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DOJ chief Horowitz slams FBI for 'serious errors in Russiagate investigation


RT
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 19:28 UTC
IGHorowitz
© Reuters/Erin Scott
Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz blasted the FBI for "basic, fundamental, and serious errors" made in their initial Trump-Russia probe which he said amounted to a "failure" by the "entire chain of command."

Horowitz appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday to testify on the results of his 476-page report into the origins of the original FBI 'Crossfire Hurricane' investigation into the Trump campaign. In particular, the IG criticized the FBI for serious irregularities, inaccuracies and omissions in their FISA applications to obtain a warrant to monitor former campaign adviser, Carter Page.

One of the omissions in the FISA application against Page was relevant information that he had been an "operational contact" for another government agency between 2008 and 2013.

While his investigation determined that the FBI complied with policy when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation, it still highlighted "significant concerns" over how it was conducted and managed. Despite the serious inaccuracies, however, Horowitz said he found no "political bias or improper motivation" in the FBI's decision to launch the probe.

That is a conclusion disputed by Attorney General Bill Barr, who said Tuesday that the investigation was launched on a "completely bogus narrative" which was "fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press." Barr decried what he called "inexplicable" and "intolerable" behavior at the FBI.

Comment: The Federalist, 11/12/2019: CNN, MSNBC refused to air the IG's hearing live
CNN and MSNBC stopped following the IG hearing after about 30 minutes, and both refused to cover the opening statements by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The decision does not align with the recent live hearing coverage standard both networks have held for the last few months, giving endless air time to the impeachment hearings lead by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif, and Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Media personalities are noticing this unfair balance.




If the IG report proved that the FBI acted perfectly within its boundaries, as the mainstream media claim, then what's the harm in airing this footage? The truth is, the IG report revealed abuse of power at the highest levels of the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community. The truth does not fit the CNN and MSNBC agenda, and that is why they refuse to give a platform to it.


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Dollar

Congress approves budget for Trump's new Space Force, as the 6th branch of the military


RT
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 23:04 UTC
SPACEFORCE
© Bradscribe/WordPress.com/KJN
US Space Force is about to become a sixth branch of the military, courtesy of Congress going along with President Donald Trump's popular campaign promise even as Democrats try to impeach him from office.

Included in the 3,500-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2020 is the provision recognizing space as a warfighting domain and establishing the Space Force as a separate service branch. While it is a step up from the current Space Command, the USSF will still be embedded under the US Air Force, in an arrangement mirroring the relationship of the Marines and the Navy.

"Congress - don't delay this anymore! I will sign this historic defense legislation immediately!" Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
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Snakes in Suits

US Senate: Proposed new bill to give State Dept. the right to call Russia a 'sponsor of terrorism'


RT
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 22:17 UTC
Capitol
© Reuters/Carlos Jasso
Capitol Hill, Washington DC
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a bill asking the State Department to determine whether Russia falls under criteria of a state sponsor of terrorism, potentially opening a way [for] stricter sanctions.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a bill asking the State Department to determine whether Russia falls under criteria of a state sponsor of terrorism, potentially opening a way stricter sanctions. The pretentiously titled 'Stopping Malign Activities from Russian Terrorism (SMART) Act' could potentially bring the already strained relations between Moscow and Washington to a new low.

Introduced by Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) in April, it requires the Secretary of State to give "appropriate congressional committees" a straight answer on whether Russia could be designated a sponsor of terrorism. The bill also requires the State Department to determine and report to Congress whether the militia in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in eastern Ukraine can be considered "foreign terrorist organizations." The report should be presented "no later than 90 days" after the proposed law comes into force, should it pass in both Senate and the House and be signed by the president.

Comment: The US Congress is truly made up of 'snakes in suits'!

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Document

FISA Report: Clinton meddled in 2016 election, who would have thought!

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 18:33 UTC
HilClinton
© newyorker.com
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
If Russia spending $100,000 on Facebook ads constitutes election interference, and Donald Trump asking Ukraine to investigate the Bidens is too - then Hillary Clinton takes the cake when it comes to influence campaigns designed to harm a political opponent.

Contained within Monday's FISA report by the DOJ Inspector General is the revelation that Fusion GPS, the firm paid by the Clinton campaign to produce the Steele dossier, "was paying Steele to discuss his reporting with the media." (P. 369 and elsewhere)
FISA#11
(h/t @wakeywakey16)

And when did Steele talk with the media (which got him fired as an FBI source)? September of 2016, roughly six weeks before the election.
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Arrow Down

German FM: Berlin rejects extraterritorial sanctions against Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline


RT
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 11:22 UTC
NStream
© Nord Stream AG
Pipeline for Nord Stream
Berlin has reaffirmed its support for the Russia-led gas pipeline despite the threat of new US sanctions against European firms involved in the project. Nord Stream 2 will be completed, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"European energy policy is decided in Europe, not the United States. We reject any outside interventions and extraterritorial sanctions," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

The statement comes amid looming US sanctions against the project, that were recently added to US 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which is up for approval before Christmas. If approved by the US Congress, the act would allow the Trump administration to sanction companies involved in Russian gas pipeline projects.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, said "I assure you that neither Nord Stream 2 nor TurkStream will stop."

Comment: RFE/RL, 12/12/2019: Ukraine welcomes US sanctions on Nord Stream
"Ukraine is grateful for 337 votes to support sanctions related to #NordStream2 construction. This is a political project that undermines energy security of #Europe," the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk also welcomed the move as "good news." The sanctions should "dramatically complicate construction of the Russian pipe."

Kyiv has long protested the project and has lobbied Washington to pass the bill as the pipeline would deprive the country of more than $2 billion in transit fees. Ukraine also sees the pipeline as undermining existing economic sanctions imposed by the West to compel Russia to resolve a conflict in eastern Ukraine and end its occupation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz, one of the co-sponsors of the bill, has said that only a few companies in the world have the technology to lay deep-sea pipelines and none of them are Russian, meaning the Kremlin could struggle to complete the project should the foreign companies obey the U.S. sanctions bill.


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Telephone

China claims it is in close communication with US on trade as fresh tariffs loom


Reuters
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 02:35 UTC
Shipping bows
© finance.yahoo.com
China and the United States are in close communication on trade, its commerce ministry said on Thursday, declining to comment on possible retaliatory steps if Washington imposes more tariffs on Chinese goods this weekend.

The United States is due to impose tariffs on almost $160 billion of Chinese imports such as video game consoles, computer monitors and toys on Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet top trade advisers on Thursday to discuss the move, sources told Reuters previously.

A decision to proceed with the levies could roil financial markets and scuttle U.S.-China talks to end the 17-month-long trade war between the world's two largest economies.

"The two sides' economic and trade teams are maintaining close communication," Gao Feng, spokesman at the Chinese commerce ministry, told reporters at a regular briefing.

Comment: Will it be compromise, cooperation and resolution? Or, more of the same!



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Star of David

Israel: The Knesset dissolves, third election scheduled for March 2, 2020


Sputnik
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 05:14 UTC
Knesset
© AFP/Gali Tibbon
Knesset, Israel
Israel is now heading for its third general election within a year - an unprecedented situation for the country.

The Israeli Parliament has adopted laws on dissolving the Knesset and holding early general election on 2 March 2020 in second and third readings, Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday. The parliament has also voted to set the election date on 2 March instead of 10 March, when Israelis will be celebrating Purim.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who did not attend the first reading that took place on late Wednesday, took part in the second and third readings.

The Knesset of the 22nd convocation had been working for less than three months, thus setting an anti-record in Israeli history.
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Arrow Up

Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves sanctions against Turkey for S-400s purchase


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 19:37 UTC
S-400
© AP/Turkish Defence Ministry
S-400 Air Defense System
Washington has repeatedly threatened to sanction Turkey over its decision to buy the Russian air defence system, and moved to halt the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara over the purchase earlier this year.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act', which includes sanctions against Turkey over its decision to buy Russia's S-400 air defence system.

Senator Bob Menendez, the bill's co-sponsor and ranking committee Democrat, tweeted Wednesday that the legislation "makes clear to Turkey that its behaviour with respect to Syria is unacceptable, and its purchase of the S-400 system is untenable."

The bill's passage followed an appeal by a bipartisan group of senators including Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Republican Lindsey Graham to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month, with the appeal urging Pompeo to punish Ankara, and suggesting that a failure to act was "sending a terrible signal to other countries that they can flout US laws without consequence."
The sanctions legislation was passed 18-4 Wednesday, and now faces a vote before the rest of the Senate. Committee chairman Senator Jim Risch said following the vote that "Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behaviour."

Comment:




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Star of David

Of course: Israeli satellite intel co claims alleged 'Iranian' weapons tunnel in Syria near Iraqi border


Sputnik
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 20:17 UTC
tunnels iraqi border
© ImageSat International
Satellite images showing an alleged Iranian tunnel on a military base near the border crossing in Syria's Boukamal region, near the Iraqi border, on December 10, 2019
In recent years, Israel has repeatedly accused Iran of deploying forces and weapons in Syria as part of a proxy war against Tel Aviv, and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against alleged 'Iranian' or 'Iran-backed' forces in the war-torn country. Tehran says its assistance has been limited to helping Damascus in its fight against terrorism.

Israeli intelligence company ImageSat International has released a series of satellite images it claims show efforts by Iranian or 'pro-Iranian' forces to build a tunnel at a military base near the Syrian-Iraqi border to facilitate the transfer and storage of advanced weapons and large vehicles.

Comment: Take it with a grain of salt. ImageSat International is a favorite go-to for propaganda photos.

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Chess

US Senate passes resolution recognizing Armenian genocide, ignoring Trump & Turkey's objections


RT
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 20:20 UTC
us capitol
© Reuters / Loren Elliott
The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the Ottoman Empire-era massacre of Armenians as genocide. The move is likely to further strain US ties with Ankara, which has opposed such a designation for decades.

The landmark resolution was passed by the Senate on Thursday. It was the fourth attempt to adopt it, as the previous efforts were blocked by three GOP senators.

"We have just passed the Armenian genocide resolution...and it is fitting and appropriate that the Senate stands on the right side of history in doing so. It commemorates the truth of the Armenian genocide," the resolution's sponsor, Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), said.
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