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European Court of Human Rights dismisses central claims in Bill Browder's Magnitsky story

William Browder  Magnitsky act
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
William Browder
A recent ruling in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) supports findings in a Norwegian documentary and points to a falsification of the central premise in the Magnitsky case as told by Bill Browder. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee act again as his spin doctors.

In replying to my request to publish a response to an article by NHC officers the Agenda editor suggested that the "strong allegations" in my text should be revised, additionally scrutinised or dropped. In my turn I replied that I considered NHC to be the first to come up with "strong (or more precisely, unfounded and defamatory) allegations" that seemed to have been editorially unchallenged.

The English version represents the full original while the Norwegian text had to be shortened.

I have worked with the esteemed production company Piraya Film for years making an independent documentary film, The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes, which investigates the notorious Magnitsky case. The film exposes the systematic worldwide distortion of facts related to the case, and proves that Bill Browder, the hedge fund manager turned human rights campaigner, has misrepresented the role of his accountant Sergei Magnitsky. Our findings are devastating for Browder and perhaps even more so because our documentation comes from open sources, and to a large extent from Browder himself.

Comment:


Eye 1

How Big Brother and Big Pharma collude to push vaccine skeptics off crowdsourcing platforms

big brother crowdfunding internet
After successfully targeting Trump supporters with a repressive crackdown, Big Brother is heading onto their next target: so-called antivaxxers. GoFundMe is booting all vaccine skeptics from being able to raise funds on their platform, as they bend their knee to the digital lynch mob.

"Campaigns raising money to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe's terms of service and will be removed from the platform," GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said of his company's Big Brother push.

"We are conducting a thorough review and will remove any campaigns currently on the platform," Whithorne added, making it clear that the Orwellian censorship crackdown is far from over.

TV

Erdogan sues French magazine over "eradicator" cover that accuses him of ethnic cleansing in Syria

erdogan l'eradicateur
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against a French magazine after it accused him of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in northeastern Syria in a cover story entitled "The Eradicator".

State-owned Anadolu Agency said on Friday that Erdogan had asked prosecutors to open a case against Etienne Gernelle, the managing editor of Le Point magazine, and Romain Gubert, the author of the story.

Erdogan's lawyer Huseyin Aydin said the cover was "publicly insulting" to the president - a crime in Turkey carrying a prison sentence up to four years and eight months.

Comment: Notably the EU are looking for any excuse to get back into Syria: European army in Syria? Germany and Denmark propose sending 35,000 troops


Newspaper

Confirmed as winner Bolivia's Morales invites international community for election audit after opposition says vote was rigged

morales
© Reuters / David Mercado
Bolivian socialist leader Evo Morales invited the international community to audit the presidential election results, as opposition cried fraud and burned ballots, while Washington cast doubt on results.

Bolivia's election authority confirmed the final tally for the contentious vote on Friday, handing Morales his fourth presidential term. However, protests continued around the country. A 24-hour pause in the vote count earlier this week sparked allegations of tampering, which have brought tens of thousands of opposition activists into the streets to contest the outcome, at times clashing with police.

Morales avoided a second-round runoff with his rival Carlos Mesa by just a fraction of a point and denies the accusations of fraud. He said on Friday that international auditors would be free to inspect the final tally and the vote counting process.

Comment: Bolivia opposition contests election count as rival protesters & police clash in streets


Attention

Lib fury over Breitbart's inclusion in Facebook News misses the outrage of letting Facebook curate journalism in the first place

breitbart logo
© Global Look Press / ZUMAPRESS.com / Jaap Arriens
Breitbart News
Liberals are foaming with rage over the inclusion of conservative outlet Breitbart in Facebook's News tab. More alarming is the idea of letting journalists chosen by Facebook determine what is considered "news" to begin with.

Facebook has unveiled its long-awaited News feature, but the social media behemoth is keeping mum on the identities of the approximately 200 publishers who will be getting either "free money" or hefty referral traffic from the new tab. Early reports indicate the participants include the usual mainstream media suspects - the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Washington Post - but also Breitbart.

Comment: Looks like Zuck is engaging in some high-level damage control. The movement to ditch Facebook has been gathering momentum


Briefcase

Though Russiagate was fake, Spygate is real and Horowitz is ready to prove it

US AG William Barr
© Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters
US AG William Barr
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz turned in his report into potential FISA abuses to Attorney General William Barr almost four weeks ago. That report detailing his extensive and meticulous year-and-a-half-long investigation into issues surrounding how fake evidence was presented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in order to obtain warrants to spy on at least one American citizen is currently undergoing the required classification review.

During this time, nothing has leaked, which is quite telling in itself. If there was anything that could be leaked from this report that would mitigate the coming fallout, we'd have seen it by now. This points to the report being incredibly damaging to the Obama administration.

During this four-week interim period, several developments have emerged:

Comment:
Gateway Pundit, 25/10/2019: Get your popcorn ready!
putin
© Unknown
1. The FISA Report

The first event reported is that the DOJ IG's FISA report is about to be released. FOX News reported yesterday the following -
The "lengthy" draft report "concerns sensitive national security and law enforcement matters," Horowitz wrote in the letter, adding that he anticipated "the final report will be released publicly with few redactions."

the DOJ IG may have been held back from releasing his report until a time when it would not impede AG Barr's investigation by his DA John Durham into the Deep State actions before and after the 2016 election. Had IG Horowitz released his document before all the players in Durham's investigation were questioned, they might have altered their testimonies based on Horowitz's report.
Horowitz noted that he did not anticipate a need to prepare or issue "separate classified and public versions of the report."

2. AG Barr and John Durham's Investigation into Deep State crimes

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry. The move gives John H. Durham the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges. IG Horowitz can now release his IG report because Durham has met with all the individuals he needs to meet with to begin indictments for criminal activity.

3. Sidney Powell's filing Regarding General Flynn's case

Sidney Powell is aware of numerous documents and actions by Obama's Deep State that have been withheld from General Flynn that are damning to the government's case. These are so damning that she is asking the court to dismiss the case against General Flynn.

Former Deep State and FBI attorney Lisa Page altered the 302 document materially in a manner that implicated General Flynn for lying to the FBI. Obama's former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, was involved in the felony release of General Flynn's phone call with a Russian diplomat before the 2017 Inauguration.

4. Recent Reports regarding Obama VP Biden's pay-for-play scandals

We also learned last night that Joe Biden during the time he was Obama's VP, partook in actions resulting in payments to him and his son Hunter. These payments go beyond the Ukraine and China. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed previously that Biden was suspect of a pay-for-plan scandal in Romania.
See also:


X

Eating their own: Clinton faction's elevation of Kai Kahele

The hill/tuls duo
© Unknown
Hillary Clinton • Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard
How The Establishment Retaliated Against Tulsi Gabbard By Endorsing Her Opponent

If you have paid any attention whatsoever to the political discourse in the last week, you undoubtedly know at least one thing: Hillary Clinton and Tulsi Gabbard do not like one another. The reasons for this could theoretically stretch back to 2016, when Gabbard stepped down from her Vice-Chair position at the DNC to endorse Clinton's opponent — Bernie Sanders. Most recently, and more importantly most tangibly, a war of the words sparked between the two when Clinton alluded to Gabbard being "groomed" as a Russian asset. As you can imagine, this didn't sit well with the Congresswoman and National Guard Major. Gabbard fired back with a series of tweets and a video, taking Clinton to task on her foreign policy record. While the message was important, it was the action that was most significant. A Democrat taking a fiercely public stand against Hillary Clinton is an act of defiance rarely seen in a non election scenario — and while Gabbard is indeed running for President, Clinton is (at the moment) a spectator. The aftermath of the exchange has very quickly brought out the full force of a very much alive Clinton-wing of the establishment left. Their response has been strategic and cutthroat — the Democrats have decided to Primary one of their own. To make sure that is goes their way, they need elevate her congressional opponent, Kai Kahele.

So that's exactly what they're doing.

Arrow Up

US fears Beijing is 'closing gap' in UAV race as new armed drone passes first test

Chinese drone
© YouTube/fish Big
Chinese Army drone China Rainbow-4, USV Test CH-4 Test
Chinese aerospace company Rainbow UAV Technology's first Taizhou-assembled Rainbow-4 drone recently passed its inaugural test flight - pointing to Beijing's increased armed drone production capabilities.

In a Wednesday statement, Rainbow UAV Technology's parent company Aerospace CH UAV announced that the first Rainbow-4 drone constructed at its large and medium-sized drone plant in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, had completed its first test flight.
The armed UAV's 95-kilometer maiden flight lasted approximately 48 minutes - meeting Rainbow-4 drone design requirements, reported Yicai Global.
According to the Asia Times, the Rainbow-4 UAV is equipped with upgraded electronic payloads and satellite controls which assist the aircraft's ability to strike a target with a margin of error of less than 1.5 meters.

"The drone will be the first delivery in a contract Rainbow UAV Technology and National Geomatics Center of China," Yicai Global reported, citing the company's statement. The deal, worth $22 million, is also said to include seven emergency mapping drones.

Bomb

Bombshell: Sidney Powell shows how the FBI trapped Michael Flynn

FlynnPowell
© azerbaycan24.com/Fox News
General Michael Flynn • Attorney Sidney Powell
'Mr. Flynn will ask this Court to dismiss the entire prosecution based on the outrageous and un-American conduct of law enforcement officials and the subsequent failure of the prosecution to disclose this evidence.'

Earlier this week, Michael Flynn's star attorney, Sidney Powell, filed under seal a brief in reply to federal prosecutors' claims that they have already given Flynn's defense team all the evidence they are required by law to provide. A minimally redacted copy (Scribd) of the reply brief has just been made public, and with it shocking details of the deep state's plot to destroy Flynn.

While the briefing at issue concerns Powell's motion to compel the government to hand over evidence required by Brady and presiding Judge Emmett Sullivan's standing order, Powell's 37-page brief pivots between showcasing the prosecution's penchant for withholding evidence and exposing significant new evidence the defense team uncovered that establishes a concerted effort to entrap Flynn. Along the way, Powell drops half-a-dozen problems with Flynn's plea and an equal number of justifications for outright dismissal of the criminal charges against Flynn.

Comment:
Breitbart, 25/10/2019, reports:
The apparent "sealed" filing, dated October 24, 2019, was posted to social media on Thursday evening. US v Flynn; DE 129-2 on Scribd

Flynn has been awaiting sentencing [...] and even told the sentencing judge in 2018 that he would not claim FBI misconduct, despite growing evidence that they had departed from normal practice in interviewing him and had only completed their "302" — the report of their meeting — after he had already been forced to resign from his position in the administration over the allegations.

That evidence, Flynn's legal team alleges, includes an apparent admission by former FBI lawyer Lisa Page — that she had edited the 302 — something that she allegedly told FBI investigators she did not recall, the filing states.

...the filing adds that former FBI general counsel James Baker "is believed to be the person who illegally leaked the transcript of Mr. Flynn's calls to [Washington Post reporter David] Ignatius." It also alleges that former National Intelligence Director James Clapper told Ignatius to "take the kill shot on Flynn."

The filing emerged hours after reports that the Department of Justice had shifted its investigation of the origins of the Russia probe to become a criminal investigation under the supervision of prosecutor John H. Durham.

Critics have alleged that Mueller may have induced Flynn to plead guilty by suggesting that the government had more evidence of "Russia collusion" than it actually did.
Fox News, 25/10/2019, reports:
Powell also claims that the official who leaked the transcripts of the calls to Ignatius was a Pentagon official who was Stefan Halper's "handler."

Also in the filing, Powell referenced U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who accepted Flynn's guilty plea just days before he was "suddenly and inexplicably recused."

"The government knew that well in advance of Mr. Flynn's plea that Judge Contreras was a friend of Peter Strzok and his recusal was even discussed in an exchange of multiple texts," Powell wrote, referencing text messages between Strzok and Page where they discussed Strzok and Contreras speaking "in detail" on anything "meaningful enough to warrant recusal."

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has set a Dec. 18 sentencing date, though it's unclear whether it could be pushed off again.
See also:


Alarm Clock

Microsoft beats out Amazon for Pentagon $10 billion cloud contract - Mattis aide alleges Trump vengeance on Bezos

microsoft amazon
The Pentagon announced Friday that it has awarded its $10 billion "war cloud" computing contract to Microsoft over rival Amazon.

The announcement from the Department of Defense (DOD) marked a surprising turn of events — for months, Amazon was viewed as the favorite to win the contract amid an increasingly political lobbying battle.

The Pentagon said that awarding Microsoft the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract (JEDI) "continues our strategy of a multi-vendor, multi-cloud environment," adding that "the department's needs are diverse and cannot be met by any single supplier."

"Today, the Department of Defense has taken another step forward in the implementation of our Cloud Strategy with the award of an enterprise general-purpose cloud contract to Microsoft," the Pentagon said in a statement. "This contract will address critical and urgent unmet warfighter requirements for modern cloud infrastructure at all three classification levels delivered out to the tactical edge."