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Che Guevara

Rise of Italy's nationalist leader Matteo Salvini shows the strength of the EU is failing

Tom Luongo
tomluongo.me
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 21:41 UTC
Matteo Salvini
© Agence France-Presse/ Tiziana Fabi
Italian Northern League (Lega Nord) party leader Matteo Salvini speaks during a rally against the Italian government's policy
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini just declared himself the leader of the Europe's future. He refuses to budge one inch in negotiations with the European Union over Italy's budget now threatening to take down the government.

And in doing this he not only speaks for Italians, he is now speaking for that growing part of the European population who sees what the EU is morphing into and recoiling in horror.

Protests in France over Emmanuel Macron's new tax on diesel have turned violent. The British leadership has completely betrayed the people over Brexit. They may win this battle but the animosity towards the Britain's leadership will only grow more virulent over time.

As the core leadership in France and Germany fades in popularity, held in place because of domestic political squabbling, Angela Merkel and Macron are ratcheting up the rhetoric against the rising nationalism Salvini represents and are now pushing hard for their Federation of Europe before both of them leave the scene in the next few years, at best.
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Toys

Masha And The Bear: How 'The Kremlin' Set Out to Subvert Our Toddlers

George Galloway
RT
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 22:53 UTC
russia masha bear

Global Look Press / Daniel Karmann
Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote: "Oh would some Power the gift give us, to see ourselves as others see us." I thought of this while reading what is surely the nadir of Russophobic balderdash about the cartoon Masha and the Bear.

As it happens I am a Russophile and have been for more than 50 years. But I have four children under the age of 12 and all of them have loved Masha and her friend the big protective bear quite without a single exposition from me on the State and Revolution or the limitations of Lenin's New Economic Policy. I usually wait until my children are 12 before explaining that Socialism = Soviet Power plus electrification.

In any case, Masha and the Bear don't live under Socialism - they live in a capitalist state, the new economic policy is the same as that of the rest of the world. Their Russia is already well-electrified, and revolution and Soviet Power are in the museum. More's the pity from my point of view, but there we are.

Comment: RT dissected the batshittery accordingly:


If we were to take a stab at reading the filthy subconscious thoughts of the Russia-haters on this one, we'd say it's a combination of actual, demented hatred of Russia (the Estonian expert mentioned above, for example, is likely predominantly driven by this), geopolitical requirements to demonize Russia (that one's a no-brainer), and the postmodernist agenda to destroy 'good clean fun' precisely because therein lie values which are antithetical to liberalism - which, in the West these days, is synonymous with nihilism.

It would be interesting to see, if Masha was transgender and the Bear an animal rights activist pushing veganism, whether Western elites still had a problem with the cartoon...

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Hardhat

Making Italy Great Again: Salvini adds personal touch to demolition of illegally-built mafia villas outside Rome


RT
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 22:08 UTC
salvini demolitions
© Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi
Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini takes part in the demolition of a villa built illegally by an alleged mafia family in Rome, Italy November 26, 2018.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wants voters to know that he's tough on crime: And what better way to demonstrate this trait than to help flatten the former home of a mafia clan?

Donning a white hardhat, Salvini used a demolition vehicle to take the ceremonial first swipe at a luxury villa illegally built in Rome by the Casamonica mob family. Obviously there was plenty of media present to document the unorthodox demolition job.

A Ruptly video shows the minister mounting the machine, and with the help of an unidentified gentleman in camouflage, tenderly scrapping off a small chunk of roof tile from the top of the home. The real demolition work, it seems, was left to the professionals - once the camera crews left, of course.


Comment: See here for a glimpse of the interior of these criminals' houses:

Rome's police seize 8 of notorious Casamonica gypsy Mafia family's villas, evicting 30 members

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Bell

Russia needs to stop believing the West is governed by law

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:16 UTC
ukraine ships detained black sea kerch
© Crimea's FSB Press Service
Several Ukrainian warships crossing Russia’s territorial waters and attempting to pass through the Kerch Strait without permission
Ukrainian military ships have violated Russian restrictions in the Sea of Azov and Articles 19 and 21 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Ukrainian Navy crossed the Russian sea border and entered a closed area of Russian territorial waters. Clearly, Washington was behind this as Ukraine would not undertake such a provocation on its own. Here is an accurate explanation of the event

The Russian Navy detained the Ukrainian ships. Of course, the Western presstitutes, most of whom are CIA assets, will blame "Russian aggression." Washington and its presstitutes are doing everything they can to make impossible Trump's expressed goal of normal relations with Russia. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu quickly aligned NATO with Ukraine: "NATO fully supports Ukraine's sovereignty and its territorial integrity, including its navigation rights in its territorial waters."

Comment: Russia is fully aware of the Empire's attitude towards any regulation that might impede its hegemony. Yet she has successfully countered the Empire in more than one theater on the world stage while managing to stay entirely within the letter of international law. That she still calls for and abides by the rule of law is for the benefit of the rest of the world, to show that a major power can assert itself and protect its interests without being a bully. More and more countries are taking notice.

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Cult

Head of British Army: 'Russia is Far Greater Threat to UK than ISIS or al-Qaeda'


21st Century Wire
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:10 UTC
Commander Mark Carleton-Smith

Commander Mark Carleton-Smith
Since the US and EU mounted a joint coup d'etat in the Ukraine in 2014 which forcibly overthrew the democratically elected president Viktor Yanukovych, anti-Russian xenophobia has dominated western political speech and mainstream media coverage. With the recent leak exposing a British government-led, international disinformation and propaganda campaign ironically called the "Integrity Initiative" , the public can now see how well-organized and wide-ranging the West's campaign to demonize of Russia truly is. Today's state policy of Russian demonization by far eclipses the bipolar hysteria of the McCarthyite era during the 1950 Cold War period.

Unfortunately for the public, even though Russia poses no actual threat to Europe, and particularly the UK, nonetheless, military brass are increasingly adopting a more vociferous tone of Cold War rhetoric, perhaps in order to curry favor with the military industrial complex and land sufficient funding to defense expenditures. Which means, get ready for another obligatory round of anti-Russian fear mongering...

Comment: If they hadn't the balls to face Assad directly because he had some Russian anti-aircraft systems, they haven't the balls to face Russia directly. The whole point of this posturing is to dull critical thinking just enough (and, as you can see, it's currently taking a LOT of effort) to prevent uprisings 'at home' in the West, and the regime change they dread.

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Biohazard

Another alleged Syrian chemical attack but this time Western media is silent


RT
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:15 UTC
aleppo gas attack
© Reuters
A woman lies on a stretcher inside a hospital after what the Syrian state media said was a suspected toxic gas attack in Aleppo, Syria November 24, 2018
Alleged Syrian gas attacks are typically met with heartbreaking media reports and US-led missile strikes but a suspected chlorine attack in Aleppo has gone largely ignored in the West. How could this be?

Shelling, which targeted residential areas of Aleppo on Saturday night, appears to have included a chemical attack. At least 46 people, including 8 children, were hospitalized with symptoms of chlorine gas poisoning, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The attack on the city, which was liberated by the Syrian government two years ago, is believed to have been launched from an area within Idlib, the last Syrian stronghold of jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda.


Comment: For more on the gas attack, see: Syria blames foreign states for Aleppo 'toxic gas attack', calls on UN to become involved - Russia destroys militants responsible


So where are the emergency UN Security Council sessions? The defiant New York Times op-eds? The retaliatory Tomahawk strikes against the last jihadist enclave in Syria?
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Bad Guys

What free press? Radio Liberty asks Kiev minister for permission to use RUSSIAN video of Kerch standoff


RT
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:09 UTC
russia ukraine collision
© Global Look Press
A screenshot from the Russian-shot video shows the Russian and Ukrainian vessels colliding
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has gone to great lengths to ensure using a Russian video of the Kerch Strait standoff was OK with Kiev, asking none other than the Ukrainian Interior Minister for permission.

Footage of a Russian border guard vessel ramming a Ukrainian naval ship on Sunday was filmed by the Russian sailors aboard, before it was shared on Twitter by Ukraine's Arsen Avakov. Rather than ask the Russian authorities for the video - which had also been made public - the American-funded Radio Free Europe went right to Avakov.

But why not go direct to the source? Well, using Russian footage might not be a smart move in Ukraine. Russian journalists have been jailed, abducted and deported there. Others have had their personal data leaked, and the Ukrainian intelligence services' faked assassination of one Russian journalist made worldwide news this summer.

With all that in mind, perhaps it's no wonder that RFE played it safe and asked Avakov first. However, coming from a minister who once tried to blackmail his own government, that permission might be fickle.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has taken steps to impose martial law in the wake of the confrontation, allowing his government to impose travel restrictions, limit freedom of assembly, and clamp down on media outlets in the interest of "national security."
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Star of David

UN envoy: Israel 'moving rapidly' towards annexation in Hebron

Mersiha Gadzo
Al-Jazeera
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 20:57 UTC
hebron settlement
© Mersiha Gadzo/Al Jazeera
The Ewaiwe family home in Hebron's H2 district has been heavily fortified to protect them against the settlers living just next door in the illegal Avraham Avinu settlement.

Rubbish thrown by settlers hangs on the wire mesh that shields the open courtyard in the centre of their home, set up by the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) four years ago.

Prior to that, their settler neighbours would push large water tanks from the roof of their three-story building into the open stairwell of their home, which could have seriously injured or killed someone if they had been standing there.

Other times they would throw large rocks from the same spot above, which on one occasion hit their sink, splintering it into pieces.
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Toys

'Wants to please big brother': Czech's MEP explains their new FM's 'dangerous Russia' comment


RT
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 15:35 UTC
Tomas Petricek
© Reuters / Mohamad Torokman R
Czech foreign minister, Tomas Petricek
The newly-appointed Czech foreign minister lacks experience and tries to please the 'Big Brother'. That's how his own country's MEP characterized Tomas Petricek, who dubbed Russia a threat.

37-year-old Petricek, who was put in charge of the Foreign Ministry less than a month ago, said on Saturday that Russia posed a danger to the Czech Republic and the EU because it was spreading disinformation and creating various hybrid threats.

"The foreign minister is still a young guy. So far, he's just repeating exactly what has been said to him by others. I haven't yet noticed any signs of his own ideas that he'd introduce in our foreign policy," Jaromir Kohlicek, who represents the Czech Republic in the European parliament, told RIA-Novosti.

Comment: See also:

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Jet2

Russia beefs up defense: 500 combat aircraft deployed along Ukrainian border

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ News
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 20:18 UTC
Russian Mi-24 helicopters
© Pavel Lisitsyn / Sputnik
Russian Mi-24 helicopters.
As events continue to intensify, Russia has just deployed about 500 tactical aircraft combat aircraft along the border with Ukraine.

This was announced today at a briefing by the representative of the Department of Defense of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsky.

"Today, about 500 tactical aviation combat aircraft and up to 340 army aviation helicopters have been concentrated along the borders of Ukraine," Skibitsky said.

Comment: Ukraine is being put in a very uncomfortable position by its Western masters. Russia will likely forbear if the Ukrainian government doesn't do anything stupid. One would hope that despite pressure, Poroshenko's sense of self-preservation will prevail.

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