrity Initiative" (II), has just made a very big one, at least according to the main Scottish newspaper the Daily Record/Sunday Mail.
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Attention

Bald-faced blackmail: Trump sez he would intervene in US case against Huawei CFO 'to help trade deal'

Jeff Mason, Steve Holland
Reuters
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 23:52 UTC
Trump Meng Whanzou

When asked if he would intervene with the Justice Department in her case, Trump said in an interview with Reuters: “Whatever’s good for this country, I would do.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would intervene in the Justice Department's case against a top executive at China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China.

Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada Dec. 1 and has been accused by the United States of misleading multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions.

When asked if he would intervene with the Justice Department in her case, Trump said in an interview with Reuters: "Whatever's good for this country, I would do."

"If I think it's good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made - which is a very important thing - what's good for national security - I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary," Trump said.

Comment: ZeroHedge reports that she will be released on bail, but must post C$10MM bond and submit To 24-7 surveillance at her own expense:
The Huawei CFO will be released from custody and live at her Vancouver home under round-the-clock in-person surveillance, and she will also wear an electronic ankle monitor while she awaits extradition hearings. Meng must also surrender her passport. Meng must also cover all the costs of her surveillance, carry paperwork detailing the terms of her bail at all times, and submit to checks from the RCMP. She will also be subject to a curfew.

The financial terms of her bail were steep: They required at least five people to post $3 million in collateral and a $7 million cash deposit. Meng's next court date has been set for Feb. 6.
[..]
Meng's attorney has already selected a private security company that he asked be given the authority to apprehend Meng should she violate the terms of her bail. The company is called Lions Gate Risk Management. While on bail, Meng said she would like to remain in Vancouver to try and obtain her PhD at a local university.

Lawyers for the Canadian government have expressed concerns that hackers could tamper with Meng's electronic surveillance - hence the in-person guards.
Huawei has released a terse statement addressing Meng's release:

Huawei statement on Meng Whanzou release


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Light Sabers

US calling on EU to ban construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline


RT
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:05 UTC
Castoro 10
© Global Look Press / Jens Büttner
'Castoro 10', which layed the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea at the 'Kleines Buddelschiff-Museum'
The US House of Representatives is once again calling on the European Union to ban the Russia-led construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and has called for sanctions against the project.

The resolution was passed by the Republican-led Congress during Monday's session. Echoing US President Donald Trump's rhetoric against the construction of the undersea pipeline, the lawmakers called it "a drastic step backward for European energy security and United States interests." The House now wants the US president to step in and even impose economic penalties under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Moscow has repeatedly stressed that all Washington's attempts to hamper the project are simply driven by economic reasons and are a shining example of unfair competition. Reacting to the latest House motion, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is nothing new in this"unacceptable" position. He added that the project is purely economic and serves not only Russia's interests as a gas supplier, but Germany as an EU member-country and its consumers in the first place.

Comment: The US wants Europe to be more like its puppet regime in Ukraine, where their people are paying record high amounts for gas instead of getting cheaper gas from their neighbor to the east, Russia. The European people's quality of life clearly must be sacrificed for political purposes. The US Empire would rather Europeans suffer than let Russia supply the EU with gas. It's time for the EU to realize it is not a true partner to the US and strike out on their own. The European people should be demanding their leaders act in defiance of the US Empire or be replaced.

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Snowflake Cold

Bitter (cold) lesson: Political games force Ukrainian citizens to pay record high prices for 'European' gas


RT
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:06 UTC
burning ukraine currency hryvnia
© Sputnik / Alexandr Demyanchuk
Prices for gas imported by Ukraine from European countries hit a record high in November, according to data published by the country's State Fiscal Service. The gas is most likely Russian in origin resold to Kiev at a premium.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine calculated an average cost of imported natural gas that formed during its customs clearance when it enters the territory of Ukraine.

"The price totaled some 9,472 hryvnia ($339.2) per thousand cubic meters of the fuel," the statement said, as quoted by the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency UNIAN.

Comment: Ukraine is fighting the West's proxy war against Russia on the backs of its people.

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Stop

Russia may amend legislation to block Google due to breaking country's laws


RT
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:57 UTC
google
© Reuters / Chris Helgren
Russian legislation may be amended to allow harsher sanctions against foreign IT-companies, including blocking Google, that keep violating the country's laws, Russia's telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor warned.

Earlier this week, Google was fined 500,000 rubles ($7,500) for refusing to connect its search engine to the federal database of banned websites. The penalty almost feels like a mockery, considering that Alphabet holding company, which Google is part of, earned almost $110 billion last year.

"If fines won't have any effect on the behavior of the foreign company, there's a possibility that the legislation will be changed, which will allow blocking Goggle in Russia," Vadim Subbotin, the deputy head of Roskomnadzor, said.
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Attention

Arab League cautions Brazil: Moving embassy to Jerusalem could hurt relations, trade

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:53 UTC
israel brazil flags
© Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli and Brazilian flags hang outside the building housing the offices of the Brazilian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The ambassadors of the Arab League in Brazil will meet on Tuesday in Brasília to discuss the Bolsonaro government's intention to transfer the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

According to an unidentified Arab diplomat, quoted by the Reuters news agency, the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, sent a letter to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warning that the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem could damage relations with the Arab countries.

"The Arab world has much respect for Brazil and we want not just to maintain relations but improve and diversify them. But the intention of moving the embassy to Jerusalem could harm them," the diplomat said.
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Mail

Neil Clark: "Twitter gives green light to death threats against anti-war voices"


RT
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:50 UTC
twitter
© Global Look Press / Jaap Arriens
Journalist and writer Neil Clark has told RT there's a "political agenda at work" at Twitter, where anti-war voices are "fair game," after having his latest reported death threat dismissed by the social media giant.

Clark posted a now deleted tweet in which the perpetrator, @ironstowe, appeared to suggest the RT writer was next in line to receive the same 'fate' as the likes of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. The journalist stated he hoped Twitter would act after receiving such a "clear death threat," - adding "imagine the media coverage if a neocon/'liberal-left' got sent" such a tweet.


Comment: It's not just Twitter. Despite denials, all the big Silcon Valley tech giants have a political agenda. Patreon recently banned Sargon of Akkad - just the latest in a long line of centrist/conservative/anti-establishment personalities targeted by social media censors.

See also:

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