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Who will have the power in Ukraine? Gangster mayors, oligarch's dirty money and criminals?


RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 19:40 UTC
Odessa graffiti
© RIA Novosti
Graffiti on the streets of Odessa, Ukraine
As Ukraine braces for an early parliamentary vote, its political elites are desperately looking for ways to forge alliances that would be of benefit in the new political environment. Some deals, however, look shadier than others.

While Ukraine's major political parties led by former President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are preparing to face off, as well as the newly formed party of current President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a parliamentary election, some political figures with a long criminal history also want a piece of the pie.

One of the leaders of the newly formed 'Opposition Bloc' who made it to the top of its election list, Gennady Trukhanov, appears to have a particularly gruesome criminal history behind him.

Comment: See also:

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Magnify

Juncker: EU top jobs nomination process 'not very transparent'

Alice Tidey
Euronews
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 14:57 UTC
Jean-Claude Juncker
© Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
Outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday criticised as "not very transparent" the way European Union leaders selected the nominee to replace him.

After three days of marathon talks, the European Council rejected the Spitzenkandidat system to nominate German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen to replace Juncker when his term expires on November 1.

Under this system — through which Junker himself had been appointed — each group in the European Parliament had nominated a lead candidate during the election campaign, who was meant to assume the Commission presidency should they end up with the largest number of seats.

During a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne in Helsinki on Friday, Juncker said the nomination process "was not very transparent", adding that "it's a vision to come back to what unfortunately didn't become a tradition." He then joked: "I said in the European Council the other day that I always had the impression that I would add to history. But not like that, because I am a very unique guy. I was the first and the last Spitzenkandidat."


Comment: See also:
Galloway: Does anyone seriously expect Von der Leyen and Lagarde to change the neo-liberal status quo?

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Attention

Right to Information: Epstein documents may expose powerful politicians, businessmen

Lisette Voytko
Forbes
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 02:31 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein
© Corbis/Getty Images
Sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein
A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered that 167 documents in a lawsuit that alleges famously well-connected financier Jeffrey Epstein participated in a sex-trafficking ring should be unsealed — and that many of his powerful friends could be named.
  • In its 27-page decision, the court cited the public's right to access the case information outweighed the privacy of certain individuals, "including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well‐known Prime Minister, and other world leaders."
  • Virginia Guiffre (now Roberts) filed the lawsuit against Ghislane Maxwell, alleging that she had used her as part of a sex trafficking network of underage girls to Epstein and a number of his famous friends, including his lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew. Both men denied the accusations.
  • Dershowitz has supported unsealing the documents, according to the Daily Beast.
  • The documents will not be immediately available, as anonymous individuals involved in the case have two weeks to file appeals.
  • The court advised the documents be read carefully. "We therefore urge the media to exercise restraint in covering potentially defamatory allegations, and we caution the public to read such accounts with discernment," wrote the court in its decision.
Key background: Epstein had previously been charged in 2007 in a 53-page indictment. As the Miami Herald revealed in its investigative series "Perversion of Justice," Epstein managed to escape all federal charges through a plea deal that gave him and all of his coconspirators immunity, with all documents being sealed. Epstein ended up pleading guilty to one state prostitution charge in Florida. He then registered as a sex offender and paid unspecified restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI.

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Health

Biden to revive Obamacare's individual mandate penalty for not having insurance - that everyone hated

Jessica Bursztynsky
CNBC
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 09:24 UTC
SpookyJoeB
© Scott Olson/Getty Images
Former US VP Joe Biden
Joe Biden, former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, said Friday he would bring back the individual mandate, the penalty for not having health insurance, which was a pillar of the Affordable Care Act.

"Yes, I'd bring back the individual mandate," Biden said in an interview on CNN. The individual mandate would be popular now, "compared to what's being offered," he added.

Biden played an integral part in crafting the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare. However, President Donald Trump eliminated the individual mandate in 2017 by signing the Republican tax bill, effective the 2019 tax year.

Nearly all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls support some kind of government health-care plan. While he does not support of "Medicare for All," Biden said people should have the option to buy into Medicare if they want it. "If you provide an option for anybody who in fact wants to buy into Medicare for All, they can buy in," the Democratic presidential front-runner said.

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Attention

Desperate times, desperate measures? US calls emergency IAEA meeting regarding Iran, having spurned it for 3 years


RT
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 02:44 UTC
IAEA
© Dean Calma/IAEA
The IAEA in session
The US has called an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog after Iran's uranium stockpile exceeded the 2015 nuclear deal's limits. That's the same body whose reports of Iran's compliance Washington has ignored for years.

"The international community must hold Iran's regime accountable," US Ambassador to International Organizations Jackie Wolcott said in a statement calling for a special meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors to discuss what it calls the group's "latest, concerning report" on the Iranian nuclear program. "The United States strongly supports the IAEA and its verification efforts in Iran," the statement continued.

Such support is new for the US, which ignored years of IAEA reports certifying the Iranian government was compliant with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal in order to pull out of that deal unilaterally last May, reimposing sanctions while declaring Iran was violating it.

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Star of David

Anti-Semitism accusations against Labour are a disgrace & insult to Holocaust victims: Noam Chomsky


RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 17:40 UTC
Noam Chomsky
Progressive intellectual Noam Chomsky has voiced his opinion over the ongoing barrage of "anti-Semitism" allegations against the Labour party, calling them a "disgrace" and an "insult to the memory" of Holocaust victims.

The left-wing icon rallied in support of the party led by Jeremy Corbyn, and MP Chris Williamson in particular, arguing that the embattled politician did not say anything anti-Semitic in reality.

"The way charges of anti-Semitism are being used in Britain to undermine the Corbyn-led Labour Party is not only a disgrace, but also -to put it simply - an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust," Chomsky told independent journalist Matt Kennard in an e-mailed statement.


Comment: The charge of anti-Semitism against Labour and Corbyn has been one of the most overblown nothingburgers of identity politics nonsense in recent years. Even otherwise insightful critics like Sargon of Akkad (who isn't shy to point out what he sees as expressions of Jewish identity politics) treat the accusations as something "everyone knows". If you want real anti-Semitism, you can easily find it among alt-right 4chan trolls, but the charges against Labour are overblown.

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Chess

Fearful US "grants" China an oil waiver on Iran sanctions

Steve Brown
The Duran
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 17:15 UTC
Trump Xi
Florida Senator Marco Rubio posted a typical whining comment on June 28th, "The Administration stopped issuing sanctions waivers for Iranian oil exports in May, yet China just received massive oil cargo from Iran. The tanker Saline, capable of carrying 1 million barrels, docked in Jianzhou bay on June 20."

To illustrate how far things have fallen in the west, the prospect that one nation - any nation - may determine on behalf of any other sovereign nation the means by which it trades, is not only absurd, but supremely dangerous.

While this is no surprise to most people, when US threats of gunboats and sanctions fail to intimidate nations like China and Russia, then that creates a sense of alarm in US State. While the US B-team bandies about empty threats on the world stage — Trump claimed he was minutes away from striking Iran for Iran's defensive strike on a US Global Hawk RQ-4 on June 20th, then he backed down, full of doubt — the US State Department is now preparing to issue a special use waiver to China, allowing China to purchase Iranian oil.

Comment: As if the US is in a position to "grant" anything to China. It is China, with its infinite patience, that is allowing the US to save face. A fact that will likely be quietly brought up in future negotiations.

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Bad Guys

Maduro uses Venezuelan Independence Day to call for dialogue, Guaido whines he will denounce 'dictator'


RT
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 17:05 UTC
maduro guaido
© Reuters / Handout / Ivan Alvarado
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and pretender Juan Guaido
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for reconciliation and talks with the US-backed opposition that has repeatedly tried to unseat him, while its leader Juan Guaido doubled down on denouncing Maduro's "dictatorship."

"There is room for all of us within Venezuela," Maduro said in an Independence Day speech on Friday to a group of senior military officials in Caracas, continuing to push for resuming mediated talks with his recalcitrant rival, who declared himself president in January with Washington's backing. "We must all give up something in order to reach an agreement," Maduro said.

The latest round of talks in Oslo, Norway was cancelled following the death of former naval captain Rafael Acosta in prison a week after he was arrested on charges of treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow Maduro. While the opposition claims Acosta was tortured in custody, Commander Remigio Ceballos announced without naming him that the military "regretted the events related to the loss of the retired naval official" and said the government was investigating what led to Acosta's death.
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Star of David

Israeli Defense Ministry is dedicated to covering up evidence of the Nakba - Haaretz

Jonathan Ofir
MondoWeiss
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Palestinian Nakba
Israel has a secret Defense Ministry department which is assigned the task of making Nakba archives disappear. Today the Israeli daily Haaretz has published an extensive investigative report by Hagar Shezaf titled "Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs".

The department is called "Director of security of the Defense establishment", acronym MALMAB in Hebrew. In Hebrew it sounds even more obsessive, because the word describing "Defense" and "Security" is the same ('Bitahon'), thus the "Director of Security of the Security Establishment". So, what is the security establishment securing itself from?

Ostensibly, it was about searching archives for sensitive information concerning Israel's secret nuclear program. But it becomes clear that the department has treated information about the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine (and also later expulsions) as a strategic threat. Thus, archives that had already been approved for declassification by the censor, already open and already cited, have been put into vaults again by order of these officials.

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TV

'Putin's America' and a 'politicized military': Bizarre criticisms of DC Independence Day military parade


RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 02:33 UTC
DC parade
© Global Look / Stefani Reynolds
As Washington, DC prepared to celebrate Independence Day, Time Magazine editor at large Anand Giridharadas cast a sinister shadow over the festivities, suggesting a planned military parade is a sign he lives in 'Putin's America.'

Giridharadas tweeted the alarmist missive earlier this week, ahead of Thursday afternoon's parade, and was soon taken to task by several commenters who noted the editor's utter lack of context or historical perspective.

"I understand the hostility to Trump, but we've had military equipment in parades before in America," one user responded, adding "It's not exactly unprecedented. Let's not cross over into derangement."

Comment: RT reports that some generals refused to take part for fear of the military appearing politicized:
Fox News host Lou Dobbs angered Twitter with a snarky remark about US military brass, who he called "snowflake generals" after some decided not to show up at the 4th of July military parade amid politicization concerns.

Dobbs took a swipe at the generals on Twitter as he commented on reports alleging that, contrary to US President Donald Trump's claim, senior Army and Navy officials are less than "thrilled" about appearing alongside the commander-in-chief at the grandiose military show-off central to this year's 4th of July festivities.

"No wonder these Snowflake Generals haven't won a war since 1991," Dobbs wrote, provoking a massive backlash online.

CNN reported on Thursday, citing a military insider, that the top military officials were asked to appear alongside Trump, but grew uneasy about it amid concerns the parade may turn into a giant Make America Great Again rally, which would put them in potential violation of the Pentagon's political neutrality rules.

The July 4th celebration, touted by Trump as a 'salute to America', has seen tanks and warplanes parade through Washington, as well as protests by opponents of the costly (the White House has refused to say exactly how costly) military extravaganza, which has drawn scathing criticism from the anti-Trump crowd.

Dobbs' remarks may not sit well with many of Twitter's own 'snowflakes', but he is not wrong about at least one thing: despite its numerous military adventures, victories have been few and far between for the US, with its latest involvements, like Iraq and Afghanistan, turning into drawn-out fiascos costing hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives - mostly those of local civilians.

Still, he faced a torrent of criticism online, with many pointing out that Dobbs did not served in the military.


Trump himself was exempted from serving in Vietnam due to a medical condition, namely bone spurs in his heels, but his opponents have been skeptical of the validity of that diagnosis.

The Pentagon earlier announced that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps chiefs won't be in attendance for the military parade, but would sent substitutes.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford and acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper are expected to show up.
Hereticus Economicus reminds us of the relentless US wars of aggression around the planet, and, as noted above, this began long before Putin came to power. H.E also lists the other countries that partake in military parades - surely they aren't all be beholden to Putin?
And if we contrast all the war crimes, all the corruption, all the theft, all the injustice perpetrated by US administrations since WW2 up to the present, including Donald Trump's administration - we see a clear pattern of militarism, hypocrisy, consistent war profiteering, violence, and death. "Fascism" didn't start with Trump or the GOP. It didn't stop with Obama or the Democrats. US financial and military hegemony is BIPARTISAN. It always was. Always will be. Liberals, kindly spare us of your hypocrisy, of your false humanitarianism. The World doesn't believe it.

Now, then, let's see some of the other countries who display military units during their national day celebrations: Mexico, South Africa, Romania, China, Iran, France, Russia, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Italy, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain, Austria, Vietnam, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, and many, many other countries.


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