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US Posturing - Russia gets 'hours' to ease Ukraine crisis


MSN NZ
Fri, 27 Jun 2014 05:18 UTC
Russian grief in Ukraine
© Maysun/ Maysun/Corbi
Relatives mourn a medical worker shot dead by Ukranian troops at a checkpoint near Slavyansk.
The United States has warned Russia it has only "hours" to prove it is helping disarm Ukrainian insurgents, whose tenuous truce with Kiev is due to expire by the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry's ultimatum was delivered a day before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signs the final chapters of an historic EU accord that nudges his country toward eventual membership and pulls it firmly out of Russia's reach.

The West is scrambling to save a temporary ceasefire and nascent peace talks that pro-Russian separatists, who are now threatening the ex-Soviet state's survival, agreed to at the start of the week.


Comment: The "Pro Russian Separatists" that the western media keep talking about, are in fact Russians, who have only been a part of Ukraine since Khrushchev gave that region, including Crimea to Ukraine in 1954. It is bald propaganda and a blatant attempt to demonize them, to call them pro Russian Separatists.


Poroshenko on Thursday pushed back the expiry of the truce, broken on repeated occasions, but still having succeeded in tempering the worst of the violence in the Russified eastern rustbelt, for a few hours until Friday at 1900 GMT (0500 on Friday AEST).

Comment: The hypocrisy of John Kerry is amazing. He has the gall to call on Russia to force the Russian people living in eastern Ukraine to become "part of a legitimate process", while he supports a regime that seized power in a US backed coup - hardly a legitimate process.

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Light Saber

Russia's Putin to hold talks with Palestine's Abbas


Voice of Russia
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:25 UTC
putin abbas

Real diplomacy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the State of Palestine, here on Wednesday. "During the forthcoming meeting, the leaders are to discuss matters aimed at further strengthening bilateral relations, including stepping up cooperation in the trade-and-economic sphere," the Kremlin press service official said.

Special attention is to be devoted to regional and international problems of current concern, specifically prospects for the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process and the situation in the area of the Middle East and North Africa as a whole.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, for his part, pointed out that it is planned to discuss the situation in Syria. He said that while in Moscow the Palestinian leader would meet with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to discuss prospects for the development of trade-and-economic and cultural cooperation between Russia and Palestine.

"Russia's Head of Government and the President of the State of Palestine will discuss matters of current importance concerning bilateral relations, as well as the present state of and prospects for the development of trade-and-economic and cultural cooperation. Humanitarian cooperation is to be discussed with emphasis on the rendering of practical assistance to the Palestinian side in developing state institutions and in solving basic social tasks," the press service official added.
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V

People's Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk to adopt single Constitution


Voice of Russia
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 18:20 UTC
Novorussiya troop
© RIA Novosti/Valeriy Melnikov
Self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics will adopt a single Constitution, Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai said on Tuesday.

On May 11, referendums on the status of the regions were held in Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. About 90 percent of the participants voted for the earlier proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics' independence from Kiev.

The DPR and LPR have started forming their own authorities and legislative basis. The Kiev authorities consider these organizations to be terrorist ones.

"Just now, the Supreme Council (a session of the Supreme Council of the Donetsk People's Republic) has voted for the Constitution of Novorossia. In the short run, this document will be voted for in Lugansk," said Boroday.
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Eye 2

Monsters among us: Jimmy Savile's victims were aged five to 75 at Leeds hospital; he 'interfered' with bodies of dead patients

Caroline Davies
Guardian
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 16:27 UTC
Investigators say men, women, boys and girls were among victims, and incidents included three rapes

Jimmy Savile
© Keystone
Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile's victims at Leeds general infirmary ranged from five to 75 in age and included men, women, boys and girls, an inquiry has found.

A wide-ranging investigation carried out at 28 NHS trusts found widespread abuse by the serial sexual predator at Broadmoor and Leeds general infirmary, both places where Savile had long associations.

The Department of Health (DoH) apologised on Thursday for the "wholly inadequate procedures" that allowed the former BBC DJ to hold a managerial position at the high-security hospital Broadmoor.

Una O'Brien, permanent secretary at the DoH, described the reports as shocking. She apologised for the inadequate processes that enabled Savile to occupy a managerial role at Broadmoor in 1988.

"The DoH accepts that the procedures in 1988 were wholly inadequate for checking whether Jimmy Savile was a suitable person to be given a managerial role," she said.

At Broadmoor, with which Savile had an association from 1968 for three decades and a managerial role from 1988, there were allegations made by 11 people, six of them patients, two staff and three minors. Two were male. Investigators believe this to be an "underestimate of the true picture". Patients were strongly discouraged from reporting at the time, and carry that legacy now, said the report.

The investigation concluded that at least five, possibly six, had been sexually assaulted, but were unable to speak in detail to the other five.

Savile had keys to the high-security hospital, accommodation and unrestricted access due to his relationship with the medical superintendent who hoped his fame would improve public perception of the hospital. He stopped visiting when a new security system was introduced in 2004.


Comment: Channel 4 News reports:



Comment: "Wholly inadequate procedures" does not even begin to describe it.

What sort of society do we live in, in which a psychopathic, depraved monster is given access to the most vulnerable all because of his celebrity status and connections with power? What does this say about such spheres of power?

If this went on for decades and is only coming to light after the death of Savile, how many more similar monsters are currently free to abuse as much as they like from their positions as members of the elite? If this is the tip of the iceberg, how deep does the institutional corruption go?

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Evil Rays

Putin & Fischer press conference video and partial transcript


Kremlin
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 16:50 UTC

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Ladies and gentlemen,

We have held very constructive and substantive talks both in restricted and expanded formats.

This year is special for Russian-Austrian relations: we are marking 525 years since the first exchange of diplomatic missions and 90 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries.

Mr President and I have agreed to launch joint events to commemorate World War II. It is very important for us that Austria shows such care for monuments and graves of Soviet soldiers. I would like to thank the Austrian public and leadership for this effort.

Special thanks go to public organisations and individual volunteers, such as Peter Sixl. He initiated the publication of a Book of Tribute to the Soviet citizens who died during World War II, which contains over 60,000 names. This is a very noble and substantive work that the Russian public is sure to appreciate.

In the course of our meetings and talks, we dealt with key issues of bilateral cooperation. We are happy to note the growth of trade and economic ties, as Mr President has just said. I will not repeat the figures, which are very good. The main thing is that there is a positive trend both in trade and investment, as well as in implementing major projects.

Cooperation in energy stands out in the overall economic cooperation between our two states. As we all remember, Austria was the first West European country to sign in 1968 a contract on natural gas supplies from the Soviet Union. During all these years the Soviet Union and later Russia have been strictly complying with its commitments.
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Stormtrooper

American police 'excessively militarized' and 'hyper aggressive' - ACLU study

Robert Bridge
RT
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:40 UTC
Image
© Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/AFP
Inheriting both the weapons and the mindset of the US military, police are becoming militarized and 'hyper aggressive' in their approach to maintaining security on the streets of America. New study calls on police not to treat people as 'wartime enemies'.

The tragic story of Jose Guerena, 26, who served as a Marine in the Iraq War, only to be killed by 'friendly fire' at his home in Tucson, Arizona, is becoming a disturbingly familiar one across the country.

On the morning of May 5, 2011, Guerena's wife alerted him when she heard strange sounds and the silhouette of a man standing outside their home. Guerena got his wife and child into a closet, grabbed his rifle, and went to investigate. This proved to be a deadly mistake. A SWAT team opened fire on Guerena, who died on his kitchen floor with multiple wounds and without medical attention.

As it later emerged, the SWAT unit raided a number of residences in the neighborhood, turning up nothing more than a small bag of marijuana. No drugs were found in the Guerenas' home.

Comment:
  • US is the Worst Police State in the World - By the Numbers
  • Who will protect you from the police? The rise of government-sanctioned home invasions

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Cut

Supreme Court limits President's ability to make appointments during Senate recesses

Adam Liptak
New York Times
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 15:57 UTC
Image
The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a significant blow to executive power, cutting back on the president's power to issue recess appointments during brief breaks in the Senate's work.

The court ruled unanimously that President Obama had violated the Constitution in 2012 by appointing officials to the National Labor Relations Board during a short break in the Senate's work when the chamber was convening every three days in short pro forma sessions when no business was conducted. Those breaks were too short, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in a majority opinion joined by the court's four more liberal members.

Justice Breyer added that recess appointments remain permissible so long as they are made during a break of 10 or more days. But many experts say that if either house of Congress is controlled by the party opposed to the president, lawmakers can effectively block such appointments by requiring pro forma sessions every three days. Each house must get the approval of the other chamber for recesses of more than three days.
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Stock Down

Sales of Hillary Clinton memoir plummet in just 2nd week

Amy Chozick
New York Times
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:55 UTC
Image
© AP PHOTO/LENNY IGNELZI
Sales of Hillary Rodham Clinton's new memoir, "Hard Choices," declined 43.5 percent to 48,000 copies in its second week on the shelves, according to Nielsen BookScan.

The sales figures put pressure on the publisher, Simon & Schuster, which paid Mrs. Clinton a multimillion-dollar advance to write about her time at the State Department and has invested heavily in the book's rollout, one of the biggest of the year.

About 85,000 copies were sold in the week after the book's June 10 release, according to BookScan, a subscription service that tracks sales at over 80 percent of book vendors in the United States. Those figures do not include e-books, which increased sales by about 15 percent, to roughly 100,000 electronic and hardcover copies.

First-week sales typically account for about 30 percent of the total, thanks to the publicity blitzes that accompany publishers' biggest releases. That means "Hard Choices" could fall far short of the one million copies that Simon & Schuster shipped to bookstores, industry executives said. (Publishers sell books on consignment and must take back copies that do not sell in the stores.)
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Dollar

China continuing with plans to develop global financial rival to World Bank

Jamil Anderlini
Financial Times
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 14:27 UTC
Image
China is expanding plans to establish a global financial institution to rival the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which Beijing fears are too influenced by the US and its allies.

In meetings with other countries, Beijing has proposed doubling the size of registered capital for the proposed bank to $100bn, according to two people familiar with the matter.

So far, 22 countries across the region, including several wealthy states in the Middle East, which China refers to as "West Asia", have shown interest in the multilateral lender, which would be known as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It would initially focus on building a new version of the "silk road", the ancient trade route that once connected Europe to China.
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Eye 1

Jake Tapper's "Yellow Journalism" attack against Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth a perfect example of Orwellian Newspeak

Craig McKee
Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
Sun, 22 Jun 2014 13:41 UTC
Image
It looked just like an infomercial, but with a lot more frowning.

In an example of Orwellian newspeak, the CNN show The Lead with Jake Tapper took on Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth over its decision to distribute information pamphlets outside the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero in New York City. The pamphlets mimic the design of the "official" ones, but instead of the official story, they contain key scientific forensic evidence indicating that the three World Trade Center towers were brought down with explosives and incendiaries. Unlike the official version, the photo on the cover of the AE pamphlet shows the Twin Towers and Building 7.

The Tapper report is a hysterical compendium of all the empty slogans and anti-conspiracy-theory talking points that make up the mainstream media's continuing attack on the 9/11 Truth Movement. It didn't take more than a couple of seconds into the report to see how Tapper was going to play the story.
Image

Jake Tapper doing a great job spreading lies on television
He tells us that "the conspiracy group" AE911Truth plans to stand outside the museum and hand out fake museum pamphlets that look exactly like the real ones. The volunteers handing them out are described as "so-called truthers," and the whole exercise is labeled an "affront to the victims' families."

"Can't these people give it a rest for one day out of respect for the families?" an exasperated Tapper queries, adding that the 9/11 memorial is "sacred." Indeed, since 9/11 itself, the grounds have been transformed from a place of truth-seeking to a pathologically sacred shrine to "not asking questions about 9/11."
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