© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Puppet Masters
Citing Hungary's anti-immigration policies and concerns about "media suppression," the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to invoke the provision, known as the 'nuclear option,' which is applied when there is "a clear risk of a serious breach" of EU values by one of the member states.
Voting against its own interests
Implementing Article 7 allows for sanctions to be imposed on Budapest, including stripping the nation of its voting rights in the European Council. The motion, which passed 448-197 with 48 abstentions, was roundly condemned by prominent Eurosceptics. Former UKIP leader and champion of Brexit, Nigel Farage, warned that the vote revealed the ever-tightening "authoritarian grip" of the European Union.
But those who support the European project and are working towards a more unified bloc should also be outraged, British historian, philosopher and author John Laughland told RT.
© AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
People stand in front of damaged buildings, in the town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, near Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 16, 2018
People stand in front of damaged buildings, in the town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, near Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 16, 2018
"This information has been extensively corroborated by eyewitnesses from the local population who are sending us [dozens] of reports about the preparations for the staged attack, the transport of hazardous chemical material to certain areas around Jisr al-Shughur, kidnapping more than 40 children from Idlib's neighboring areas to use them as 'victims' of the planned attack, and many other reports regarding this planned staged provocation," Moustapha, who previously served as the Syrian ambassador to the United States, said.
Comment: Syrian Foreign Minister warns White Helmets kidnapped 44 children to stage chemical attack in Idlib
The ambassador noted that the information, obtained by the Russian Defense Ministry, regarding the staged attack with the use of chemical weapons in Idlib did not come as a surprise to the Syrian government.
© Lt. K. Fitch, US Navy / Flickr
Guided missile destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG 84)
Guided missile destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG 84)
The USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, entered the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar on Wednesday, the Russian news agency Interfax reported citing international maritime monitoring data. A Gibraltar-watcher confirmed the destroyer's transit on September 12.
© Glare/AP
Peter Strzok
Peter Strzok
The text messages suggest that Strzok, along with his paramour, former FBI Attorney Lisa Page, had been in contact with reporters from both newspapers. Strzok specifically mentioned two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times writer Michael Schmidt his text message to Page.
Strzok wrote, "Also, apparently Times is angry with us about the WP (Washington Post) scoop and earlier discussion we had about the Schmidt piece that had so many inaccuracies. Too much to detail here, but I told Mike (redacted) and Andy they need to understand we were absolutely dealing in good faith with them," Strzok texted to Page on April 14, 2017. "The FISA one, coupled with the Guardian piece from yesterday." (The New York Times did not respond immediately for comment. The Washington Post also did not respond immediately for comment.)
According to several U.S. officials who spoke to this news outlet, "Mike" mentioned in Strzok's text message is Mike Kortan, the former FBI assistant director for public affairs who retired in February. "Andy" was in reference to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. McCabe was fired earlier this year after it was revealed in DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report that said he lied to investigators and leaked information to the media.
What these revelations challenge is not simply the mythos surrounding particular tech companies, but the mythos surrounding the tech industry itself. After all, many people have their hopes invested in the belief that these companies are building a better brighter future, and they are naturally taken aback when they are forced to reckon with stories that reveal how these companies are building the types of high-tech dystopias that science fiction has been warning us about for decades. And in this space there are some who seem eager to allow a new myth to take root: one in which the unsettling connections between big tech firms and the military industrial complex is something new. But as Yasha Levine's important new book, Surveillance Valley, deftly demonstrates the history of the big tech firms, complete with its panoptic overtones, is thoroughly interwoven with the history of the repressive state apparatus. While many people may be at least nominally aware of the links between early computing, or the proto-Internet, and the military, Levine's book reveals the depth of these connections and how they persist. As he provocatively puts it, "the Internet was developed as a weapon and remains a weapon today" (9).
Comment:
The logic behind such a move has everything to do with the ongoing process of Eurasian integration. Progress in this regard has been multifaceted in recent months and years. It ranges from the most important event, namely the entry of Pakistan and India into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to other less known events, such as the signing of the Caspian Sea treaty by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The United States is committed to stopping this integration. Staying true to Brzezinski's grand strategy, based on the concepts of Heartland and Rimland, it has not been difficult for policy makers and advisors of the current US administration to understand the importance of Afghanistan in helping the process of Eurasian integration by fomenting terrorism. Afghanistan plays an important double role as a hinge between both Eurasia and the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.
Back when Kerry was actually authorized to do this sort of thing as Secretary of State under Obama in 2015. Via the Iran Project
Kerry confirmed and explained in detail his recent meetings with Iranian Former Minister Javad Zarif in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt to promote his new memoir, Every Day Is Extra.
During the interview Kerry disclosed that he met with Zarif "three or four times" and discussed political issues and challenges between the United States and Iran in what could constitute a significant and clear violation of the Logan Act.
Though it's almost never been enforced, the 1799 Logan Act states that unauthorized diplomacy with foreign powers by private American citizens is a crime. Notably, two Trump-connected individuals that prominent Liberals and editorials demanded be prosecuted under the Logan Act include former national security advisor Michael Flynn and Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
When asked point blank during the radio show about his rumored meetings with top Iran officials, Kerry admitted, "I think I've seen him three or four times," but attempted to claim he was not trying to "coach" Iran on how to navigate President Trump's pullout of the Iran nuclear deal.
© Russian Presidential Press and Information Office handout / Anadolu Agency
China's President Xi Jinping, second left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, making bliny [Russian pancakes] as they visit the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the 2018 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept 11, 2018.
China's President Xi Jinping, second left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, making bliny [Russian pancakes] as they visit the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the 2018 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept 11, 2018.
For a few years now the Vladivostok forum has been offering an unequaled roadmap tracking progress on Eurasia integration.
Last year, on the sidelines of the forum, Moscow and Seoul delivered a bombshell: a trilateral trade platform, crucially integrating Pyongyang, revolving around a connectivity corridor between the whole Korean peninsula and the Russian Far East.
Roundtable topics this year included integration of the Russian Far East into Eurasian logistic chains; once again the Russian link-up with the Koreas - aiming to build a Trans-Korean railway connected to the Trans-Siberian and a "Pipelineistan" branch-out into South Korea via China. Other topics were the Russia-Japan partnership in terms of Eurasian transit, centering on the link-up of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) upgrades to a projected railway to the island of Sakhalin, and then all the way to the island of Hokkaido.
The future: Tokyo to London, seamlessly, by train.
Comment: See also:
- Pepe Escobar: The Caspian sails towards Eurasian integration
- Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update
- BRICS gearing up for "open" digital revolution 4.0
- Russia will ask UN to lift some North Korea sanctions - Unsurprisingly the US isn't happy
© Twitter
The Independent's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk is, as far as we know, is the first and only Western journalist to have assessed the situation from the front-line of Idlib. Rather than witnessing the 100,000 Syrian soldiers said to be amassing for the assault, he came across a contingent of some 200 Syrian soldiers with no armored vehicles or heavy weaponry. Not much else out of the ordinary was to be seen that would indicate that the storming of Idlib was imminent. Only preparatory Russian and Syrian airstrikes targeting jihadi positions between Hama and Idlib have been reported.
Comment: Amazon has been becoming more brazen in their censorship in the last year or two. They also banned Alex Krainer's expose on the lies of Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act. If you want to know the truth, just pay attention to what the ruling class bans. There you will find what they're afraid to have revealed. See: Grand Deception: The Truth About Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and Anti-Russian Sanctions