Welcome to Sott.net
Mon, 08 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Snakes in Suits

National Endowment for Democracy, the legal window of the CIA

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 21:01 UTC
ned ngo cia
For 30 years, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been sub-contracting the legal part of illegal CIA operations. Without rousing suspicions, it has put in place the biggest network of corruption in the world, bribing trade unions and management syndicates, political parties on both the Right and Left so that they defend the interests of the United States instead of their members. In this article, Thierry Meyssan describes the extent of this system.

In 2006, Kremlin denounced the proliferation of foreign associations in Russia, some of which would have participated in a secret plan, orchestrated by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to destabilize the country. To prevent a "color revolution", Vladislav Surkov drew up strict regulation over these non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the West, this administrative framework was described as a "fresh assault on freedom of association by Putin the "Dictator" and his adviser".

This policy has been followed by other States who in their turn, have been labelled by the international press as "dictators".
      Read More...
Bomb

Russia has begun massive bombing campaign to stop U.S.-al-Qaeda assault on Aleppo

b
Moon of Alabama
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 20:49 UTC
aleppo

Aleppo as reported by "western" media
The west of Aleppo city has always stayed under control of the Syrian government. It inhabits about 1.5 million people. Over the last two weeks it has come into imminent danger of falling into Jihadi hands.

With large U.S. and Gulf supplies of new weapons, ammunition and intelligence some, 10,000+ radical Jihadis, led by al-Qaeda in Syria, attacked Aleppo city. After several days they managed to break the south-eastern defense and created a small corridor into east-Aleppo. The area is besieged by government forces and under Jihadi control.

Several other large attacks followed but could barely be held back. The government forces are a mix of local defense units and auxiliaries from Afghanistan and Iraq. Their defenses seemed little prepared for the onslaught of suicide vehicles followed by mass infantry attacks. Morale was low and positions were given up without proper coordination.
      Read More...
Star of David

Occupied Palestinian land: Illegal Israeli settlements by the real numbers

Ben White
Middle East Monitor
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 20:32 UTC
illegal settlements Israel
© Middle East Monitor/File photo
“The ground being taken is near the Jewish settlement of Nof Zion in East Jerusalem, surrounded by houses from Palestinian village of Jabal Mukkaber.”
The Israeli government and its supporters routinely play down the significance of West Bank settlements as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. One recent example of this came from a Jewish Agency spokesperson, who tweeted: "Jewish communities in the West Bank take up under 2% of the land; that is, over 98% of the West Bank contains no Jewish residents at all."

So is this true - and exactly how much of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) do Israel's settlements take up?

illegal settlements west bank Israel
© UN OCHA
Settlement areas in the West Bank, including local and regional councils marked in grey - 2009
1. What the 2 percent figure omits.

Those who cite the 2 percent figure rarely clarify that this refers purely to the built-up area of the settlements. As described in a Human Rights Watch report earlier this year, while "the built-up area of residential settlements covers 6,000 hectares", there are also "approximately 20 Israeli-administered industrial zones in the West Bank covering about 1,365 hectares, and Israeli settlers oversee the cultivation of 9,300 hectares of agricultural land."

2. The settlements' local authorities.

The 2 percent figure also obscures a perhaps more significant reality. 23 Jewish local authorities operate in the West Bank: "three municipalities, fourteen local councils and six regional councils." According to a 2009 United Nations report, 39 percent of the West Bank falls under these authorities' jurisdiction. Israel has "consistently refused to allocate such land for Palestinian use."

As an example, the report describes how "almost all of the [Jordan Valley and Dead Sea] area falls under the jurisdiction of two [settler] Regional Councils" - the "practical implication" of which "is that, in almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian construction is prohibited."
      Read More...
Syringe

Russia at the Olympics: Guilty until proven guilty

marknesop
The Kremlin Stooge
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 20:13 UTC
Rio olympics
"Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it."
- William Penn

"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine."
- Ernesto Che Guevera
I can't claim the social conscience of a Che Guevera, but it's absolutely true that I feel more motivated to write when I am furious about something, and few things so infuriate me like smug pig-ignorance. And no smug pig-ignorance is so infuriating as that displayed by one's own countrymen, as they happily allow themselves to be played like violins by an outside authority and exhibit their naked buttocks before the world. I really thought you were better than that, Canada.

According to the CBC - the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a Crown corporation and the official voice of the nation - Russian athletes are "emerging as the villains of the Rio Olympics". And maybe it's just me, but the tone seems approving, self-righteous...judgy. As if the official mouthpiece of Canada is delighted to sign on to the Get Russia program offered by its southern neighbour and business partner to all its toadies and would-be chambermaids.

In a word, this is disappointing. I used that word because I didn't want to start swearing so early, although I'm sure we'll get to it.

Just so we're clear - whose interests does it serve for Canada to enthusiastically sign on to booing and hooting like howler monkeys whenever Russian athletes step up to compete, like we were English football hooligans? Canada's? How?

In fact, as everyone who is not thick as a BC pine knows, it serves Washington's interests, because the USA wants Russia isolated and alone and friendless because it is pissed off at it for other things, and the more disrespect and ignorance and rudeness it gets from the former politeness capital of the world, the better Uncle Sam likes it. WADA is going after every medal Russia ever won, and it is not even looking at anyone else. And that entire effort rests on the credibility of two people; one who was convicted of doping herself and barred from competition for two years for it, and her husband who knew and did nothing about it while he worked for the national anti-doping agency.

We'll get to that.
      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Former UK Chancellor George Osborne gets cushy gig as public speaker after being dropped from cabinet by Theresa May


RT
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 20:10 UTC
George Osborne
© Dylan Martinez / Reuters
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne
Austerity peddler and former chancellor George Osborne has been cleared to join the public speaker agency used by the likes of Tony Blair and George W. Bush to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments formally signed off on Osborne joining the Washington Speakers Bureau on Tuesday.

Past speakers have included Iraq invasion-era PM Tony Blair, his successor Gordon Brown and high-profile Americans such as former President George W. Bush and ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell. Former Australian PM Tony Abbott is also on the agency's books.

Fees are not officially disclosed but are rumored to be as high as $300,000 for former heads of state or prime ministers.

Osborne, who was relegated to the back benches by newly installed PM Theresa May, is expected to work for the agency for two days a week and lecture on "the current political environment."
      Read More...
Attention

New protection policy: Business dealings of Tory ministers, donors, could be removed from public records


RT
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 12:05 UTC
Chancellor Philip Hammond
© www.mirror.co.uk
Chancellor Philip Hammond: No record is a good record.
Cabinet ministers and Tory party donors could have their business dealings wiped from public records under a proposal being considered by a government agency, Labour has warned. Companies House - the government agency responsible for keeping a publicly accessible database on every UK firm - currently holds information on account details, directors, and shareholders for 20 years. However, this could be shortened to just six years if the proposal goes ahead, leading to the potential loss of 2.5 million records.

Those erased records would include 48 dissolved companies linked to 24 serving Tory ministers, according to analysis by Labour. The deletions would take place either immediately or over the course of the parliament.

Chancellor Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are among the high-profile ministers who would be affected. In addition, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's involvement in the now dissolved London Climate Change Agency would also be wiped, along with records relating to former Barings banker Andrew Fraser - who donated £2.5 million (US$3.25 million) to the Tory party during then-Prime Minister David Cameron's leadership. Records involving Michael Spencer, who donated £5 million to the party, and Lord Michael Farmer, who donated about £8.5 million, would also be cleared.

Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson called the proposal "extremely worrying" and a "backwards step." "If the Tory government was truly committed to transparency and openness then it would not allow this move - which would effectively wipe from public view the records of 2.5 million dissolved companies and the people associated with them - to go ahead," he said in a statement. "It's now up to [Prime Minister] Theresa May to ensure that this proposal will never see the light of day," Watson added.

Comment: One might wonder what the Tories are trying to hide, protect or eliminate by cleaning house and tossing their "garbage."

      Read More...
Magnify

Assange: Wikileaks to soon show how US intel interferes in EU elections, comments on DNC

Jason Murdock
International Business Times
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 17:05 UTC
Julian Assange
© Andy Gotts
Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks, has claimed that fresh leaks are on the horizon and indicated that European politics may soon be rocked by fresh spying revelations. In a recent interview with Dutch television programNieuwsuur he said: "We know it is the US National Security Agency that is the most aggressive [at spying] on other nations. We have obtained evidence, which we will publish in due course, about US intelligence agencies interfering in European elections."

Assange also claimed WikiLeaks has more unreleased documents withheld for publication at a later date. "We have a lot of material relating to the US election campaign, including relating to Hillary Clinton's campaign, the Clinton Foundation and the DNC," he said.

"There is intense interest in the US election and it has been a driver for a number of interested people to submit material to the media - including WikiLeaks [...] it's nothing to do with my personal position. We would never not publish such information once we had verified it to be true." The comments come after Assange faced criticism and accusations of bias after publishing 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) which many speculate were initially obtained by hackers aligned with the Russian government.


Comment: 'International Show and Tell' brought to you by Wikileaks. The lengths to which the DNC and Hillary Clinton are maneuvering to try to distance the public from the real security issues of her emails and the DNC leaks are an indicator as to how worried and how culpable to criminal activity they truly are. When cornered, fly every outlandish accusation and distraction possible...like throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks and, some suspect, eliminating any threat of exposure.

      Read More...
Attention

Cambodia: Haunted by US 'color revolution'

Joseph Thomas
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
Sam Rainsy Cambodia
© www.bbc.co.uk
Sam Rainsy, leader of opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Phnom Penh, 2013.
Washington's friends in Southeast Asia, with only a few exceptions, have had a difficult time in recent years. Their favourite billionaire-politician Thaksin Shinawatra has been repeatedly ousted from politics in Thailand, Anwar Ibrahim now resides in jail in Malaysia and prospective friends in The Philippines and Indonesia appear more interested in doing business, or at least in smoothing over relations with Beijing, than investing too deeply in Washington's various and risky regional projects.

Washington's Man (Sometimes) in Phnom Penh

Then there is opposition leader Mr. Sam Rainsy of Cambodia. The US State Department's VOA (Voice of America) media platform describes him as "self-exiled." He has been an opposition politician in Cambodia for decades, and in between inciting unrest and subsequently fleeing abroad to France before being regularly pardoned and allowed to return home, he has served as a constant contributing factor to the nation's instability.

Rainsy plays a balancing act between tapping into Cambodian nationalism, thus co-opting popular government stances such as cultivating greater ties with China, as well as seeking Western backing to weaken, even topple the government to pave his own way into power.

VOA's recent article on Rainsy, "Cambodian Opposition Leader Says Europe Considering Sanctions," does much in explaining the vector he serves through which pressure is exerted upon the ruling circles in Phnom Penh by the West.

Comment: The good news, regarding this sort of insidious 'color' mission, is that after numerous cookie-cutter revolutions to the extreme detriment of targeted nations, it has become a recognizable pattern identified with and traceable to the United States. It never was or is about the US bringing democracy or any other liberty crap to the people of these nations, it has been about jockeying for global position, destabilization and removing opposition. Hopefully enough of the world has become sensitized to these hegemonic actions to unmask the motives before unrest, riot and terror take foot on yet another continent, in yet another country. The revolution gun is being leveled at Cambodia and the US has its dirty finger on the trigger.

      Read More...
USA

Trump's plan to eliminate 'radical Islam' is 'extreme, extreme vetting'


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:29 UTC
D Trump
© Scott Olsen/Getty
Donald Trump...sounding more like an establishment Republican...or maybe not.
Arguing that political correctness had replaced common sense in America, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump laid out his own vision for fighting terrorism. Here is what Trump considers common sense.

Speaking at Youngstown State University in Ohio on Monday, Trump insisted on naming "radical Islamic terrorism" the enemy and said he would fight it by introducing ideological screening tests, suspending immigration from certain countries, and reopening Guantanamo Bay, among other things.

While Trump has said this all before, this time Trump sounded more like an establishment Republican, declaring that "pride in our institutions, our history and our values should be taught by parents and teachers, and impressed upon all who join our society," and that the US "system of government, and our American culture, is the best in the world and will produce the best outcomes for all who adopt it."


The heavily-footnoted speech began with a litany of terrorist attacks in the US and Europe, from Fort Hood to Orlando and from Charlie Hebdo to the killing of a priest in Normandy, all claimed by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). "We cannot let this evil continue," the GOP presidential candidate said. "Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical Islam - its oppression of women, gays, children, and nonbelievers - be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries."

Comment: Trump's speech delivery in the video is not as slick as Obama's but on paper the message has good points here and there (with some exceptions) and is coherently written citing source footnotes. It is perhaps worth a read through using the link provided, thereby removing the delivery and persona, to see objectively what stands and what falls.

      Read More...
Clipboard

Poll: Refugees would support strong arm leadership in Germany, share values PEGIDA and AfD


RT
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 10:02 UTC
refugees Germany
© www.telegraph.co.uk
Many refugees welcome a strong leader governing Germany through force, when necessary, while their values might be closer to those of the anti-migrant far-right groups than many would believe, a local poll claims. An astonishing conclusion - probably able to shift popular imagination on migrants' mindset - has been made by a Berlin-based High School for Media, Communication and Economics (HMKW), which released its comprehensive poll called 'Refugees 2016' on Monday.

While the majority of refugees said they support democracy and freedom of speech, paradoxically, 64 percent of them believe the best type of state should include "a leader who governs Germany with a strong arm for the sake of all." The same number of migrants said it is critically important for any society "to maintain law and order, and, when necessary, through coercion."

Many refugees believe that "what Germany needs now is a united strong party which embodies people's community," the study concluded, and that in certain circumstances dictatorship is the best type of state.

Though the study embraced nearly 1,000 respondents and is not fully representative, it offers an insight into what refugees stand for and what they believe in. Dr. Ronald Freytag of the HMKW, who authored the survey, said that never before migrants' values and political beliefs were in focus of in-depth research.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts