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Pusillanimous Poroshenko celebrates NATO recognition of Ukraine's 'aspiration' to become US vassal state


RT
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 23:05 UTC
Stoltenberg Poroshenko
© Mateusz Wlodarczyk / Global Look Press
Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg (R) and President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko (L)
After NATO finally took note of Ukraine's "aspiration" to get into the military alliance, ten years after its first application, Kiev praised the gesture and stated that its ambitions extend far beyond the symbolic status upgrade.

The military alliance mentioned in a Friday press release that, among others, it recognizes Kiev's interest in entering the bloc, inviting it "to engage in an Intensified Dialogue" about its "membership aspirations and related reforms."

Although the gesture is rather symbolic and doesn't provide any guarantees, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has praised this "important long-awaited and logical decision by NATO to raise Ukraine's ambitions" regarding the alliance. "Our next ambition is a Membership Action Plan (MAP)," the president declared in a Facebook post, referring to the bloc's program on preparations, specifically tailored for nations wishing to join NATO.


Comment: Translation: "You must put in the politicians we like, the economic policies we like, and help to implement the geopolitical policies we like. And like it."


Ukrainian representative to NATO, Vadim Pristayko, also stressed that Kiev is "not going to stop on the status of an aspirant country, we're continuing to work." "The only formal mechanism [to get accepted in the bloc] is the MAP. We will be asking for it separately," the diplomat told Interfax-Ukraine.

Comment: Ukraine needs to join NATO like it needs a hole in the head. But since the imploding and beleaguered country is already hemorrhaging the last bits of integrity and sanity it has left, it lacks the sense to realize this. Sad for the people of Ukraine who wagered on a Maidan - but instead got a river of woe.

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Tornado1

'Complete horror show': Saudi Arabia's spin machine and plan for 'humanitarian aid' in Yemen

Dan Glazebrook
Middle East Eye
Fri, 02 Mar 2018 13:03 UTC
injured boy Yemen
© AFP
An injured boy cries as he flees an area where air strikes hit a house in Saada, Yemen on 27 February, 2018
Presented as a great humanitarian effort, the Saudi-led coalition's new aid plan for Yemen essentially aims to tighten the blockade and monopolize access to aid in the hands of the aggressors

On 22 January, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen unveiled a new plan to deliver "unprecedented relief to the people of Yemen".

The Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations (YCHO) is a new "aid" programme with the ostensible aim of "addressing immediate aid shortfalls while simultaneously building capacity for long-term improvement of humanitarian aid and commercial goods imports to Yemen".

This will primarily be done through increasing the "capacities of Yemeni ports to receive humanitarian as well as commercial imports" - and all sealed with a whopping $1.5bn in aid contributions. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Comment: So basically what the US, UK and others have already achieved in the way of massive war crimes perpetrated in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya (and attempted in Syria), is now effectively being done (through its Saudi arm) to the people of Yemen. The relentless pursuit of oppression, destruction and 'regime change' in the Middle East seems to know no limits.

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Snakes in Suits

How the press is employed to propagate Russiagate

Lee Smith
Tablet
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 12:00 UTC
Russiagaters
Knowledgeable reporters on the left and right are frightened by the spread of an elite conspiracy theory among American media

Half the country hates Donald Trump, and even the half that thinks he's doing a good job often flinch from his boorishness, his nasty public attacks, sometimes even on his own aides. For all the top talent he says he's surrounded himself with, the president repeatedly attracts among the worst that Washington - and New York - have to offer. No doubt that's one reason why whatever is thrown at him seems to stick.

At the same time, there is a growing consensus among reporters and thinkers on the left and right-especially those who know anything about Russia, the surveillance apparatus, and intelligence bureaucracy - that the Russiagate-collusion theory that was supposed to end Trump's presidency within six months has sprung more than a few holes. Worse, it has proved to be a cover for U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement bureaucracies to break the law, with what's left of the press gleefully going along for the ride. Where Watergate was a story about a crime that came to define an entire generation's oppositional attitude toward politicians and the country's elite, Russiagate, they argue, has proved itself to be the reverse: It is a device that the American elite is using to define itself against its enemies - the rest of the country.

Yet for its advocates, the questionable veracity of the Russiagate story seems much less important than what has become its real purpose - elite virtue-signaling. Buy into a storyline that turns FBI and CIA bureaucrats and their hand-puppets in the press into heroes while legitimizing the use of a vast surveillance apparatus for partisan purposes, and you're in. Dissent, and you're out, or worse-you're defending Trump.

Comment: The infrastructure of disinformation is far deeper and more extensive than most can imagine, and its implications are dire:

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Clipboard

When a Holocaust survivor compares Israel to Nazi Germany, it's time to take note

Tony Greenstein
Medium
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 17:23 UTC
News article
If there is one thing that the Zionist movement and Israel's supporters hate it is comparisons between the 'Jewish' State of Israel and Nazi Germany. 'Anti-Semitism' they cry like crows. It is the only Zionist response to criticism. The fake Zionist IHRA definition of anti-Semitism that Theresa May has embraced, gives as one of 11 illustrative examples of 'anti-Semitism':

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.'

Shami Chakrabarti, in her Report on racism and anti-Semitism to the Labour Party also criticised the use of Holocaust comparisons.
'In day -to-day political debate , it is always incendiary to compare the actions of Jewish people or institutions anywhere in the world to those of Hitler or the Nazis or to the perpetration of the Holocaust. Indeed such remarks can only be intended to be incendiary rather than persuasive.'
Shami Chakrabarti, whose Report was admirable in many ways, in particular its (so far ignored) recommendations on a fair and transparent disciplinary process in the Labour Party, was out of her depth when she dealt with Zionism and Israel. It was not a subject she knew anything about and her opinions were shallow and superficial.

Comment: Professor Sternhell isn't the only one who notes the similarities between Israel and Nazi Germany:

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Snakes in Suits

Deep Blue State: Dems fielding unprecedented number of ex-CIA candidates


RT
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 11:39 UTC
cia eagle
© Washington Post/KJN
Democrats are running a surprising number of former spies in competitive districts in the US 2018 midterms. If successful, as many as half of all new congressional Democrats could come from the national security apparatus.

One quarter of all the Democratic challengers in competitive House of Representative districts have intelligence, State Department or National Security Council backgrounds. This is the revelation of an analysis conducted by the World Socialist Web Site, which reviewed Federal Election Commission reports filed by all the Democratic candidates in 102 competitive House districts. The report reviewed the campaign websites of challengers, which provided their biographical details.

The mere presence of CIA alumni among the Democratic candidates is not news per se: the Washington Post praised it back in October 2017, saying that CIA Democrats were "alarmed by President Trump and galvanized by Russian interference in the 2016 election."


Comment: The Dem's drift may be to create a governance body heavy in intel and military background that is comfortable with 'do as you are told', spying on citizens and the actualizing of war. It's a shame that even regional races are succumbing to a calculated political agenda instead of an honest representation of the people in any particular locality. The government of the people, by the people has turned into merely being 'paid for by' the people.

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Green Light

China: Lawmakers vote to remove presidential limits


RT
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 08:03 UTC
China congress
© Jason Lee/Reutiers
China's National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China.
The Chinese National People's Congress has approved the removal of presidential term limits. The move potentially allows the incumbent leader, Xi Jinping, to remain as president for life.

The constitutional amendment that removes the previous two-term limit was passed by Chinese lawmakers on Sunday. The draft was approved almost unanimously, with only two 'no' votes and three abstentions among almost 3,000 delegates of the National People's Congress, according to Reuters.

Last month, the Central Committee of China's ruling Communist Party proposed scrapping the constitutional clause limiting the terms of office for the president and vice president. The move marks the first amendment to fundamental Chinese law in 14 years.

Comment: Different strokes for different folks. Xi is a very capable leader.

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Wine n Glass

Kim Jong-un regaled South's delegates with wine and self-deprecating jokes


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 17:14 UTC
KimTrumprockets
© Lush
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has revealed an unexpected side of his character to Southern negotiators in Pyongyang. Rolling out snacks and wine for them, he reportedly cracked jokes about himself.

This week's meeting between Kim and a South Korean delegation in Pyongyang was a first in many ways. It was the first time Southerners met with Kim; it brought about signs that Pyongyang might give up its nukes after all; and it revealed that the North Korean strongman has a sense of humor. Anonymous South Korean officials, cited by Reuters, have shared their impressions of a dinner at Kim's.

According to the officials, Kim knows exactly what kind of gung-ho militarist image he projects, and thinks it's no big deal. His reaction to his reputation was "relaxed" during the negotiations, and he even made jokes about it from time to time. From the reports of the meeting, Kim appeared to be quite proud of keeping his Southern neighbor Moon Jae-in on his toes.

"President Moon has had a rough time chairing national security meetings at the break of dawn whenever we fired missiles," he said, adding that Moon can now rest easy at night, since the North has agreed to halt nuclear and missile tests while talks are in progress. And should they stall, things can be sorted out easily, Kim believes.

Comment: More from Business Insider:
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have agreed to meet for the first time, in what's been hailed as both a diplomatic coup and "propaganda bonanza" for the North Korean leader.

The meeting comes after months of squabbling and name-calling by the two leaders. Trump has repeatedly called Kim Jong Un "Little Rocket Man," and Kim called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" in response. But accounts from inside this week's historic talks between Kim and South Korean officials suggest that the North Korean dictator can see the funny side of the slanging match.

Kim was "very aware" of his international reputation, and even laughed about himself in front of the South Korean delegation, according to accounts relayed to Reuters. "The North Korean leader, repeatedly derided as 'Little Rocket Man' by Trump, was 'very aware' of his image, the official said, and reacted to comments made about him in a 'relaxed' manner by joking about himself from time to time," Reuters said.

At the same two-day summit, Kim promised to give up his nuclear weapons and said he wanted to meet Trump, which spurred South Korean officials to invite Trump to a meeting in North Korea.

Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, also met the South Korean delegation for dinner on Monday night.


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Clipboard

Manila takes on UN rights chief: 'Psychiatric test? The world needs more Dutertes!'


RT
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 00:28 UTC
Duterte hat
© Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
President Rodrigo Duterte
Manila has accused the UN human rights chief of being played by certain parties to "unseat" President Rodrigo Duterte, after Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called on the Philippines' leader to submit himself to a "psychiatric evaluation."

On Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called on the UN Human Rights Council to take a stand against Duterte's personal vendetta against UN rights officials, who have criticized Manila's war on drugs. "The UN Human Rights Council must take a position. These attacks cannot go unanswered," Zeid said Friday. "[Duterte] needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric examination. This kind of comment is unacceptable, unacceptable."

Manila hit back at "irresponsible and disrespectful" commentary by the UN official. The Foreign Affairs ministry specifically slammed Zeid's comments which "insult leaders of member-states without first giving them due process," warning that such practice could set a dangerous precedent.
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Pistol

Trump admin takes first steps to ban bump stock devices


RT
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 21:26 UTC
Bumpfirestock
© George Frey/Reuters
A bump fire stock attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase firing rate.
On Saturday the Trump administration took the first steps to ban 'bump stocks' by formally submitting legislation to ban the modification, which gives high-capacity rifles the ability to shoot as machine guns.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a notice of regulation which, it said, will
"clarify that the definition of "machine gun" in the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act includes bump stock type devices, and that federal law accordingly prohibits the possession, sale, or manufacture of such devices."
Saturday's move comes just two weeks after President Donald Trump said that he had directed the DOJ to propose the rule change.

"President Trump is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety and security of every American and he has directed us to propose a regulation addressing bump stocks," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

Comment: See also: Art of the deal? White House walks back Trump's gun control comments after meeting with NRA

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Binoculars

Lurking in the skies, US spy drone reportedly spotted near Crimea


RT
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 12:54 UTC
USDrone
© Northrop Grumman
US Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk
An unmanned US surveillance drone was spotted carrying out reconnaissance near Crimea, according to reports. It is said that it even flew over the demarcation line in Ukraine's Donbass region.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk cruised over war-torn east Ukraine before coming within 30 kilometers of Sevastopol's coast. CivMilAir, which monitors military aviation flights worldwide, announced as much in a tweet on Friday.

The unmanned craft is thought to have taken off from a US Navy installation at NATO Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy.

Comment: Mischievous aircraft? There is nothing mischievous about these missions.

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