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Not enough blame to go around? Anti-China rhetoric kicks up a notch as WH official insists 'We are at war. Make no mistake'


RT
Mon, 11 May 2020 16:43 UTC
Chinese w masks
© Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Morning rush hour in Beijing
The US is currently "at war" with China, White House official Peter Navarro said, insisting it owes compensation for the "damage" caused by Covid-19 as Washington heats up tensions with Beijing over the pandemic.

"We are at war, make no mistake about that. The Chinese unleashed a virus on the world," the Trump adviser told Fox & Friends on Monday. Navarro also said China will owe the US "some form of compensatory damage" following the pandemic.

The rhetoric against China from both Republicans and White House officials has become especially accusatory in recent days. The president himself has been one of a handful in his administration to suggest that the coronavirus — which is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan — could have been man-made in a lab. He and others, however, have been unable to present any real evidence of this.

Comment: Blame will get you air time on a major network regardless of the circumstances, dubious accusations or accuracy of your statements.

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Bay of Fools: Three additional Silvercorp mercenaries arrested as part of 'Operation Gideon'

Joaquin Flores
FRN
Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Guaido
© AP Photo/Matias Delacroix
Opposition leader Juan Guaido
Two soldiers and a civilian were captured early Monday morning in the San Miguel sector, La Guaira, according to military sources. The prisoners are said to be part of the group that would execute Operation Gideon, intended to head the government of President Nicolás Maduro and install Juan Guaidó in Miraflores, according to military sources.

In this case, the detainees are deserting sergeants José Manuel Mendoza González and Jesús Alberto Colmenares Garrido, as well as civilian César Junior Altamar Sarmiento. With them they add 14 those captured last weekend. In Colonia Tovar they arrested the first lieutenant Jairo Betemy, the Army's second sergeant, Franco Jonathan and the first sergeant of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), Evan Rincón.

So far, 30 people have been charged and sentenced to imprisonment since last May 3, the day they tried to enter Venezuelan territory by sea to depose President Nicolás Maduro. They came from Colombia.


Comment:
As Guaido aides resign, Jorge Rodriguez unveiled a 41-page contract - between US-based opposition and Florida private military company Silvercorp USA - believed to be signed by Guaido, Sergio Vergara (member of opposition-controlled parliament), and Juan Jose Rendon (Miami based consultant) to 'capture/detain/remove' Maduro.
See also:

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Info

'Current health crisis revealed ideological bankruptcy of our leaders': Marine Le Pen slams govt as France eases quarantine


RT
Tue, 12 May 2020 18:22 UTC
Marine Le Pen, Paris Metro commuters
© (L) Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters; (R) Geoffroy van de Hasselt / AFP
A collage of National Rally leader Marine Le Pen (L), and the commuters at the Paris Metro on May 11, 2020.
The head of the French right-wing opposition party National Rally, Marine Le Pen, has blasted the government for its "series of failures" as it began to relax the Covid-19 quarantine restrictions.

"This health crisis has revealed the ideological bankruptcy with which our leaders have been leading our country: the bankruptcy of the profit logic in public policy, the bankruptcy of ultra-liberalism, Europeanism, and globalism," Le Pen told RFI radio.
We've seen an uninterrupted series of inconsistencies and failures since the start of the crisis, and this is still the case with transport management! But that will not prevent the government from continuing to blame and infantilize the French.
France has initiated its first phase of easing quarantine restrictions on Monday. State-owned company RATP, which runs the Paris Metro, had warned that it will resume 75 percent of its services, while 60 stations will remain closed. The company also said that the metro will work at just 15 percent of its capacity in an effort to reduce the passenger traffic and allow people to maintain social distancing.
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Eye 2

Crash and burn: Biden on 'Good Morning America' says to believe all women, but not Tara Reade

Sarah Taylor
The Blaze
Tue, 12 May 2020 18:50 UTC
biden reade
© ABC/Twitter screenshot
Tara Reade (L) Joe Biden (R)
Former Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden appeared on Tuesday's airing of Good Morning America, where he said that all women's sexual assault allegations should be believed — but then immediately pushed back against the woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her.

Former Senate aide Tara Reade insists that the former vice president sexually assaulted her in 1993 when he was a senator. Reade revealed that Biden reportedly penetrated her with his fingers against her will during an exchange in a private Senate hallway.

Biden has since denied all allegations.

Comment: RT on reactions to Biden's train wreck interview:
The presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party then insisted it's the duty of "responsible journalists and everyone else to go out and investigate" claims such as those made by Reade.

However, despite his words about women being believed, Biden insisted that "At the end of the day, the truth is the truth. That's what should prevail, and the truth is this [alleged assault] never happened."


Reade's lawyer has asked that Biden open his own archives to search for Reade's name, but the former vice president said in past interviews he has no interest in doing so, claiming other material from past speeches and positions could be "taken out of context" and used against him in the upcoming presidential election.

The juxtaposition of Biden saying he wants an investigation, while denying access to records his accuser says are central to her case hasn't gone unnoticed among critics and political commentators.




Many of Biden's supporters have thrown their support behind him regardless of the veracity of the accusations against him. While Biden told 'GMA' that Americans have the "right" not to vote for him if they believe Reade, a handful of prominent left-wing voices have argued that defeating Donald Trump in the presidential election is far more important than the allegations Biden faces.


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Bizarro Earth

Thierry Meyssan: The transformation of societies due to Covid-19 hysteria heralds the militarisation of Europe

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Tue, 12 May 2020 17:53 UTC
coronavirus covid-19 military industrial complex
© CJ Ostrosky / POGO
Question: Who do you think manufactured Covid-19?

Thierry Meyssan : My analysis is exclusively political. I don't give an opinion on medical questions, but only on political decisions.

An epidemic is generally a natural phenomenon, but can also be an act of war. The Chinese government has publicly asked the United States to shed full light on the incident that occurred in their military laboratory in Fort Detrick, while the American government has asked for the same transparency for the laboratory in Wuhan. Of course neither state has agreed to open its laboratories. This is not ill will, but a military necessity. So we should stop there.

Incidentally, it is irrelevant because, over time, these two hypotheses seem to be wrong: neither of these two powers controls this virus. From a military point of view, it is not a weapon, but a scourge.
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Briefcase

'Operation Volute': British propaganda efforts in Syria may have broken UK law

Ian Cobain and Alice Ross
Middle East Eye
Mon, 11 May 2020 09:57 UTC
Syrians look at the damage following air strikes
© AFP
Syrians look at the damage following air strikes on then rebel-held Douma, east of Damascus, in October 2015
The UK's covert propaganda programmes in war-torn Syria were poorly planned, probably illegal and cost lives, according to a scathing internal review of the initiative that has been seen by Middle East Eye.

Using news agencies, social media, poster campaigns and even children's comics, communications companies working under contract to the British government attempted to undermine both the Assad government and the Islamic State group and bolster elements within the Syrian opposition.

The UK embarked on its propaganda efforts in the country in 2012 and stepped them up dramatically the following year as the government sought to maintain a strategic foothold after parliament had voted against any British military intervention in the conflict.

The series of programmes was given the codename Operation Volute, and those involved in the work talked not of propaganda, but of "strategic communications", or "SC".

However, a review that was conducted during the summer of 2016 concluded that the "fundamental shortcomings" of the initiative included "no conflict analysis [and] no target audience analysis".

Comment: This story reminds us the UK's inception and creation of the bogus "humanitarian group" the White Helmets; effectively a propaganda arm of the head-choppers:

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Vader

The US hybrid war on Venezuela is moving to a new stage of aggression

Nino Pagliccia
One World Press
Wed, 06 May 2020 17:31 UTC
venezuela special forces coup beach mercenaries
© Reuters
Members of the Venezuelan special forces unit are seen at a shore, after foiling a mercenary incursion, in Macuto, Venezuela, on May 3, 2020.
Let's put the U.S. government on the side for a moment. We know about its long-standing goal of regime change. We all know that President Trump has denied any U.S. involvement in the raid. That was to be expected but not to be believed. We would like to focus on some of the implications of this raid that come from three sources: self-appointed president Juan Guaidó and two videos with declarations from key players.

In the early morning of May 3, Venezuela witnessed the first attempt of a raid by speedboats with armed mercenary forces on the central coast of Venezuela, just a few kilometers from the capital city, Caracas. The response by the Venezuelan armed forces and the almost continuous updates about the action including photos and videos were quick.

Just a couple hours later, while the defensive operation was still underway, Venezuela's Minister of Interior Nestor Reverol issued an initial statement:
A group of terrorist mercenaries attempted a maritime invasion, entering Venezuela with speedboats via the coast of La Guaira. Their aim was to assassinate leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution and carry out a coup."
The suggestion that the raid - already a grave act of aggression - had such menacing consequences was not far-fetched given past attempts to overthrow the Maduro government, including attempted assassinations.

Comment: American mercenaries involved in failed coup is proof US policy on Venezuela lacks meaningful direction

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Bizarro Earth

UK extends government furlough scheme until October - 'with changes' from July


Yahoo
Tue, 12 May 2020 17:00 UTC
The Government's furlough scheme will be extended to the end of October but with changes from the end of July to share the burden of paying salaries with employers, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told MPs.


Comment: Like most countries that chose the lockdown farce the UK is left with little choice but to delay the inevitable by providing a stipend to the soaring soon-to-be unemployed and the numerous small and medium businesses nearing bankruptcy - although, in the end, this scheme is all at the taxpayers expense and harsher austerity measures will be used to pay for it:

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Corona

China lifts penalties on additional US goods in trade truce


Manufacturing.net
Tue, 12 May 2020 17:00 UTC
Port
© AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
In this Nov. 4, 2019 file photo, cargo cranes are used to take containers off of a Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation boat at the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, WA.
China suspended punitive tariffs on more U.S. goods including radar equipment for aviation Tuesday amid pressure from President Donald Trump to buy more imports as part of a truce in their trade war.

The Ministry of Finance said tariff increases on 79 types of goods including radar sets, disinfectant and rare earths minerals would be suspended for one year starting May 19.


Comment: Rare earth minerals are of particular interest to the US so this may be quite the amicable concession.


Washington agreed in January to cancel additional tariff hikes and Beijing committed to buy more American farm exports. U.S. officials said China agreed to address complaints about its technology policies.

Comment: See also:

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Padlock

Russia in lockstep: Kremlin says borders may not reopen fully until 2021

Jonny Tickle
RT
Tue, 12 May 2020 17:00 UTC
russia coronavirus

Et tu, Putin?
With countries around the world beginning to loosen their anti-coronavirus measures, many people are starting to ask one thing: when can I travel again? If you're planning to come to Russia, you might need to wait until next year.

According to a letter written by President of the Russian Tourist Industry Union (PCT) Andrey Ignatiev and President of the Russian Hotel Association (RGA) Gennady Lamshin, it might take until January 1, 2021 for passage through Russia's border to get back to normal.

The letter, which was sent to Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov and the head of Russia's Federal Tourist Agency (Rostourism) Zarina Doguzova, suggested that tourism within the country should be permitted from June 1, 2020, "at least between regions with a low incidence of Covid-19."

Comment: It's terribly disappointing to see Putin fall into confluence with the Evil Ones.

He did some good, but apparently it's not good enough to save humanity from the coming catastrophe.

See also: German manufacturers fear economic damage of lockdown, Bavaria to open for tourism

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