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Kim Jong-un invites South's leader Moon at the "earliest date" possible to Pyongyang in personal letter delivered by sister


RT
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:43 UTC
South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks North Korea's Kim Young Nam and Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. Seoul, South Korea, February 10, 2018
© Yonhap via / Reuters
South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks North Korea's Kim Young Nam and Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. Seoul, South Korea, February 10, 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang in a personal letter delivered by Kim's sister, Seoul has said.

Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, handed the letter over at a rare meeting with Moon on Saturday. She said that her brother asked Moon to visit the North's capital at the "earliest date" possible for what will be a third inter-Korean summit.

"While delivering a letter from Kim Jong-un ... special envoy Kim Yo-jong orally delivered Chairman Kim Jong-un's invitation [for Moon] to visit the North at a time convenient to him, saying he is willing to meet President Moon Jae-in at the earliest date possible," South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told a press briefing.

Comment: Despite US threats and interference, North Korea is opening up to its neighbours:

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Bad Guys

"War crime": US massacre of Syrian troops threatens to unleash wider war

Bill Van Auken
World Socialist Web Site
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
us plane bomb
US warplanes and artillery batteries carried out an unprovoked massacre of up to 100 pro-government troops in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor Wednesday, signaling the initiation of a new and far more dangerous stage in the more than three-year-old direct US military intervention in Syria.

The Syrian government denounced the attack as a "war crime" and "direct support to terrorism," insisting that its forces came under US attack as they were carrying out an operation against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) elements between the villages of Khasham and al-Tabiya on the eastern side of the Euphrates River.

While the Pentagon proudly claimed to have killed 100 pro-government fighters, Damascus allowed that the US strikes claimed "the lives of dozens, injuring many others and causing massive damage in the area."

Comment: Syria Shoots Down Israeli Jet - It's About Time

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Briefcase

FBI hid Steele interview notes from Senate Judiciary Committee

Cristina Laila
The Gateway Pundit
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 22:38 UTC
Sen. Chuck Grassley

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
On Tuesday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a "much-less redacted," version of the Senate Judiciary Committee's criminal referral of dossier author Christopher Steele.

Comey is in hot water. The unredacted memo reveals the FBI misled the FISA court about Christopher Steele's contacts with media outlets.

According to the Senate Judiciary criminal referral, Steele lied to the FBI about his contacts with the media such as Yahoo News and Mother Jones. Steele previously told the FBI that he had not spoken to the media.

Grassley reveals the FBI KNEW Steele lied about his contact with media outlets, yet they DID NOT disclose this very pertinent information to the FISA court.

Comment: Sure looks like the FBI is hanging Steele out to dry to cover themselves. Breitbart reports:
A four-page House Intelligence Committee memo released last week alleging abuse of surveillance authority revealed that Steele had been terminated as an FBI source after the agency discovered he had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media about his relationship with the FBI in an October 30, 2016 article published by Mother Jones. The memo cites court filings in which Steele admitted to meetings with other news outlets. The memo also cited Steele's meeting with Yahoo News, as related in a court filing.

When Buzzfeed published Steele's full dossier on January 10, 2017, the website related the information had been "circulating among elected officials, intelligence agents, and journalists for weeks." Later in the article, the website stated the dossier information had circulated for "months."
Except that the tacitly FBI condoned the media contacts because they presented the articles as bolstering the dossier's credibility.

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Chess

Was the market crash engineered - and if so, who ordered it and why now?


State of the Nation
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
shadow government
The Very Deep State Exposes Itself

The single best way to wreck the President's day is to crash the stock market. The POTUS has frequently pointed to the market's steady rise as an indicator that America is doing great under his economic and financial stewardship.

With this understanding, it's much easier to grasp the true purpose behind the ongoing controlled demolition of the stock market. The perps know that President Trump greatly appreciates the steady rise of the market since he took office. It validates his many fiscal and economic initiatives in spite of the relentless bad press.

FISAgate explodes

The intensifying political explosion due to the FISA Memo release has served as the trigger event for the purposefully controlled demolition of the stock market, which actually began a couple of weeks ago.

The direct correlation between the FISA Memo release and the gyrations in the stock market are indisputable as the timeline indicates. See: Market Reacts Very Badly To FISA Memo Release

The market volatility peaked once on the very day of the memo's release with a 666-point drop. Dow plummets 666 points, capping worst week in 2 years

Then on Monday, February 5, the DJIA plunged 1600 point in afternoon trading before it finally lost 1175 points for the day. Dow plummets 1,175 points for the day after dropping 1600 during afternoon session

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

The only reason Comey told Congress about Weiner emails was because George Toscas at DOJ found out about them

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Comey
On Wednesday the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a majority staff report titled "The Clinton Email Scandal And The FBI's Investigation Of It." The committee also released thousands of text messages between two agents and lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that shed light on the criminal intent of deep state players to avoid prosecution of Hillary Clinton and to block and destroy a Trump presidency.

One text message exchange is making the rounds on the internet today.

Peter Strzok was the Chief of the Counterespionage Section during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. He also hated Donald Trump, as did his lover Lisa Page.

In this exchange posted online Peter Strzok admits the DOJ was forced to tell Congress about the Weiner laptop emails only because George Toscas at the DOJ found out about them.

Comment: It's all coming out now - one putrid layer at a time...

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Nuke

Uranium One: Informant makes Clinton allegations to three congressional committees

John Solomon
The Hill
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 08:18 UTC
uranone
© youtube/KJN
An FBI informant connected to the Uranium One controversy told three congressional committees in a written statement that Moscow routed millions of dollars to America with the expectation it would be used to benefit Bill Clinton's charitable efforts while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quarterbacked a "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations.

The informant, Douglas Campbell, said in the statement obtained by The Hill that he was told by Russian nuclear executives that Moscow had hired the American lobbying firm APCO Worldwide specifically because it was in position to influence the Obama administration, and more specifically Hillary Clinton.

Democrats have cast doubt on Campbell's credibility, setting the stage for a battle with Republicans over his testimony.

Campbell added in the testimony that Russian nuclear officials "told me at various times that they expected APCO to apply a portion of the $3 million annual lobbying fee it was receiving from the Russians to provide in-kind support for the Clintons' Global Initiative."
"The contract called for four payments of $750,000 over twelve months. APCO was expected to give assistance free of charge to the Clinton Global Initiative as part of their effort to create a favorable environment to ensure the Obama administration made affirmative decisions on everything from Uranium One to the U.S.-Russia Civilian Nuclear Cooperation agreement."

Comment: For more background on this controversy, see also:

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Document

Leaked US documents may be used as evidence, rules UK Supreme Court


RT
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 13:44 UTC
wikileaks logo
© wikileaks
In a groundbreaking ruling, the UK Supreme Court has said diplomatic cables leaked to WikiLeaks by whistleblower Chelsea Manning are admissible. "The Supreme Court unanimously holds that the [WikiLeaks] cable should have been admitted into evidence," the bench ruled on Thursday, with five of the seven judges going against the lower court's decision.

The ruling comes as a form of vindication for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who tweeted that it was a "big win... that will affect many court proceedings around the world: leaked diplomatic cables are admissible as evidence."
The case was brought by Chagos Refugees Group, representing Chagos Islanders who were expelled from their home in the Indian Ocean by the UK in the 1960s and '70s. The islands were vacated to make way for a US Air Force base on Diego Garcia.

The displaced islanders have been fighting to return to their homelands for decades. The UK government wants to make the islands a marine park. This would ban fishing, which would affect the Chagossians' ability to sustain a living should they be allowed to return home.
Thursday's ruling focused on efforts to overturn a Court of Appeal decision that found there was no improper motive behind the marine park proposal.


Comment: See also:

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Clipboard

Trump to Dems: Rewrite memo, it's too long and political


RT
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 15:44 UTC
Trump
© Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rewrite the Memo
US President Donald Trump told Democrats they would have to "re-do" their rebuttal to a Republican memo alleging FBI bias against him because it is "very political and long."

The 10-page document, written by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee in response to the Republican memo which accused both the FBI and the Department of Justice of bias against Trump in the investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Trump allowed the release of that memo on February 2 but blocked the Democrats' memo on Friday. He took to Twitter Saturday to explain why he instructed the congressional Democrats to re-do their memo.

The president alleged that the Democrats knew the memo would have to be heavily redacted and said they would use that as evidence of a "lack of transparency" in the White House. The decision to block the memo, which was authored by Representative Adam Schiff, raised the ire of Democrats who accused Trump of double standards.

Comment: Trump has the authority to 'yea' or 'nay' the memo. Dems should respect that he is playing fair.

According to RT:
Trump is "inclined" to declassify the memo, but is "unable to do so at this time," says the letter, adding that the committee should work with the Department of Justice to revise the memo to mitigate the risks to US law enforcement and intelligence. [...]

The DoJ and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have identified passages that would create "significant concerns for the national security and law enforcement interests.

However, the White House has instructed the DoJ to provide personnel that could assist the committee if they wish to revise the document, "given the public interest in transparency."
See also:

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Windsock

In light of intra-Korean summit, Seoul is in no rush to renew joint military drills with US


RT
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:27 UTC
Moon Jae-in Kim Jong-un
© Yonhap News
Moon Jae-in • Kim Jong-un
South Korean President Moon Jae-in reportedly rejected a call from Japan to quickly resume joint US-Korean military drills. Moon has been invited to visit Pyongyang for what may become the first top-level summit in over a decade.

At a bilateral summit on Friday, Moon called on the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to wait before resuming the drills, Yonhap reported, citing a government official. The drills have been paused for the duration of the Winter Olympics, as part of Seoul's attempt to mend relations with Pyongyang. North Korea considers the drills a major threat to its national security, saying they may be used to conceal a build-up for an invasion.

According to the report, Abe argued that the time to delay exercises scheduled for spring was not right and that Pyongyang had to change its behavior before receiving concessions.

Comment: Dutiful Abe is repeating the US' demands for a 'declaration of repentance' from North Korea. Pushing the nuclear issues of those involved to the brink has created a desperate atmosphere to come to some other solution than annihilation. A fine line to walk extremely carefully.

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Star of David

US Ambassador Friedman clashes with Haaretz over who lacks more 'decency'


RT
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 02:40 UTC
Friedman
© Breitbart
An Haaretz columnist, who has been attacked for an opinion piece criticizing David Friedman's support for Israeli settlements, has told RT he stands by the freedom of speech, something the US ambassador knows little about.

"I still think, and cannot think otherwise, that all the settlements are in violation of international law," Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, at the center of the recent scandal, told RT. "I guess the ambassador knows too little about freedom of speech, about the right to criticize even his Excellency the Ambassador to the United States."

The story began developing on Monday, when a 29-year-old Rabbi Ben Gal was stabbed and later succumbed to wounds in a fatal attack near the entrance to Har Bracha, a West Bank settlement located between Ariel and Nablus. The alleged terrorist, a 19-year old Israeli-Arab resident of Jaffa, Abed al-Karim Adel Assi, fled the scene. While searching for the suspect, a large number of IDF troops entered the village of Kifl Haris which triggered clashes with local Palestinians. At least one Palestinian was killed in the confrontation, and dozens of others injured, while the attacker has still not been found.

Comment: Friedman is not an advocate for an equally beneficial peace solution for Israel and Palestine. Levy is right to call him out.

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