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No to Christchurch Call: Put aside your hate of Trump for a day - he may have just saved free speech

Igor Ordonev
RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 16:31 UTC
jacinda arden and macron
© REUTERS/PHILIPPE WOJAZER
Even adversaries of the US president should admit that he is the only one who has stood up to the disturbing anti-free speech proposal concocted by illiberal globalist world leaders and compliant tech companies.

Ironically, by becoming the sole leader of a major Western power to reject the 'Christchurch Call' - the cross-border plan to restrict "terrorist and extremist" content online - Donald Trump has consolidated support for the document, sparing it deserved scrutiny.

After all, who doesn't want to stop violence being spread through social media, particularly in the wake of the double mosque shooting in New Zealand in March? Well - judging by the commentary in mainstream media outlets - only that exceptionalist US president, and that band of white supremacists on whom he is relying to win in 2020.

But I would urge those of all political persuasions to study the text of the document, presented by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron in Paris this week, and endorsed by every major US online giant - Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter.

Are these really the powers you want to give away to officials and Silicon Valley execs? Or should we at least ask some clarifying questions first?
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Bullseye

Macron: US tech industry regulations are 'no longer subject to democratic checks & balances'


RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 15:44 UTC
macron
© Reuters / Charles Platiau
France's President Emmanuel Macron has taken a jab at Washington by saying that its policies relating to the tech industry are at the hands of corporations. A quite surprising statement for one of America's closest allies.

The French leader said that US policies, in fact, fall short of being a paragon of democracy - at least when it comes to regulating the field of modern technology - as big business has seemingly too much of a say in formulating Washington's approaches in this sphere.

"The United States is a formidable continent but they have a model which is completely steered by big private sector players and which is no longer subject to democratic checks and balances," Macron said at a question and answer session at a technology forum in Paris, where he championed the idea of protecting European companies from being devoured by foreign, and particularly US, corporate giants.

The French president did not stop at that and added that such a laissez-faire approach has led to a situation, in which America does not in fact have a government that is capable of guaranteeing its citizens' privacy rights at the face of corporate privacy intrusion. He was also equally critical of the Chinese regulation model by calling it over-restrictive.
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Sherlock

Ukrainian who meddled against Trump in 2016 is now under Russia-corruption cloud

John Solomon
The Hill
Thu, 16 May 2019 15:55 UTC
leshchenkoserhiy
© SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images
What happens when the face of a country's anti-corruption movement suddenly is investigated for the sort of bribery he once condemned?

Ukraine, a U.S. ally and neighboring foe of Russia, is soon to find out. And it's a case with implications in the United States, where the fallout from the unproven Trump-Russia collusion scandal has engulfed several Ukrainians.

The country's chief corruption prosecutor on Thursday opened an investigation into "suspicions" that Serhiy Leshchenko, a crusading anti-corruption member of Ukraine's parliament and former investigative journalist, accepted bribes in 2016 from a Russian source that enabled him to buy a luxury condo far above his means.

Leshchenko previously has denied any wrongdoing. The 2016 purchase of his condo was investigated once before and he was cleared of criminality. Now, however, the allegation of foreign bribe money adds an element.
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Bizarro Earth

EU allies balk as US pushes for war with Iran

Jason Ditz
AntiWar.com
Wed, 15 May 2019 12:00 UTC
eu iran

EU nations scramble to extricate themselves from US military in Mideast
As the Trump Administration continues to repeat their claims of Iranian threats justifying a buildup in the Middle East, a number of US allies, particularly European allies, are balking at the narrative, noting the claims of threats are nothing new, and don't seem any more real than they ever were.

All the US war rhetoric and war plans are making these nations uncomfortable. European militaries are looking to rapidly disentangle themselves from the US military before a shooting war starts.

Germany and the Netherlands were both quick to suspend military missions in Iraq, citing a generally heightened level of tensions, but no concrete threat posed by Iran. Spain was even more dramatic in extricating itself from US involvement, withdrawing a frigate from the US-led carrier strike group that officials deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Comment: See also:

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Quenelle

'I'd rather starve to death': Chelsea Manning sent back to jail AGAIN, for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks


RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 13:14 UTC
chelsea manning
© Reuters / Courtesy of NBC News NO
Chelsea Manning
A federal judge has ordered Chelsea Manning to be jailed again for refusing to testify in a grand jury probe of Julian Assange, threatening the whistleblower with fines if the defiance continues. Manning says she would rather die.

"I would rather starve to death than to change my opinion in this regard. And when I say that, I mean that quite literally," Manning said during a hearing at a federal courthouse in Virginia on Thursday.

The US Army intelligence specialist has already spent seven years behind bars for handing over classified military and diplomatic files to WikiLeaks in 2010, and another 62 days in jail until last week for refusing to testify before another grand jury.

Comment:

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Propaganda

US sanctions Chechnya's elite police unit, Russia intends reciprocal response


RT
Thu, 16 May 2019 17:53 UTC
Chechen police
© Sputnik / Said Tsarnaev
Chechen SOBR special police unit during a military parade in Grozny in 2013
The US has blacklisted a Russian police unit in the southern republic of Chechnya as well as five individuals, under the Global Magnitsky Act that allows Washington to sanction 'human rights abusers' anywhere.

Thursday's announcement by the Treasury Department affects the Terek Special Rapid Response Team (SOBR), the Russian equivalent of a SWAT team. The sanctions also apply against the team commander, listed as Abuzayed Vismuradov.

Four more individuals were added to the blacklist, including the warden of Penal Colony IK-7 by the name of Sergey Leonidovich Kossiev. The official positions of three other sanctioned Russian citizens were not given.

Comment: RT reports that in Russia also intends to respond reciprocally:
Moscow to react 'reciprocally' to US blacklisting of elite Chechen police unit - Kremlin

Russia will respond 'reciprocally' to the US sanctions placed on Chechen special police unit Terek, Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said, slamming Washington's move as 'destructive.'

"Obviously, the principle of reciprocity applies here," Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday, adding that Washington's recent actions against Chechnya's Terek Special Rapid Response Team will trigger "necessary countermeasures."

Peskov did not specify what steps are being considered.

On Thursday, the US Treasury Department included the rapid-response unit - a local equivalent of a SWAT team - into the anti-Russian sanctions list. The sanctions also personally apply to the team's commander.

It was done under the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, which is an extension of an earlier US law adopted to target Moscow. The legislation allows the US government to sanction anyone it sees as complicit in violating human rights anywhere in the world.

Russian officials heavily criticized the law, saying that Washington does not provide sufficient evidence for its enactment and uses it to target people arbitrarily.
First the US sanctions Iran's Revolutionary Guard accusing it of being a terrorist organization, and now it blacklists the Chechen elite police unit, it's not immediately clear what the US' intentions are, other than an attempt to smear Chechnya and, by-proxy, Russia. It's a pretty outrageous claim considering that American police have a well earned reputation for their violent and inhumane treatment of citizens but the US government does nothing to correct the abuses at home: Woman who claimed to be pregnant killed by Texas cop during arrest scuffle

Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer

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Family

Activists guarding Venezuelan embassy offered State Department a peaceful resolution to standoff but US chose to ignore international law


Consortium News
Mon, 13 May 2019 21:01 UTC
protest venezuela embassy washington
© Reuters / Joshua Roberts



Comment: Prior to the Illegal US raid on the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC, the Embassy Protection Collective wrote to the State Department, outlining the traditional mechanism for treating another country's diplomatic properties when the countries are in conflict. The State Department chose to ignore centuries of custom, opting instead to seize the property in favor of its puppet, Juan Guaido.

It is hard to imagine what will be accomplished, as Venezuela will not recognize any activity of the "embassy" as legitimate. Carlos Vecchio is unable to authorize passports or any other diplomatic credentials, thereby depriving innocent Venezuelan citizens access to services.

The blatant violation of international law by the US government will have repercussions on diplomatic relations between countries far into the future. America has put a time-tested framework in jeopardy


Activists protecting the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington have written to the State Department offering a way to peacefully end the standoff between themselves and an argy mob of Guaidó supporters.

Activists who have lived inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington for more than a month protecting it from seizure by an illegitimate government have offered the State Department a solution to the crisis unfolding at the diplomatic compound. Last week the State Department pulled the credentials of Venezuelan diplomats-still recognized at the United Nations- preventing them from entering their place of work. Instead the U.S. recognized Venezuelan "diplomats" representing the self-declared "president" Juan Guaidó.

Comment:

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Eye 1

NATO-led airstrike kills 17 Afghan police officers 'by mistake'


RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 09:31 UTC
afghan bomb
© FILE PHOTO Reuters / Parwiz
An airstrike by the NATO-led Resolute Support mission reportedly killed 17 police officers in Afghanistan on Thursday, injuring a dozen others in a 'mistake' during fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban.

The strike was conducted as Afghan police were fighting the Taliban outside Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province, with Afghan officials describing the incident as a "mistake". Head of the provincial council Attaullah Afghan said 14 policemen were also wounded in the strike.

It wasn't clear whether Afghan or US forces carried out the strike, the AP reported, although the Taliban claimed it had been US forces.

Comment: Bombing hospitals, schools, weddings, and so on, is par for the course for the US led coalition's reign of terror in the Middle East:

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Eye 2

2 US destroyers enter Persian Gulf with carrier strike group on standby off coast of Oman


RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 02:06 UTC
USS Gonzalez
© Facebook / USS Gonzalez - DDG 66
USS Gonzalez
Two US Navy warships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles have entered the Persian Gulf with a carrier strike group on stand-by off the coast of Oman, as Washington keeps accusing Tehran of planning to attack "American interests."

Guided missile destroyers USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) and USS McFaul (DDG-74) transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday afternoon, the US Naval Institute (USNI) reported. Their sailing proceeded "without challenge" or "harassment" from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite boiling hot tensions between Tehran and Washington, the publication's defense sources noted.

The two destroyers are now in close proximity to other American warships in the region sent by Washington earlier this month to tackle what the US called "heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests." No evidence has yet been offered to back up those claims.

Comment: See also:



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Chart Pie

Farage's Brexit Party is 'crushing all competition' in the social media war


RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 09:48 UTC
Nigel Farage
© REUTERS / Scott Heppell
Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party are crushing the competition in the social media battle being fought online, with their Facebook posts generating more shares than every other UK political party combined, according to new data.

89up, a London-based online content and social media consultancy have analysed a database of 1.5 million Facebook pages, since the beginning of the EU election cycle, which started a month ago.

They found that the Brexit Party generated 125,035 shares, dwarfing the numbers of their rivals. The Tories were the closest with 26,400, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Green Party all trailing with less than 6,000 shares. The new pro-second referendum party Change UK had a dismal 56 shares.

Comment: The elites are no doubt going to blame social media/Russia for the landslide euroskeptic victories in the upcoming 'EU election' (if it can even be called that). Never, never will they accept that they're simply in the minority...

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