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Iran shutters newspaper after expert claims real number of Covid-19 cases is 95% higher


Associated Press
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:10 UTC
iranian woman mask covid
© EPA-EFE
Iran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks by an expert who said the official figures on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country account for only 5% of the real toll, allegations rejected by the Health Ministry.

Mohammad Reza Sadi, the editor-in-chief of Jahane Sanat, told the official IRNA news agency that authorities closed his newspaper, which began publishing in 2004 and was mainly focused on business news.

On Sunday, the daily quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist the paper said had worked on the government's anti-coronavirus campaign, as saying the true number of cases and deaths in Iran could be 20 times the number reported by the Health Ministry.

He also said the virus was detected in Iran a month earlier than Feb. 19, when authorities announced the first confirmed case. He said they held up the announcement until after the commemorations of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and parliamentary elections earlier that month.

"The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons," he said, and only provided "engineered statistics" to the public.

Comment: Here are the official death statistics from Iran. Either way, like most governments today, it looks like they're up to something with their data:
iran deaths
Back in March reports made it appear as if the country would fall to pieces, politicians were dying on a semi-regular basis, and along with Italy it looked as if Iran was one of the hardest hit countries on the planet. If the above graph were true, Iran would have been in an even worse position for all of July.

As for the above account, this criticism seems more believable:

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Bullseye

Why shouldn't Moscow 'denigrate' doddery Biden and the xenophobic 'anti-Russia' establishment? In fact America should do so too!


RT
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 16:53 UTC
biden
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
The US Intelligence Community (IC) issued a report that says Russia is not a fan of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and the anti-Russia 'establishment.' If true, what is so unbelievable about the Kremlin's stance?

The statement released on Friday says, in part, that Russia is employing "a range of measures to ... denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment.'" It went on to say that this approach is consistent with Moscow's criticism of Joe Biden when he was Barack Obama's vice president "for his role in ... policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia." Perhaps the best response to such an accusation would be to ask: Does the Democratic Party really need the Kremlin's help in denigrating their top nominee for the presidential ticket when Joe Biden has been more than capable of denigrating himself? In fact, the day before the IC statement was released it was difficult to deny that the 77-year-old candidate's use-by shelf date may have already expired.

That realization came during Biden's latest interview smashup when he attempted some mental gymnastics by contrasting the Black and Latino communities. It didn't go down well. Once again, Biden wrapped his brain around a guardrail he never saw coming. "Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions," he said, "the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things."
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USA

Trump denies suggesting adding his face to Mount Rushmore, but calls it 'a good idea'

Ronn Blitzer
Fox News
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:30 UTC
trump rushmore
President Trump claimed that a recent New York Times report that he had inquired about having his face added to Mount Rushmore was "Fake News," although he was not exactly opposed to the idea.

The Times reported on Saturday that in 2019, a White House aide asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's office about how a president could get added to the famed mountain sculpture. CNN later picked up the Times' report, adding a reference to a 2018 Oval Office meeting where, Noem said, Trump asked her about it directly.

"This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN," Trump tweeted Sunday evening. "Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!"


Noem claimed, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, that she had encouraged Trump to visit South Dakota, mentioning Mount Rushmore, to which Trump replied that it was his "dream" to have his face on there.

"I started laughing," said Noem, who was running for governor at the time. "He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious."

Comment: "Trump wants to be on Mt. Rushomore!" Not a big deal, if true - at least, not newsworthy. Trump denying it, and saying it's a good idea. That's funny.

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Yellow Vest

Lebanese PM calls for early elections, blames corruption for Beirut blast, massive protests - UPDATES

Ilya Tsukanov
Sputnik
Sat, 08 Aug 2020 18:18 UTC
Hassan Diab
© AP/Hussein Malia
Newly assigned Lebanese PM Hassan Diab, December 2019
Prime Minister Hassan Diab was appointed to his post in January 2020, succeeding Saad Hariri. Diab's short time in office has been racked with instability from events mostly out of his control, starting with the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic crisis, and culminating in the August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has called for new parliamentary elections, saying they are the only way to take the country out of its current crisis. "We cannot get out of this structural crisis without holding early parliamentary elections," the independent Sunni politician said Saturday in a televised address.

Diab clarified that he would be ready to continue carrying out his duties for the next two months until all of Lebanon's political parties can agree on how to proceed.

Commenting on the ongoing probe into the August 4 explosion in Beirut, which has claimed the lives of over 150 people, injured over 5,000 and displaced as many as 300,000 others, Diab promised that the investigation will continue to expand until everyone involved is held accountable. "I firmly reiterate that none of those responsible for the Beirut Port tragedy will escape punishment," he stressed.

Diab added that he considers the port explosion to have been the result of years of "corruption and mismanagement" by his predecessors.

Comment: The smoke and mirrors of this horrific event will eventually clear. Meanwhile it is business as usual for the US when it comes to inserting USAID and unasked-for 'diplomatic advice'.

UPDATE: 9/8/2020: Resignations amok and anti-gov protests seem to be the next critical steps in the aftermath of the explosion:
Lebanon's Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad has stepped down from her post within the embattled government. In a televized address, Samad apologized for failing to meet the "aspirations" of the Lebanese people and called for "unity" as the country recovers from the catastrophic explosion that ripped through Beirut.
Kattar/Samad
© AFP/Reuters/Dalati Nohra
Lebanon's Environment Minister Danianos Kattar • Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad
In addition, Lebanon's Environment Minister Damianos Kattar has resigned amid huge anti-government protests. Kattar is the second minister to quit, with protesters calling for change following the devastating explosion in Beirut's port. Kattar told Prime Minister Hassan Diab that friends of his family died in Tuesday's explosion, and he would therefore "no longer continue" with his responsibilities.
UPDATE: 9/8/2020: While expressing sympathy for Lebanese suffering, the US manages to suggest peaceful regime change is in order, offered via the US Embassy in Beirut:
Amid clashes with riot police, protesters stormed several government buildings and attempted to reach the Parliament. Several military units were eventually deployed to help riot police restore order, forcing the US Embassy in Beirut to wade into the crisis, voicing its support for the citizens' "right to peaceful protest."

The number of injuries climbed to at least 490, meanwhile, authorities said 70 security officers were injured and at least one them died in clashes.

However, as a US Air Force transport plane delivered the first batch of aid, USAID also made sure to emphasize that the "United States has long supported the Lebanese people's pursuit of economic prosperity and accountable governance, free of corruption and foreign pressure."


Mere opportunism, or was Beirut bombed to produced precisely this impasse?

Update (10 Aug): Lebanese PM Hassan Diabhas officially announced the resignation of his entire government following days of protests over the Beirut port explosion.

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Black Cat

'Mad Maxine' sure Biden will pick Black woman as VP (as if he's actually doing the choosing)

Brooke Seipel
The Hill
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 16:13 UTC
maxine waters joe biden
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst; Reuters / Joshua Roberts
Joe Biden (L) Maxine Waters (R)
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) said in a new interview that she is confident presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will pick a Black woman to be his running mate.

"We know that we're going to have a Black woman who is going to be the vice president," Waters told Essence in an interview. "Let me guarantee you this, based on everything that I know and understand, and the help that he has already gotten from the Black community with what [Rep.] Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) has done, Jim Clyburn, when he hears about this he's gonna laugh, he can't go home without a Black woman being VP."

Comment: Waters black-and-white approach (pun intended) to choosing who will likely be the next president, should Joe actually pull off a win, was roundly mocked by the Twitterati:







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Attention

AG Bill Barr says 'socialist' BLM protesters have created 'urban guerrilla warfare' because of their desire for a left-wing 'utopia'

Lauren Edmonds
Daily Mail
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 08:47 UTC
bill barr

Attorney General William Barr (pictured) once again criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and Democrats in an interview on Fox News' Life, Liberty & Levin on Sunday.
Attorney General William Barr claimed that Black Lives Matter protesters have inundated US cities with a new form of 'urban guerrilla warfare' because of a 'lust for power' and desire for a 'progressive utopia.'

Tensions between Republicans and Democrats ratcheted up significantly in recent months as the United States, still overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, was hit with a swath of protests ahead of the November presidential election.

Politicians on both sides of the aisles have hurled blame on each other for the civil unrest from dissatisfied Americans disillusioned by law enforcement and the federal government.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

The evilness of America's ruling class

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 08 Aug 2020 09:06 UTC
elon musk
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The landmark Gilens & Page study in 2014, which was the first study anywhere to examine the data to determine scientifically whether or not a given Government is a democracy or instead a dictatorship, studied the U.S. data, and found conclusively that it's a dictatorship. The U.S. is controlled by its six or seven hundred billionaires (the study identified America's ruling class as only "economic elites and organized groups representing business interests", but the people who own the controlling interest in over 90% of that and hire their lobbyists and fund the careers of the winning politicians are simply America's billionaires, the U.S. oligarchy or "aristocracy"). After that landmark 2014 study, other reports came forth, all adding further confirmation to its findings.

What is the result of billionaires-rule?

America has a higher percentage of its people in prison than any other nation on Earth, and none of America's prisoners are billionaires nor spouse or child of any, except for the very few organized criminals who were cheating and stealing from other billionaires (and, since billionaires rule America, that's the only type of crime a billionaire can be successfully prosecuted for perpetrating in America — crimes against other billionaires). The people who control the people who write and enforce the laws don't need to worry about prison. Almost all of America's prisoners are, in fact, poor people, not even middle-class — and virtually none are upper-class. They're born poor, live poor, and die poor.

Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and George W. Bush, have all had their careers funded by America's billionaires, and that's why these politicians received their respective Party's nominations. Without the billionaires' support, they'd be nothing, just losing politicians. You get the nomination by representing your Party's billionaires, not by representing its voters. Behind the scenes, even America's racial caste system is enforced on behalf of both Parties' billionaires, because supremacism is what they all share, regardless of their rhetoric to the contrary, and there is a groupist element to this supremacism. (Every aristocracy is like that — very groupist.)
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Vader

EXPOSED: World Bank coronavirus aid comes with conditions for imposing extreme lockdown, reveals Belarus president


greatgameindia.com
Mon, 27 Jul 2020 04:30 UTC
Aleksandr Lukashenko

Aleksandr Lukashenko
Huge foreign loans are given to sovereign nations by the World Bank, IMF and the likes. But the conditions that come attached to these loans are seldom told by governments to their citizens. A recent case in Belarus has exposed the conditions laid by these agencies for loans being provided for COVID-19. The President of Belarus has exposed that the World Bank coronavirus aid comes with conditions for imposing extreme lockdown measures, to model their coronavirus response on that of Italy and even changes in the economic policies which he refused as being "unacceptable".

Additional conditions which do not apply to the financial part are unacceptable for Belarus, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said when speaking about external lending during a meeting to discuss support measures for the real economic sector on the part of the banking system, reported Belarusian Telegraph Agency, BelTA.
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Megaphone

It's time to rethink our Russia policy say 103 American foreign-policy experts in open letter

Rose Gottemoeller et al
Politico
Sat, 08 Aug 2020 11:00 UTC
Earth
America's current mix of sanctions and diplomacy isn't working. An open letter on how to reconsider our approach to Putin — and whoever comes next.

The following open letter was signed by 103 foreign-policy experts, whose names and affiliations appear below.

U.S.-Russia relations are at a dangerous dead end that threatens the U.S. national interest. The risk of a military confrontation that could go nuclear is again real. We are drifting toward a fraught nuclear arms race, with our foreign-policy arsenal reduced mainly to reactions, sanctions, public shaming and congressional resolutions. The global Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting serious worldwide economic decline, rather than fostering cooperation, have only reinforced the current downward trajectory.

Meanwhile, the great challenges to peace and our well-being that demand U.S.-Russia cooperation, including the existential threats of nuclear war and climate change, go unattended. Because the stakes are so high, both in the dangers they entail and the costs they contain, we believe that a careful, dispassionate analysis and change of our current course are imperative.
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Bullseye

Britain's NATO-driven policy towards Russia is 95% deterrence & 5% dialogue' - Russian ambassador to UK


RT
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 11:17 UTC
Kelin
© Global Look Press / MFA Russia
Russia's Ambassador to the UK A. V. Kelin
75 years after they joined forces to crush Hitler's Nazis, Russia and Britain are barely on speaking terms at an official level. Now, Moscow's man in London says political contacts are basically non-existent.

Russia's Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin blames the policy of "deterrence and dialogue" towards Russia chosen by NATO and rigidly adopted by Britain. In an interview with Chinese broadcaster CGTN, the diplomat also explained that the British tendency to use his country as a political football, or bogeyman, makes Moscow reticent about investing energy in trying to improve relations.

"NATO has taken a position as a leader of the western world - a policy of deterrence and dialogue towards Russia, and London would like to be a leader in these efforts." Kelin pointed out, highlighting the influence of the US-led alliance on London's outlook. "But there is 95% deterrence and only 5% of dialogue."
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