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Return of the Putin: Western media solves mystery it created


Sputnik
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:28 UTC
Image
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
Return of the Mack
Putin is back. Or was he ever gone? Western media created the gossip about Putin's absence, fueled it with numerous conspiracy theories, ranging from his poor health, a coup and even alien abduction, all the while the world goes on with ISIL, Ebola, the conflict in Ukraine and other more important issues than the "disappearance" of Putin.

Over the last 11 days Western media excessively focused on "mysterious disappearance" of Vladimir Putin, all the while forgetting about other, more important things happening in the world.

ISIL keeps destroying ancient monuments and taking hostages, Ebola keeps infecting people in West Africa, Ukrainians keep fighting each other, Nazis are marching in Latvia and world leaders are trying to resolve Iran's nuclear issue. Despite this, during the last 11 days, Western media mostly kept talking about "disappearance" of Vladimir Putin.

Putin's mystery was on top of everyone's mind. Western media came up with the most ridiculous theories about the whereabouts of the Russian leader. One theory said he was dead, another suggested that Putin was seriously ill and could no longer appear in public, third said that Putin was overthrown in a secret coup, and others even suggested that aliens abducted him.

Comment: The intense interest in Putin stems from the fact that billions have now invested their hope in the Russian leader restoring some balance to the world.

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Chess

Iran prepares for victory lap

M K Bhadrakumar
Redif Blogs
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:05 UTC
Hassan Rowhani
© AP
Hassan Rowhani
Tehran has barely tolerated for the past few years the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's theatrics and tantrums on the nuclear issue, but the gloves are off, finally, as the US-Iran talks decidedly enter a phase where the American media is wondering whether to call the deal an 'agreement', 'a 'memorandum of understanding', a 'treaty' and so on. The diplomats of the permanent members of the UN Security Council have just begun consultations in New York about a resolution formally lifting the UN sanctions on Iran if a deal is struck.

Israel repeatedly resorted to subversive activities such as murdering Iranian scientists and Netanyahu never lost an opportunity to caricature Iran as responsible for all that is going wrong in this troubled world of ours, often in vituperative language. Iran held back from retaliating even in the face of the most outrageous provocation. But, no more — and, when it comes to plain speaking, Netanyahu will be no match for Tehran.

Comment: Yup, it's all about big oil. The nuclear talks are just a pretense.

Reality-creating anew: Iran and Hezbollah removed from U.S. 'Terrorism Threat List', praised for fighting ISIL

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Treasure Chest

France and Germany along with Italy to join China-led AIIB


RT
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:28 UTC

The finance ministries of France and Germany have confirmed they'll join China's new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Italy is expected to soon. Joining the rival to the US-led World Bank is seen as a setback for the Obama administration.

"The Ministry of Finance confirmed that France would join the AIIB bank," French daily Le Figaro reported Tuesday.

Germany's finance ministry said it was joining the bank, the BBC says, although Italy has yet to confirm the earlier report by the Financial Times (FT).


Comment: Many countries are now participating in the shift from World Bank and IMF dominance in the marketplace.

Out of all the EU countries, Italy's media is the most favorable to Russia. And remember, France and Germany were the ones to participate in the Minsk talks regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

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Network

Internet censorship: France blocks five websites without court order


RT
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:42 UTC
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France has blocked five websites suspected of condoning terrorism and spreading hate speech, marking the first usage of new anti-terrorism powers approved by parliament last year that allow such bans without court orders.

"I do not want to see sites that could lead people to take up arms on the Internet," French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said at a public meeting Monday.

"I make a distinction between freedom of expression and the spread of messages that serve to glorify terrorism. These hate messages are a crime," he added. Internet service providers were given 24 hours to comply.

Comment: And so it begins. Internet censorship by a few people with no court oversight or public opinion allowed.

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Whistle

International People's Tribunal to try Philippine President Aquino and Obama for crimes perpetrated against the Filipino people

Kenneth Roland A. Guda
Global Research
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00 UTC
An international tribunal will try cases of human rights violations perpetrated by Philippines President Ninoy Aquino, as well as United States (US) President Barack Obama, in Washington D.C. next July.
Tribunal lineup
© ilps-phils.com
U.S. up on charges at international tribunal
The International People's Tribunal, initiated by non-government organizations, human rights groups and solidarity groups in the Philippines and the United States, was launched today in Quezon City, Philippines. It is being seen as part of efforts by the international community to make the Philippine and US governments accountable for the various abuses and "anti-people" policies inflicted on the Filipino people.
"Beneath the liberal-democratic facade of the Aquino regime, brutal repression of people's civil and political rights abound, with hundreds of cases of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances and massive displacement of families (happening today)," said Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Karapatan which is among the complainants in the IPT.
IPT will also try the many violations of economic, political and cultural rights of the Filipino people, including the congressional and presidential pork barrel scandals, the many onerous deals entered into by the Philippine government, including Public-Private Partnerships, the massive demolition and displacement of urban poor settlers, among others.

The tribunal will also probe into the role of the increasing US political, economic and military intervention in the Philippines that is at the root of the intensifying poverty and repression in the country.

Comment: Cases that would be filed against Aquino and Obama range from violations of civil-political rights, socio-economic rights, and right to self-determination. These would include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, violent dispersals, violations of International Humanitarian Law, demolition of urban poor communities, landgrabbing, large-scale mining, union-busting, human trafficking and the criminal negligence on typhoon survivors.

The IPT will also look into one-sided military agreements such as the Visiting Forces, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and incidents such as the brutal killing of Jennifer Laude and the botched police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. High-profile cases of human rights violations committed under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would also be brought before the tribunal, such as the disappearance of two UP students and other charges including detention and torture victims.

There have been three international tribunals on the Philippines. Both former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were found guilty. The latter was found guilty twice in two separate tribunals in 2005 and 2007.

Convenors include: International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, National Lawyers Guild, and Ibon International.

More power to the people!

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Document

Reality-creating anew: Iran and Hezbollah removed from U.S. 'Terrorism Threat List', praised for fighting ISIL


Sputnik
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:28 UTC
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Hezbollah has agreed to send 800 men to fight alongside Iraqi forces in the battle against the Islamic State for the control of Mosul, northern Iraq.
The annual report delivered to the US Senate by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper removed Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah as terrorist threats.

The report on Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Communities was recently made public, with Iran and Hezbollah scrapped from the terrorism list. The change is particularly significant as both Iran and Hezbollah have been featured in the section in previous years. In 2014, both were listed as terrorist threats within the context of the Syrian civil war in addition to direct threats they pose to the US and its allies.

The terrorism section in the most recent report focuses primarily on the rising threat of Sunni extremist groups, such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State, noting the potential access these groups have to the US due to the number of foreigners fighting in Syria and Iraq.
"Although most homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) will probably continue to aspire to travel overseas, particularly to Syria and Iraq, they will probably remain the most likely Sunni violent extremist threat to the US homeland because of their immediate and direct access."
The report additionally notes Iran's role in combating these threats.

Comment: And so the US and UK continue setting fire to the Middle East, with Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Shia forces now enlisted as additional proxy armies to fight the 'phantom menace'. Isn't it amazing how 'mortal enemies' become 'allies' overnight? That's the Anglo-Americans' 'grand chessboard' for you; whatever is politically expedient to maintain and further their global hegemony.

See also:

Government-approved conspiracy fact: WaPo reports 'CIA and Israel assassinated senior Hezbollah commander in Damascus in 2008'

How Iran and the US intersect in "Syraq"

The real story on Iran, US, Russia and China

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Bad Guys

Police state Canada? The Reason all of those prisons are being built

Joyce Nelson
Counterpunch
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 03:46 UTC
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Back in 2006, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, right-wing Conservative Stephen Harper warned that "You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it." After nine grueling years, that's already true in many ways. But now, Harper is going even further in his re-make of the country. Under new and pending legislation, Canada is moving rapidly towards the creation of a police state, with major curtailments of civil liberties. In recent weeks, the Harper Conservatives have introduced and/or passed several pieces of legislation that run roughshod over Canadians' Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Constitutional rights, giving draconian powers to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

There's Bill C-13, the highly unpopular online spying legislation, which received Royal Assent on Dec. 9, 2014. The Bill allows warrantless internet surveillance through the collection by CSIS of Canadians' everyday internet use. The Bill contains broad new police powers, including several new warrants for surveillance, tracking and gathering of bank information. Bill C-13 has been vehemently opposed by more than 60 Canadian organizations. OpenMedia's David Christopher says that "important parts of this legislation have already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court." [1]

There's Bill C-44, which expands the surveillance powers of CSIS globally, while granting anonymity protection to CSIS informants and allowing for new conditions under which Canadian citizenship can be revoked. This bill passed third reading on February 2 and is now with the Senate. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has called this bill "highly problematic." [2]
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Snakes in Suits

Kerry says Assad must go until we need him to stay

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 01:14 UTC
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In Washington DC, consistency is considered a vice, never a virtue. It is for this reason that many in Washington, especially the neoconservatives, consider their foreign policy one of virtue. You would think that our political leaders, both in the Republican and Democratic parties, would learn something from the devastating effects of our very inconsistent foreign policy, especially after the last 15 years. The chaos that we have brought to Iraq and Afghanistan should be a loud and clear message to anyone who has ears to hear.

We now get the message from our current Secretary of State John Kerry that it's time to "reignite" negotiations with Assad for the purpose of ending the conflict in Syria. I guess it's better late than never, but after more than four years of us needlessly meddling in the internal affairs of Syria, it's about time. Of course we as Americans, as well as the entire Middle East, would have been better off if we had never adopted the policy in August 2011 that "Assad must go." What is never realized is that, no matter whether we're intervening with good intentions or not, our involvement in countries halfway around the world only makes things worse.

Comment: Hopefully Ron Paul can read Political Ponerology to gain a better understanding of why the US foreign policy is the way it is.

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Brick Wall

DPR says amendments to law on Donbas special status are violation of peace plan


ITAR-TASS
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 01:00 UTC
Denis Pushilin
© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Javakhadze
Denis Pushilin
The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said on Monday a bill on amendments to the law on Donbas special status that has been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) is a blatant violation of the complex of measures to implement the Minsk agreements.

"We consider Rada's draft resolution and a bill on amendments to article 10 of the law on the special status of Donbas as flagrant violation of the peace plan approved by the Contact Group and endorsed by the leaders of the Normandy Four. If these documents are passed, it might end up in the frustration of the implementation of the complex of measures and peace settlement in general," Denis Pushilin, DPR's representative in the Contact Group in Ukraine, said in a statement posted on the website of the Donetsk News Agency.

He reminded that in line with provision 4 of the complex of measures the Rada was to issue a list of district enjoying a special status under the law on Donbas special status. "But the draft resolution has no mention of any settlements endowed with a special status," Pushilin said.

Comment: What will the Normandy Four leaders do now?

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Newspaper

Information war: Dueling media startups crowdfund opposing views on Russia

Phil Butler
Sott.net
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 23:13 UTC
Image

Russia vs USSA - Round 5, fight!
Washington says Moscow has a propaganda machine. Moscow says Washington owns American corporate media. Viewers and readers don't know what to believe any more. Something's got to give.

What if you woke up one morning to find America and American ideas in Russia, and irony like a Russian media mogul in America? What if a founding principle of American democracy, like freedom of the press somehow became a bone of contention between two countries?

Good morning, it just happened. Russian journalist and media startup notable Vladimir Yakovlev is crowd funding an alternative news source aimed at "countering the Russian state propaganda machine. Yakovlev, who lives in the US now, was the founder of Russian newspaper Kommersant, and one of the Perestroika publicists who created Russian newspeak back in the 1990s.

What makes this news so interesting though is the twist of the fates that lead an American entrepreneur in Moscow to do exactly the same thing, only in reverse. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Charles Bausman is editor and publisher of Russia Insider. This alternative news outlet fixated on Russia, "examines western media bias and counters by informing on what corporate media is not reporting." I spoke with Bausman earlier today on his long-range intentions for the new media product. Here's what he had to say;
"We've seen a flood of traffic onto the site which means there is a huge untapped demand which is not being served by existing media. We could easily double or triple the amount of content, and there would be no let-up in traffic, in fact it would probably increase. This can go way beyond Russia, cover other countries, other subjects - the Middle East, NSA leaks, US domestic issues, you name it."

Comment: Russia Insider founder Charles Bausman was recently on the SOTT Radio Network to share his perspective from Moscow on the information war, and promote his website's crowdfunding drive to counter the tsunami of anti-Russian lies coming from the West:

Behind the Headlines: Interview with Charles Bausman, Russia Insider

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