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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Evo Morales to RT: VP Mike Pence heads US campaign against anti-imperialist Latin American govts

evo morales
The US has switched from military coups and now effects regime changes through courts and parliaments, to deal with dissident Latin American leaders and claim their countries' oil, Bolivian President Evo Morales has told RT.

"There are some serious problems in Latin America. In Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador, the presidents, who used to be the guarantors of the sovereignty and dignity of the people, are now being subjected to political persecution," Morales said.

He was referring to Argentina's Cristina de Kirchner, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and to Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who lost power in their countries in recent years and are now facing various charges, pushed forward by new, US-backed governments.

Washington's "extensive political campaign" in Latina America is headed by US Vice President Mike Pence, the Bolivian leader said, in the run-up to his address at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

Network

EU foreign affairs chief: Bloc to create special payment channels to do business with Iran

euros
© Patrick Pleul / Global Look Press
European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini says the EU signatories remain committed to the nuclear deal with Iran that the US has quit. The group is working to create special payment channels to do business with Iran.

Mogherini read from a statement following a ministerial meeting of the remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The statement by the five nations -Russia, the UK, Germany, China and France- confirms that Iran has been complying with its end of the agreement.

With that in mind, the EU is working to create the means to continue doing business with Iran legally, at a time when the US is looking to stifle Tehran's oil exports with sanctions, aiming ultimately to bring them down to zero.

"Mindful of the urgency and the need for tangible results, the participants welcomed practical proposals to maintain and develop payment channels, notably the initiative to establish a special purpose vehicle to facilitate payments related to Iran's exports, including oil," Mogherini said.

Light Sabers

Amnesty International wants Kavanaugh vetting process halted over alleged role in post-9/11 torture

guantanamo protesters
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The US branch of Amnesty International has dived into the heated debate on whether US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is morally fit for the office, calling for his role in the post-9/11 torture program to be highlighted.

In a letter to Senators penned on Monday, Amnesty argues that Kavanaugh's vetting on the subject of human rights "has been insufficient and calls for the vote on his nomination for Supreme Court of the United States to be further postponed" unless the Trump administration promptly moves forward with disclosing all the data related to Kavanaugh's role in the post-9/11 crackdown, namely, his alleged complicity in the CIA's notorious torture program.

Explaining its foray into the hottest issue currently raging in US politics, Amnesty insists that it typically does not intervene into the appointment of government officials, except in cases when "they are reasonably suspected of crimes under international law and could use their appointment...to ether prevent accountability to these crimes or to continue perpetration."

Bullseye

Why the fight for Kavanaugh matters

kavanaugh hearing
© Jim Bourg/Reuters
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, September 4, 2018.
The cynics - or, perhaps more precisely, the realists - believed that the Democrats were playing for time in the hopes of finding another accusation against Brett Kavanaugh. The cynics were right.

The New Yorker stooped to publish a shoddy story alleging that Kavanaugh exposed himself to a woman while he was at Yale. The alleged incident occurred at a drunken party when both were in their freshman year. What's extraordinary is that the woman making the charge, a fellow Yale student named Deborah Ramirez, admits that she hesitated to come forward because there were such large gaps in her memory.

As the magazine puts it: "In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh's role in the alleged incident with certainty." She only decided to talk, it says, "after six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney."

Comment: Second woman accuses Kavanaugh of sex abuse - claims are even weaker than Ford's


Red Flag

Christine Ford's unhinged attorney was wearing radical socialist power fist t-shirt at anti-Trump protest

debra katz
Debra Katz, one of the attorneys representing Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, attended a resistance rally against the president in 2017 and promised to "fight back."

Katz is representing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claims Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s while the two were in high school.

The lawyer has numerous ties to the resistance against Trump, and was caught on camera at a protest in February 2017 after Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the administration's attorney general.

"We are going to fight back," she told a reporter. "We are going to resist. We will not be silenced."

Attention

China's deputy minister: Trade talks impossible with Washington 'holding a knife' to Beijing's neck

wang shouwen chinese deputy commerce minister

Wang Shouwen
Trade talks between China and the US are impossible with Washington "holding a knife" to Beijing's neck, the Chinese deputy commerce minister said.

The statement was released after a 10-percent import tariff imposed by the US on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods came into effect. The tax is to be raised to 25 percent at the end of the year.

"Now that the United States has adopted such large-scale restrictive measures and holds a knife to another's neck, how can negotiations proceed?" Wang Shouwen said at a news conference, adding that such talks would not be "negotiations of equality."

As the Sino-American trade conflict unfolded, Beijing announced the introduction of $60 billion in tariffs on US goods.

Comment: The Trump administrations 'negotiating' strategy doesn't seem to be working so well with Beijing (or Tehran) - does he have a backup plan or will Jack Ma's prediction of a protracted trade war be fulfilled?


Snakes in Suits

Pompeo foolishly thinks trade war with China will force Beijing to behave the way Washington wants

pompeo
© Jason Lee / Reuters
As the latest US and Chinese tit-for-tat tariffs are about to take effect, Mike Pompeo has reassured Americans that any inconveniences they might suffer in the trade war are temporary, before they emerge victorious and prosperous.

After a vast number of American businesses and multinationals expressed concern about the damage from the new tariffs and potential further escalation of the trade war, the chief US diplomat stressed that Washington strives to protect US workers and force China to play by its rules.

"We're going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power - a global power transparency, rule of law, you don't steal intellectual property - the fundamental principles of trade around the world: fairness, reciprocity," Pompeo told Fox News on Sunday.

Eye 2

Soros sore at not getting his way: Open Society Foundation taking Hungary to court to repeal law against aiding migrants

Viktor Orban
© Reuters
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sits before vote on the 'Stop Soros' package of bills that criminalises some help given to illegal immigrants at the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, June 20, 2018.
U.S. billionaire George Soros's Open Society Foundations (OSF) said on Monday it would challenge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg Hungarian laws that make it a crime to help asylum-seekers.

But Budapest, which accuses Soros and the liberal groups and causes he backs of trying to destroy Europe's Christian culture by promoting mass migration, said it would not repeal the laws, whatever the outcome of the court appeal.

Under legislation named "Stop Soros," anybody who helps migrants not entitled to protection to apply for asylum, or helps illegal migrants gain status to stay in Hungary, can be jailed. Orban has also introduced a 25 percent special tax on aid groups it says support migration.

Comment: Viktor Orban's people recognize he is defending their right to configure their society as they wish. They have observed the chaos surrounding them and want no part of it. He will never lose their support.


Wolf

Have Kavanaugh's two accusers been carefully constructing perjury hedges? Sure looks like it

feinstein ford

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford
While Democrats and the public holler to each other about who's lying in the 11th-hour sexual abuse charges seeking to shoot down the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, and the Drudge Report headlines it as a he-said, she-said case, what stands out is that the two sides in this aren't equal. It's amazing how much careful hedging against perjury charges Kavanaugh's accusers have taken, in contrast with Kavanaugh's defenders.

Christine Blasey Ford set off a few red flags from the get-go, not only because of first her insistence on anonymity in making the charges, then her vague recall of critical details such as when the incident was and how she got there, and finally her lawyer's crazy conditions for her client to testify before the Senate, insisting that only male Senate members ask questions, Kavanaugh speak first, and lots of time to set up the Senate hearings due to the Hawaii-commuting professor's suddenly disclosed fear of flying, alongside her false claim that the Senate insisted she sit at the same table as Kavanaugh as she made her charges.

Comment:


Brick Wall

No Anuses allowed: Facebook forces Belgian political candidate to change his 'rude' real surname

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointing and laughing
© Brian Snyder/Reuters
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointing and laughing at Harvard University
Cheeky censors at Facebook have made one man's local election campaign in Belgium somewhat harder after his real surname was deemed too offensive for him to register a Facebook page.

Luc Anus, 26, was hoping to use the social networking site to help spread his campaign ideas and gain enough votes for a position on his local council in Lobbes, in Belgium's Wallonia region.

However, Anglophonic censors at the US tech giant have barred him from using his real name on the platform saying it was against its community guidelines.

"Facebook just does not accept my name," Anus said.