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'Cyberattacks & insider sabotage': Venezuela's power grid hit with second attack


RT
Sun, 10 Mar 2019 02:02 UTC
power grid venezuela
© Reuters / Carlos Jasso
Transmission towers in Caracas, Venezuela
Electrical systems in Venezuela have been targeted by another cyberattack, President Nicholas Maduro has said. Caracas has accused the US of "sabotage", while US officials blame local corruption and mismanagement for the blackout.

After a failure at the Guri hydroelectric power plant left much of the country without power on Thursday night, Venezuelan authorities managed to restore power to "many parts" of the country. However, the country's grid took another hammering on Saturday, with many of the restored systems knocked out once again, the country's embattled president said.

According to Maduro, the systems had been nearly 70 percent restored when "we received another attack, of a cybernetic nature, at midday... that disturbed the reconnection process and knocked out everything that had been achieved until noon."
We discovered that they were carrying out high-tech... attacks against the power systems.
Additionally, "one of the sources of generation that was working perfectly," was also sabotaged, he added, accusing domestic "infiltrators of attacking the electric company from the inside."

Comment: Venezuela deploying troops "to protect national power grid" from US "aggression"

This not the first time Venezuela has been subject mysterious grid failures: Nor are they the only Latin American country to do so, when on the receiving end of the Empire's attention:

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Star of David

ANOTHER Western meltdown over 'the Jewish Question': Trump calls Democrats 'anti-Israel, anti-Jewish party' after House vote on 'hate'

John Parkinson
ABC News
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 21:26 UTC
trump jews
President Donald Trump on Friday said Democrats have become an "anti-Israel" and "anti-Jewish" party after they overwhelmingly passed a House resolution Thursday rejecting not just anti-Semitism but hate and racism across the board.

The vote ended a week of Democratic infighting over whether the resolution should also mention Islamaphobia and other forms of bigotry following comments criticized as anti-Israel made by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

Trump called the vote "disgraceful" as he left the White House to tour tornado damage in Alabama.

"The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They've become an anti-Jewish party," Trump said, later repeating himself to emphasize his point.

"As members of Congress and Americans we have a solemn, urgent responsibility to fight to end the scourge of bigotry, racism and hatred in our country," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during debate on the resolution.


Comment: Right but this began when a member of congress pointed out, in a 'tweet', two facts: that 'pro-Israel' lobbyists and donors use their considerable financial resources to influence US policy, and that US politicians frequently profess 'allegiance' to Israel and expect others to do the same.

What the heck does that have to do with "bigotry, racism and hatred" in the US of A?


The measure passed 407-23, with 23 Republicans voting against it.

Comment: Well, that escalated quickly.

All Omar did was point out well-known facts regarding Israel's influence in US politics.

Trump then weighed in with his weird comments conflating criticism of Israel with criticism of Jews - exactly what Macron did in Europe recently during his government's bizarre conflation of anti-semitism with anti-Zionism as a means of suppressing Yellow Vest protests.

The same thing is happening in the UK, where the sharp end of anti-semitism is being swung at opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn (and thus anyone who supports him or his ideas).

Incidentally, the whole of congress today reaffirmed the fact that Israel holds inordinate power in the US by passing an utterly meaningless 'resolution condemning anti-semitism'... a resolution that was successfully pushed-for by the pro-Israel lobby!!!
"Those candidates who have taken little money from the lobby defended Omar, while those who received the most money criticized her, or were quiet on the issue."


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Eye 1

Ukrainian soldiers kill their commander after being forced to commit war-crimes

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 19:55 UTC
azov battalion
© AFP 2018 / GENYA SAVILOV
Non-combat losses now exceed 10,000 Redemption comes in many forms
Ukrainian servicemen shot and killed their commander, Sergei Sobko, in the aftermath of being forced to commit war-crimes for a Ukrainian media public relations spectacle. The killing happened immediately after an incident where the commander was scolding the troops in his command for drinking alcohol. This was announced by the official representative of the operational command of the DPR, Eduard Basurin.

According to Basurin, it happened on March 6th in the 128th separate mountain-assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where the lieutenant at night allegedly discovered that a group of soldiers were drunk. The soldiers may have been engaged in heavy drinking as a coping mechanism to deal with the unit's increasingly problematic activities at least since the end of February.

"There was a negative reaction to a remark of the platoon commander, and during the verbal skirmish, two sergeants used firearms and shot their commander at close range," Basurin told Russian media.

Comment: See also:

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Light Saber

Venezuela deploying troops "to protect national power grid" from US "aggression"

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 19:55 UTC
blackout Venezuela satellite
© Katty Verenz/Facebook
Satellite images from Venezuela. (enhanced contrast)
Update: Though some parts of Venezuela's power grid have reportedly begun to come back online after the country was plunged into nation-wide darkness beginning Thursday evening, the mass blackout crisis continues, which Caracas has blamed on US-orchestrated saboteurs.

To prevent further "sabotage" Venezuela's Defense Ministry has vowed in an official statement via state TV social media channels to deploy armed forces to protect the national electricity system for the duration of the power outage.

"All the security agencies, civil protection and the nation's integral defense system are deployed to protect and help the people across the country," a statement said, via Bloomberg. This as official accusations against Washington for conducting what Maduro previously called a US "electricity war" have become even more strident.

Comment: Maduro and the Venezuelans aren't stupid. They can see sabotage written all over their grid failure. There's more than just Stuxnet malware available to destroy a power system. What was stupid was psychopathic McCain-wannabe Marco Rubio taking a too-early victory lap on Twitter:


which timing and unusually knowledgable content was duly noted by Venezuela's Minister of Communication and Information.


More from RT:
A cyber-attack is likely the reason for the major blackout that left most of Venezuela in darkness, a Maduro government official said, hinting that the US may be involved in the offensive.

As Venezuela is still reeling from a nationwide blackout, Nicolas Maduro's government says the emergency was the result of an external influence. The major power outage was likely prompted by a cyber-attack against the Guri hydroelectric plant which produces 80% of the country's electricity, Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela's communication and information minister said on Friday, according to local media.

The official went on to hint that US Senator and fierce anti-Maduro campaigner Marco Rubio may be linked to the offensive. Rodriguez found it suspicious that shortly after the failure Rubio shared specific information on Twitter about the emergency that even local authorities were not aware of at that time.
How did Marco Rubio know [of the attack] a few minutes later that the backup generators had failed? At that time, no one knew yet.
Branding the country-wide power outage "the most brutal attack on the Venezuelan people in 200 years," the minister promised to file a complaint to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

President Nicolas Maduro earlier also raised suspicions of Washington standing behind the power outage as he accused the US of waging the "electricity war." The country's electric energy minister, for his part, said that "deliberate sabotage" on behalf of the US-backed opposition was the reason.



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Arrow Up

Eurosceptic parties set to double seats in EU Parliament after May elections


RT
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 15:03 UTC
le pen salvini
© REUTERS / Stephane Mahe (L) ; REUTERS / Yara Nardi (R)
FILE PHOTO: French politician Marine Le Pen and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini
Anti-establishment parties across the EU are expected to receive a surge in popularity at the ballot box, as a poll released Saturday indicates voters tired of the Brussels status quo could lead to a doubling in Eurosceptic MEPs.

Conducted by the German newspaper Bild between late February and early March, the poll surveyed over 9,500 voters in six countries on their voting intentions in May's elections for the EU Parliament. In three countries - France, Italy, and Poland - anti-establishment right-wing parties came out on top, confirming a growing Eurosceptic shift among EU voters.

Parties expected to benefit from this shift in voter sentiment include Marine Le Pen's National Rally party, which could secure 23 percent of the vote in France. In Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's League Party is set to win 33 percent. Both right-wing parties are members of the Eurosceptic Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group, which expects to increase its number total of MEPs from 37 to 67 in the 705-seat Parliament.

Comment: Living standards for citizens throughout the EU have deteriorated to such an extent that people can no longer ignore the endless lies of their politicians: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Bad Guys

The US stealth war on Venezuela

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 16:46 UTC
hands off venezuela protest sign
© REUTERS / Juan Carlos Ulate
As Venezuela's nationwide crippling power outage goes into days, rather than hours, the suspicion grows that the South American country has been hit with a mass attack by the United States.

When US President Donald Trump and other senior White House officials earlier bragged that "all options are on the table" for Washington's regime change objective in Venezuela, it has to be assumed now that one of those options included a devastating cyber sabotage of the country's power infrastructure.

For its part, the government of President Nicolas Maduro is convinced that the US is waging an "electrical war" and is behind the latest power outages. Washington and its anointed Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido claim that the disruption is the result of "incompetent management" of the country by Maduro's socialist government.


Comment: The timing of this alleged outage is seemingly quite a coincidence. Is the government so incompetent that their electrical grid suddenly failed en masse for days with no solution in sight? Considering Maduro's currently perilous position, would the current Venezuelan government benefit from such a significant problem that impacts all its people? If not, who does benefit?


Comment: With the US beating the war drums for "regime change" in Venezuela and its history of covert warfare, coupled with this seemingly anomalous mass power outage incident, the evidence does currently suggest that the US is behind this current problem, with the goal of overthrowing Maduro.

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TV

MSNBC panelist says Bernie should embrace capitalism because his father fled Nazis. Wait, what?


RT
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 20:23 UTC
bernie trump
© AFP / Chip Somodevilla
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Corporate media criticism of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders is to be expected, but RT's Lee Camp was taken aback by MSNBC's suggestion that the senator should embrace capitalism because... his father fled the Nazis.

The news network assembled one of its panels to dissect a speech that the popular presidential candidate gave about his people-over-profits platform - and the resulting commentary was far too predictable. Political analyst Rick Tyler argued that the big "lesson" Sanders should have learned, considering his Polish father was a refugee who escaped Nazi occupation, is that "a prosperous capitalist society works for people."

To which Camp replied: "Really? I would think the takeaway would have been, 'Nazis f***ing suck!'"

He also noted that Sanders was being scolded essentially for choosing healthcare-for-all over "unfettered capitalism" - a policy stance that clearly doesn't sit well with MSNBC's corporate ownership.


Comment: From 'Bernie is Hitler' to 'Bernie should know better because Hitler' in just over one week.

What is up with some people's infatuation with Hitler??

And why is he and his legacy the benchmark for political debates about social and economic ideas in a different country almost a century later??

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X

Manafort was an agent of Ukraine, not Russia

Andrew McCarthy
National Review
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 06:30 UTC
Manafort
© Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Paul Manafort
He is a scoundrel, but he was never a Kremlin operative.

Paul Manafort, the clandestine agent of Russia at the heart of the Trump campaign's "collusion" scand - oh, wait.

Have you ever noticed what Paul Manafort's major crime was? After two years of investigation, after the predawn raid in which his wife was held at gunpoint, after months of solitary confinement that have left him a shell of his former self, have you noticed what drew the militant attention of the Obama Justice Department, the FBI, and, ultimately, a special counsel who made him the centerpiece of Russia-gate?

According to the indictment Robert Mueller filed against him, Manafort was an unregistered "agent of the Government of Ukraine." He also functioned as an agent of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's president from 2010 to 2014, and of two political parties, the Party of Regions and its successor, the Opposition Bloc.

Manafort was not an unregistered agent of Russia. Mueller never alleged that Manafort was a clandestine operative of the Kremlin. He worked for Ukraine, not Putin. Indeed, for much of his time in Ukraine, he pushed his clients against Putin's interests.

Comment: See also:

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X

Gabbard's pro-INF bill given 'no chance' due to longterm strategy by the MIC lobby


Sputnik
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 22:01 UTC
Gabbard/Pershing II missiles
© CC0/The Hill/Stefani Reynolds
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) • Pershing II missiles
In a last-ditch effort to keep the US from exiting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Democratic Party presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard introduced a draft bill to Congress which would prevent the authorization of government funds for the testing, procurement or deployment of any missile prohibited under the treaty.

Congress released the full text of Gabbard's bill, dubbed the INF Treaty Compliance Act of 2019, this week, with the proposed legislation originally introduced by the Hawaii congresswoman in mid-February for deliberation by the House Armed Services Committee.

Gabbard had earlier described Trump's decision to pull out of the 1987 treaty as a "reckless" move which could exacerbate "a new Cold War" with Russia. The bill has now been cosponsored by six Democratic lawmakers, including Ilhan Omar, James McGovern, Mark Pocan, Barbara Lee, Raul M. Grijalva, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Comment: See also:

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Alarm Clock

Cohen met with Schiff staff over 10 hours before House Oversight Committee hearing

Gregg Re, Catherine Herridge
Fox News
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Adam Schiff
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told House investigators this week that staff for Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., traveled to New York at least four times to meet with him for over 10 hours immediately before last month's high-profile public testimony, according to two sources familiar with the matter -- as Republicans question whether the meetings amounted to coaching a witness.

The sources said the sessions covered a slew of topics addressed during the public hearing before the oversight committee -- including the National Enquirer's "Catch and Kill" policy, American Media CEO David Pecker and the alleged undervaluing of President Trump's assets.

But, Republicans have raised concerns with the sessions, with Ohio Rep. Mike Turner sending a letter to Cohen's team on Wednesday demanding answers.

Turner specifically asked for confirmation of Cohen's contacts, if any, "with Democratic Members or Democratic staff of SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence], COR [House Committee on Oversight and Reform], or HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] prior to his appearances before House and Senate committees last week" -- as well as the lengths of such contacts, their locations and who exactly was involved.

"These questions are important for the public to understand whether or not they were watching witness testimony, a public hearing, or well-rehearsed theater," he wrote.


Comment: See also:

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