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Kerry: 'Netanyahu told me that all Mideast states lie all the time'


Sputnik
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 19:32 UTC
Netanyahu
© Times of Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
According to the former US secretary of state's memoirs, the Israeli prime minister expressed his willingness for significant compromise in talks with the Palestinian Authority - but that didn't stop him from rejecting a US-proposed security deal on the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Middle East states are constant liars in talks with then Secretary of State John Kerry in 2013, the former US top diplomat has revealed in his memoirs, entitled Every Day Is Extra. Kerry noted that the Israeli prime minister had shown "willingness to make tough compromises," but added that Netanyahu had recognized that even this might not have been enough for Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.

"I met with Bibi at the King David Hotel. He looked me dead in the eye and said, 'John, I'm willing to give this effort a try, but there are two things you should know: first, everyone in this region lies all the time and you Americans have a hard time understanding that; second, the most I can do may be less than the least Abbas could ever accept,'" Kerry recalled.

At the same time, the former secretary of state said that it was Netanyahu who had at the last minute turned down the deal on withdrawing the IDF from the West Bank and replacing them with US troops. Kerry wrote that it showed him that the Israeli prime minister was not interested in the deal.

Comment: Lucy and the football: Every time a forward-moving proposal involving Israel and the Palestinian crisis gains traction, Netanyahu yanks the deal. Willingness? No. It is one of Israel's standard diplomatic forms of lying of which Bibi is the master.

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Megaphone

Bloomberg breaks confidentiality and leaks Trump's "off the record" remarks about trade war with Canada


RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 09:07 UTC
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto
© Chris Helgren / Reuters
Workers remove letters from the "TRUMP" sign on top of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto, Canada July 18, 2017.
Donald Trump again blasted the media for 'dishonest reporting' after 'off the record' remarks about Canada he made in an interview with Bloomberg somehow made it into the Toronto Star newspaper.

Trump took to Twitter on Friday, saying that the "powerful understanding" between Bloomberg and him was "blatantly violated" by the leak of his comments that weren't intended for public dissemination. He said that it was yet another example of "dishonest reporting," which he already got used to since moving into the White House.

"At least Canada knows where I stand," Trump added, thus confirming the authenticity of the leak.


Comment: Politicians make these kind of off the record remarks all the time - although Trump often just says them on Twitter - and reporters generally honour this agreement, however this time someone decided to break with protocol and leak them - perhaps to coincide with the other media concocted Trump 'scandals' in a bid to further calls for his impeachment: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Senator McCain is Dead! Trump Impeachment For Real? Imminent Syria 'Chemical Attack'

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Dollars

Crushing currencies spreading chaos

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 18:49 UTC
Dollar and Rial
© iStock
Iran oil exports will likely drop to just over 2 million barrels a day pushing the rial lower.
The Iranian rial: crash. The Turkish lira: crash. The Argentine peso: crash. The Brazilian real: crash. There are multiple, complex, parallel vectors at play in this wilderness of crashing currencies. Turkey's case is heavily influenced by the bubble of easy credit created by European banks.

Argentina's problem is mostly to do with the neoliberal austerity of President Mauricio Macri's government admitting it won't be able to fulfill payment targets agreed with the IMF less than three months ago.

Iran's has to do with harsh United States sanctions imposed after the Trump administration's unilateral pullout from the Iran nuclear deal.

Brazil's has to do with what the Goddess of the Market considers anathema: a victory by the imprisoned Lula (former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) or his appointed candidate in the presidential election next October.

This is a serious currency crisis affecting key emerging markets. Three of these - Brazil, Argentina and Turkey - are G20 members, and Iran, absent external pressure, would have everything to qualify as a member. Two - Iran and Turkey - are under US sanctions while the other two, at least for the moment, are firmly within Washington's orbit.

Now, compare it with currencies that are gaining against the US dollar: the Ukrainian hryvnia, the Georgian lari and the Colombian peso. Not exactly G20 heavyweights - and all of them also inside Washington's influence.
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Chess

The neocons' last entangling: A chemical weapons 'attack' trap is being laid to keep Trump in Syria

Tom Luongo
Russia Insider
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 19:30 UTC
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin


He wants to leave and after Idlib falls there will be little keeping him -- this is the last chance jihadis and neocons have to entangle the US further

According to a recent report by Joachin Flores at Fort Russ News, the U.S. offered a withdrawal plan to Bashar al-Assad of Syria with three conditions. What should be immediately obvious is that the U.S. offered the meeting and opened up the talks.

This is proof positive that the U.S. position in Syria is untenable and the U.S. is searching for a way out that will save a little face.
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Star of David

Netanyahu sets out Israel's credo: 'Weak are slaughtered, strong survive,' echoes of Hitler

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 17:49 UTC
netanyahu dimona speech
© Kobi Gideon/GPO
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech Wednesday at the Dimona nuclear plant, the site and symbol of Israel's nuclear weapon capacity, and warned Iran and other regional rivals against taking Israel on.
The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong, and in the end peace is made with the strong...

But our enemies know very well what Israel is capable of doing. They are familiar with our policy. Whoever tries to hurt us - we hurt them
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Iran was being "threatened with atomic annihilation by a warmonger standing next to an actual nuclear weapons factory."
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Binoculars

Steele to Ohr in secret 2016 meeting: Russia has Trump 'over a barrel' with 'explosive information'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:45 UTC
steele ohr simpson
Former UK spy Christopher Steele told then-DOJ #4 Bruce Ohr at a 2016 breakfast that the Kremlin had Donald Trump "over a barrel" thanks to "potentially explosive information" in the possession of Russian intelligence, reports AP, citing "multiple people" familiar with the encounter.

Ohr also learned that Trump campaign aide Carter Page had met with "higher-level" Russian officials than the aide had previously acknowledged, said the sources.
The previously unreported details of the July 30, 2016, breakfast with Christopher Steele, which Ohr described to lawmakers this week in a private interview, reveal an exchange of potentially explosive information about Trump between two men the president has relentlessly sought to discredit.
...
Among the things Ohr said he learned from Steele during the breakfast was that an unnamed former Russian intelligence official had said that Russian intelligence believed "they had Trump over a barrel," according to people familiar with the meeting. It was not clear from Ohr's interview whether Steele had been directly told that or had picked that up through his contacts, but the broader sentiment is echoed in Steele's research dossier. -AP
Page responded to the AP report, tweeting: "BREAKING NEWS (a.k.a. what most sane reporters and other observers realized long ago): The Corrupt DOJ, co-conspirators in the DNC and their high-priced consultants correctly believed they had American democracy and the FISA Court over a barrel in 2016."


Comment: See also:

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Stop

Foreign meddling: US military blocks proposed railway project linking North and South Korea


RT
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:28 UTC
North Korean railway workers
© Kyodo / Reuters
North Korean railway workers next to a train
US military officials have put the brakes on a proposed rail project that would connect the Korean Peninsula, underscoring growing differences between Washington and Seoul on engagement with the hermit kingdom.

The governments of the two estranged nations were set to begin preliminary plans for the rail link last week, but their application to send a train from Seoul across the length of North Korea was denied by the US-led United Nations Command. The multinational military body, which traces its roots back to the Korean War, controls movement across the demilitarized zone which separates North and South Korea.


Comment: So let's get this straight. North and South Korea both agreed. Both are sovereign nations and can do whatever the hell they want to. It's their right as sovereign nations. And yet, they cannot. Because the U.S. doesn't like it. Does that sound like justice?


The decision is the latest illustration of Washington's hardline approach to dealing with Pyongyang. The US has demanded full denuclearization as a prerequisite to any economic cooperation with North Korea, while Seoul has taken a less extreme stance, favoring constructive engagement with its northern neighbor. South Korean President Moon Jae-in had expressed hope that the rail link would be completed by the end of the year.


Comment: If that's really what Washington thinks, then "Washington" is an idiot, or deliberately sabotaging the process. There's no way North Korea will completely denuclearize without getting something first. And that's not what the U.S. agreed to. The only way to make it work is to start economic cooperation first, then mutually disarm. If that doesn't happen, it suggests that the U.S. doesn't actually want a solution to the problem.

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Cross

Church politics: Orthodox leaders discuss Ukraine's bid to split with Russia


RFE/RL
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:21 UTC
kirill bartholomew

Russian Patriarch Kirill (left) and Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (right) in Istanbul on August 31.
The spiritual head of the worldwide Orthodox Church has hosted Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill for talks on Ukraine's bid to split from the Russian church, a move strongly opposed by Moscow.

The meeting was hosted on August 31 by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is also known as the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and the Ecumenical Patriarch. Bartholomew is regarded as the "first among equals" of the world's estimated 300 million Orthodox Christian believers.

He is expected to rule in coming months on a Ukrainian appeal to cut spiritual ties with Moscow. But Kirill, who has strong connections with the Kremlin and is seen as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is determined to prevent this from happening.


Comment: Just ask yourself: which group is acting in a more Christian manner?


The church's decision is being made after four years of conflict between Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,300 people and prompted many Ukrainians to turn away from the Moscow church.

The Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who was present at the meeting between Bartholomew and Kirill, said afterwards that the main question they discussed was the "situation in Ukraine."


Comment: Yep, and who are the ones siding with neo-Nazis? Not the Russians...

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Pumpkin 2

'Slick Willie' mercilessly trolled for 'ogling' pop star Ariana Grande at Aretha Franklin funeral


RT
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:00 UTC
ariana grande bill clinton
© Mike Segar / Reuters
Ariana Grande and Bill Clinton. August 31, 2018
Former US President Bill Clinton was slammed and ridiculed on social media after he was caught seemingly mesmerized by pop singer Ariana Grande's performance during soul legend Aretha Franklin's funeral in Detroit.

The 25-year-old singer, donning a short black dress and high-heeled shoes, took the stage on Friday for a rendition of Franklin's hit single (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Clinton seated right behind Grande, was captured looking hypnotized by the former Nickelodeon star's performance.

Some users on social media poked fun at Clinton for 'ogling' the singer and even 'undressing' Grande with his eyes, suggesting that she had 'brought him back to life.'
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Folder

'Fault Lines' reveals Orbis asked a Ukrainian contact to "make things up" for the Steele Dossier

Mark F. McCarty
Medium
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 15:37 UTC
Skripals restaurant
Which casts an interesting light on the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal

Yesterday, Lee Stranahan revealed that a trusted Ukrainian source has told him that a Ukrainian friend was commissioned by Orbis - Christopher Steele's company - to simply make up slanderous fantasies about Trump and his associates, presumably for subsequent inclusion in the Steele dossier. Stranahan plays a tape in which his source, Andrii Telizhenko, confirms this.

Comment: Craig Murray hasn't given up:

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