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New Iran envoy Elliott Abrams raises the risk that Israel will provoke Trump into conflict with Tehran

James North
Mondoweiss
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Elliot Abrams
© Unknown
Special Envoy to Iran Elliott Abrams
The danger that Benjamin Netanyahu will provoke Donald Trump into attacking Iran is not over. In fact, the risk of conflict just increased — because the new U.S. special envoy for Iran is none other than Elliott Abrams, the defender of mass murder in the1980s in Central America who is also fanatically pro-Israel.

But you won't learn about this risk in today's New York Times. It appears that Times reporters David Sanger and Michael Crowley are secretly moonlighting for Brian Hook, the outgoing U.S. Iran diplomat. Their article only mentions Abrams once, and goes on to whitewash Hook's career and give a distorted view of U.S. policy toward Iran.

Let's turn to Eric Alterman for a recent, thorough look at Elliott Abrams and his criminal dishonesty about U.S.-sponsored crimes in Central America in the 1980s. Alterman provides facts to substantiate his view that Abrams was a
"cheerleader for murderous dictators, and the new Iran envoy's career was literally built on the defense of mass murder and genocide and his willingness to lie on behalf of those who carried it out and smear the reputations of anyone who sought to try and stop or expose it."

Comment: See also:

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Better Earth

Agreement on Taliban prisoner release brings Afghan peace talks a step closer


RFE/RL
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:42 UTC
Afghan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
© ARG (RFE/RL)
Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
The Afghan government and the Taliban are on the verge of starting peace talks aimed at ending almost two decades of war in Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani said that he will approve the release of 400 Taliban militants.

Ghani announced his intention to sign a decree to release the militants on August 9, shortly after the move was recommended by 3,400 prominent Afghans at a three-day Loya Jirga in Kabul.

Afghan government sources have suggested that Ghani is likely to sign the release order on August 10.

The decision came more than five months after Washington and the Taliban made the release of prisoners by both sides a condition for the talks between the militant group and Kabul.

The talks will start in Doha, Qatar, after the completion of the prisoner release, expected in the next few days, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Twitter.

Khalilzad welcomed Ghani's decision and the declaration of the Loya Jirga, a traditional meeting of Afghan tribal elders and other stakeholders convened to decide on controversial national issues.
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Propaganda

Zero self-awareness: Stelter claims left-wing media not dedicated to 'tearing down Trump'

Nicholas Fondacaro
mrcNewsBusters
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:26 UTC
brian stelter CNN
© Reuters/Andrew Kelly
Brian Stelter at a Media Literacy Week panel in Manhattan, New York
CNN chief medial reporter Brian Stelter beclowned himself yet again during Sunday's no-so Reliable Sources. Between raging at right-wing media and talk radio for questioning Joe Biden's mental lucidity, and claiming left-wing hacks like himself weren't dedicated to "tearing down" President Trump, Stelter was out to prove that he was willing to lie with impunity. And at one point, a guest floated the idea of weaponizing the Federal Communication Commission to target and presumably shut down right-wing talk radio.

Gaslighting his viewers from the get-go, Stelter hoped they wouldn't remember how he was among the first in the liberal media to demand the press start questioning Trump's mental health, as he railed against right-wing media for now questioning Biden's.

Suggesting his opponents lived in "a totally alternative universe," he warned CNN's gullible, lefty viewers: "What you are about to hear them say is mind-boggling. Look, whether you like Biden or not, this stuff is offensive and other-worldly."

After acting like it was some great mystery as to why right-wing figures were switching over to discussing the election instead of coronavirus (it's not like two conventions are coming up later this month and debates in September), Stelter argued that what we're seeing was hyper "negative partisanship" coming from right-wing media:
You know what this is? This is negative partisanship in action. So, what's negative partisanship? Well, these researchers from Emory University define it as a pretty simple content. They say in this article for Politico magazine that, "over the past few decades American politics has become like a bitter sports rivalry, in which the parties hang together mainly out of sheer hatred of the other team, rather than a shared sense of purpose."

The researchers showed that partisans, meaning strong supporters of a specific party, have grown to dislike the opposing party, quote, "more than they like their own party."

So, when the President, for example, says that Biden is against God, that's negative partisanship. It is so hateful.

Comment:



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MIB

The Cambridge Four: Spies Who Hijacked America

Steven P. Schrage, PhD
taibbi.substack.com
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 16:34 UTC
General Mike Flynn
© Saul Loeb / Getty Images
General Mike Flynn
As a doctoral candidate at Cambridge working under "FBI Informant" Stefan Halper, I had a front-row seat for Russiagate

Global scandals now labeled Russiagate, Spygate, and what President Trump calls "Obamagate" shook the political world, but hit me closer to home. I'm the reason the so-called FBI "spy" at the center of Spygate, Stefan Halper, met Carter Page, the alleged "Russian Asset" in Russiagate's Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

On May 19, 2018, this realization blindsided me in London as I was about to fly out for my wedding. The New York Times, NBC News and other sources had outed my PhD supervisor, Stefan Halper, as a spy known to the UK's MI6 intelligence service as "The Walrus."

It didn't seem real. Could a former professor I once trusted as a mentor have betrayed his word, profession, and country to start these disasters? I had moved to England to pursue an academic career and leave DC's politics behind, only to have my PhD supervisor throw me back into the most outrageous political firestorms I could imagine. Just my luck. Then an even worse question began nagging at me. Did I unintentionally light the match that started it all?

Comment: Fox News reports:



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X

Iran shutters newspaper after expert claims real number of Covid-19 cases is 95% higher


Associated Press
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:10 UTC
iranian woman mask covid
© EPA-EFE
Iran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks by an expert who said the official figures on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country account for only 5% of the real toll, allegations rejected by the Health Ministry.

Mohammad Reza Sadi, the editor-in-chief of Jahane Sanat, told the official IRNA news agency that authorities closed his newspaper, which began publishing in 2004 and was mainly focused on business news.

On Sunday, the daily quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist the paper said had worked on the government's anti-coronavirus campaign, as saying the true number of cases and deaths in Iran could be 20 times the number reported by the Health Ministry.

He also said the virus was detected in Iran a month earlier than Feb. 19, when authorities announced the first confirmed case. He said they held up the announcement until after the commemorations of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and parliamentary elections earlier that month.

"The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons," he said, and only provided "engineered statistics" to the public.

Comment: Here are the official death statistics from Iran. Either way, like most governments today, it looks like they're up to something with their data:
iran deaths
Back in March reports made it appear as if the country would fall to pieces, politicians were dying on a semi-regular basis, and along with Italy it looked as if Iran was one of the hardest hit countries on the planet. If the above graph were true, Iran would have been in an even worse position for all of July.

As for the above account, this criticism seems more believable:

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Bullseye

Why shouldn't Moscow 'denigrate' doddery Biden and the xenophobic 'anti-Russia' establishment? In fact America should do so too!


RT
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 16:53 UTC
biden
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
The US Intelligence Community (IC) issued a report that says Russia is not a fan of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and the anti-Russia 'establishment.' If true, what is so unbelievable about the Kremlin's stance?

The statement released on Friday says, in part, that Russia is employing "a range of measures to ... denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment.'" It went on to say that this approach is consistent with Moscow's criticism of Joe Biden when he was Barack Obama's vice president "for his role in ... policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia." Perhaps the best response to such an accusation would be to ask: Does the Democratic Party really need the Kremlin's help in denigrating their top nominee for the presidential ticket when Joe Biden has been more than capable of denigrating himself? In fact, the day before the IC statement was released it was difficult to deny that the 77-year-old candidate's use-by shelf date may have already expired.

That realization came during Biden's latest interview smashup when he attempted some mental gymnastics by contrasting the Black and Latino communities. It didn't go down well. Once again, Biden wrapped his brain around a guardrail he never saw coming. "Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions," he said, "the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things."
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USA

Trump denies suggesting adding his face to Mount Rushmore, but calls it 'a good idea'

Ronn Blitzer
Fox News
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:30 UTC
trump rushmore
President Trump claimed that a recent New York Times report that he had inquired about having his face added to Mount Rushmore was "Fake News," although he was not exactly opposed to the idea.

The Times reported on Saturday that in 2019, a White House aide asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's office about how a president could get added to the famed mountain sculpture. CNN later picked up the Times' report, adding a reference to a 2018 Oval Office meeting where, Noem said, Trump asked her about it directly.

"This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN," Trump tweeted Sunday evening. "Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!"


Noem claimed, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, that she had encouraged Trump to visit South Dakota, mentioning Mount Rushmore, to which Trump replied that it was his "dream" to have his face on there.

"I started laughing," said Noem, who was running for governor at the time. "He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious."

Comment: "Trump wants to be on Mt. Rushomore!" Not a big deal, if true - at least, not newsworthy. Trump denying it, and saying it's a good idea. That's funny.

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Yellow Vest

Lebanese PM calls for early elections, blames corruption for Beirut blast, massive protests - UPDATES

Ilya Tsukanov
Sputnik
Sat, 08 Aug 2020 18:18 UTC
Hassan Diab
© AP/Hussein Malia
Newly assigned Lebanese PM Hassan Diab, December 2019
Prime Minister Hassan Diab was appointed to his post in January 2020, succeeding Saad Hariri. Diab's short time in office has been racked with instability from events mostly out of his control, starting with the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic crisis, and culminating in the August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has called for new parliamentary elections, saying they are the only way to take the country out of its current crisis. "We cannot get out of this structural crisis without holding early parliamentary elections," the independent Sunni politician said Saturday in a televised address.

Diab clarified that he would be ready to continue carrying out his duties for the next two months until all of Lebanon's political parties can agree on how to proceed.

Commenting on the ongoing probe into the August 4 explosion in Beirut, which has claimed the lives of over 150 people, injured over 5,000 and displaced as many as 300,000 others, Diab promised that the investigation will continue to expand until everyone involved is held accountable. "I firmly reiterate that none of those responsible for the Beirut Port tragedy will escape punishment," he stressed.

Diab added that he considers the port explosion to have been the result of years of "corruption and mismanagement" by his predecessors.

Comment: The smoke and mirrors of this horrific event will eventually clear. Meanwhile it is business as usual for the US when it comes to inserting USAID and unasked-for 'diplomatic advice'.

UPDATE: 9/8/2020: Resignations amok and anti-gov protests seem to be the next critical steps in the aftermath of the explosion:
Lebanon's Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad has stepped down from her post within the embattled government. In a televized address, Samad apologized for failing to meet the "aspirations" of the Lebanese people and called for "unity" as the country recovers from the catastrophic explosion that ripped through Beirut.
Kattar/Samad
© AFP/Reuters/Dalati Nohra
Lebanon's Environment Minister Danianos Kattar • Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad
In addition, Lebanon's Environment Minister Damianos Kattar has resigned amid huge anti-government protests. Kattar is the second minister to quit, with protesters calling for change following the devastating explosion in Beirut's port. Kattar told Prime Minister Hassan Diab that friends of his family died in Tuesday's explosion, and he would therefore "no longer continue" with his responsibilities.
UPDATE: 9/8/2020: While expressing sympathy for Lebanese suffering, the US manages to suggest peaceful regime change is in order, offered via the US Embassy in Beirut:
Amid clashes with riot police, protesters stormed several government buildings and attempted to reach the Parliament. Several military units were eventually deployed to help riot police restore order, forcing the US Embassy in Beirut to wade into the crisis, voicing its support for the citizens' "right to peaceful protest."

The number of injuries climbed to at least 490, meanwhile, authorities said 70 security officers were injured and at least one them died in clashes.

However, as a US Air Force transport plane delivered the first batch of aid, USAID also made sure to emphasize that the "United States has long supported the Lebanese people's pursuit of economic prosperity and accountable governance, free of corruption and foreign pressure."


Mere opportunism, or was Beirut bombed to produced precisely this impasse?

Update (10 Aug): Lebanese PM Hassan Diabhas officially announced the resignation of his entire government following days of protests over the Beirut port explosion.

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Black Cat

'Mad Maxine' sure Biden will pick Black woman as VP (as if he's actually doing the choosing)

Brooke Seipel
The Hill
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 16:13 UTC
maxine waters joe biden
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst; Reuters / Joshua Roberts
Joe Biden (L) Maxine Waters (R)
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) said in a new interview that she is confident presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will pick a Black woman to be his running mate.

"We know that we're going to have a Black woman who is going to be the vice president," Waters told Essence in an interview. "Let me guarantee you this, based on everything that I know and understand, and the help that he has already gotten from the Black community with what [Rep.] Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) has done, Jim Clyburn, when he hears about this he's gonna laugh, he can't go home without a Black woman being VP."

Comment: Waters black-and-white approach (pun intended) to choosing who will likely be the next president, should Joe actually pull off a win, was roundly mocked by the Twitterati:







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Attention

AG Bill Barr says 'socialist' BLM protesters have created 'urban guerrilla warfare' because of their desire for a left-wing 'utopia'

Lauren Edmonds
Daily Mail
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 08:47 UTC
bill barr

Attorney General William Barr (pictured) once again criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and Democrats in an interview on Fox News' Life, Liberty & Levin on Sunday.
Attorney General William Barr claimed that Black Lives Matter protesters have inundated US cities with a new form of 'urban guerrilla warfare' because of a 'lust for power' and desire for a 'progressive utopia.'

Tensions between Republicans and Democrats ratcheted up significantly in recent months as the United States, still overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, was hit with a swath of protests ahead of the November presidential election.

Politicians on both sides of the aisles have hurled blame on each other for the civil unrest from dissatisfied Americans disillusioned by law enforcement and the federal government.

Comment: See also:

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