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Hong Kong Wong calls on Trump to add 'human rights clause' to China trade talks agenda


RT
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 02:19 UTC
Wong
© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong speaks to a reporter after a panel discussion on Anti-Extradition Law Movement in Hong Kong at Columbia University Law School in New York City, U.S., September 13, 2019.
A Hong Kong protest figurehead has called on Washington to make the Hong Kong unrest a part of trade negotiations with Beijing, suggesting the US use 'human rights' as a bargaining chip in the stalled talks.

Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a prominent figure in the ongoing anti-Beijing protests, has been busy touring the West in a bid to persuade foreign nations to meddle in the month-long standoff. On Friday, Wong touched down in New York and wasted no time in making his case, suggesting the Trump administration use the Hong Kong turmoil as leverage in the ongoing trade dispute with China.

Wong argued that Washington should "add a human rights clause in the trade negotiations and put Hong Kong protests under the agenda" of the talks.

Wong has rallied behind a 2015 US bill, reintroduced by Republican Senator Marco Rubio in June, that envisages sanctions for Chinese officials responsible for "suppressing" basic freedoms. If the bill, known as the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, is passed, the US secretary of state would need to certify to Congress every year that Hong Kong is "sufficiently autonomous" from mainland China.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Trump confirms Hamza, son of Osama Bin Laden, has been killed


RFE/RL
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 14:20 UTC
Hamza bin Laden
© CIA video grab
Hamza bin Laden
President Donald Trump says he can now confirm that Hamza bin Laden, the son of the deceased Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, has been killed by a military operation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Trump said in a statement issued by the White House on September 14:
"The loss of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives Al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group."
Media reports had quoted U.S. intelligence officials on July 31 as saying that Hamza bin Laden had died. But they gave no details of the date or place of his death.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed his death in August, saying it was "his understanding" that Bin Laden was dead. But Trump and other senior U.S. officials had not publicly confirmed the news.

Comment: See also: Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, reported dead

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Attention

Dem ex-candidate Gravel: Democrats celebrating Bolton to spite Trump 'worse than embarrassment'


RT
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 13:36 UTC
John Bolton
© Reuters/Michelle McLoughlin
John Bolton
The lionization of John Bolton as an unsung hero who got fired by Trump for not allowing the president to cozy up to dictators is an embarrassment for Democrats, former Senator Mike Gravel told RT.

Bolton, who lost his job as national security advisor in the Trump administration, was instantly embraced by a number of people in the Democratic Party camp. This happened for no apparent reason other than his being rabidly hostile to countries that his former boss says he wants to be friendly with, like Russia or North Korea.

Mike Gravel, a former Democrat senator for Alaska and veteran anti-war champion, said this position is "worse than embarrassment" for the Democrats, because "Bolton was probably the most significant warmonger in recent history. Now that he is fired, it's going to limit the possibility of Donald Trump setting off a war by accident," Gravel told RT's Going Underground.

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Bell

US Attorney recommends proceeding with charges against McCabe as DOJ rejects his last-ditch appeal

Jake Gibson, Alex Pappas
Fox News
Fri, 13 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
Andrew McCabe
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe
U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu has recommended moving forward with charges against Andrew McCabe, Fox News has learned, as the Justice Department rejects a last-ditch appeal from the former top FBI official and current CNN contributor.

McCabe -- the former deputy and acting director of the FBI -- appealed the decision of the U.S. attorney for Washington all the way up to Jeffrey Rosen, the deputy attorney general, but he rejected that request, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The potential charges relate to DOJ inspector general findings against him regarding misleading statements concerning a Hillary Clinton-related investigation.

A source close to McCabe's legal team said they received an email from the Department of Justice which said, "The Department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney's Office's decision in this matter. Any further inquiries should be directed to the United States Attorney's Office."

McCabe spent 21 years with the FBI. He became the acting director in May 2017 after President Trump fired former director James Comey.

Comment: More details: U.S. Attorney moving forward with charges against McCabe based on IG report findings

See also:

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Black Magic

GOP Reps return from AIPAC trip attacking BDS, imply annexation might be the answer

Michael Arria
Mondoweiss
Fri, 13 Sep 2019 12:00 UTC
McCarthy
© Twitter
Rep. McCarthy in Israel
In a September 10th speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would annex a third of the West Bank if reelected. Netanyahu's declaration comes just a month after dozens of congress members (Republicans and Democrats) traveled to Israel as part of a trip sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), a branch of AIPAC. Recent comments by Republican members of the delegation suggest that the trip is being sold as an indictment of the two-state solution and an attack on the BDS movement. These statements indicate that GOP support for Israel is moving beyond cynical two-state solution rhetoric and toward a more public embrace of Netanyahu's annexation vision.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) led AIPAC'S Republican delegation to Israel. After the trip, he told the Jewish News Syndicate that pushing a two-state solution on the region wasn't the United States' job. "The world is constantly changing," he said, "Look at Lebanon. Look at Syria. Things are always in flux in these areas, so how can we choose a solution now without knowing what's going to happen in a few years?"

Comment: See also:

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Jet3

Erdogan tells Trump he could also buy "a certain amount" US Patriot missiles despite row over Russian S-400s


RT
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 10:20 UTC
Erdogan
© Reuters / Umit Bektas
Erdogan spoke with Reuters in Istanbul.
Turkey is interested in buying US-made Patriot missiles, if Washington can offer a good deal, says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - this despite US sanctions on its NATO ally for buying the Russian S-400 air defense systems.

Erdogan said he brought up the deal in a phone call with US President Donald Trump, and will discuss it in person on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.

"I said no matter what package of ... S-400s we get, we can buy from you a certain amount of Patriots," Erdogan told Reuters on Friday. "But I said we have to see conditions that at least match up to the S-400s."

Comment: See also:

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Black Magic

Canada seizes & sells $30mn worth of Iranian assets to 'compensate US victims' of terrorism


RT
Fri, 13 Sep 2019 23:50 UTC
canada
© Global Look Press / ZUMA PRESS/ Carlos Garcia Granthon
FILE PHOTO
Canada has seized and sold some $30 million worth of Iranian assets, court documents indicate. The funds were transferred to American families seeking compensation over terrorist acts that were all pinned on Tehran.

The confiscated assets include two buildings - the Iranian Cultural Center in Ottawa and Center for Iranian Studies in Toronto - as well as some $2.6 million seized from Iranian bank accounts and a couple of vehicles.

The two properties have been sold for $26.5 and $1.85 million respectively, while the proceeding were transferred to several families in the US, who sought share of the assets as a compensation for various acts of terrorism they blamed on Iran. Court documents confirming that the funds have been distributed are dated August 7, yet only caught eye of local media on Friday.

Comment: Canada isn't endearing itself to the world by being the US' lapdog, this incident being only the most recent example:

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Propaganda

RT Editor-in-Chief Simonyan blocked on Facebook - UPDATE: Account reinstated, no explanation provided


RT
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 19:20 UTC
simonyan
© (L) Reuters / Dado Ruvic; (R) Sputnik
Facebook has blocked RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan's account for allegedly "violating community standards." Revealing the ban, Simonyan complained of pervasive censorship practiced on the platform.

The three-day-long ban was not accompanied by a more detailed explanation, Simonyan said in her Telegram channel. She is trying to find out the exact reason, she added.

"Meanwhile I'll be meditating on a free internet, freedom of speech and all that."

Facebook effectively allows Washington to spread its censorship beyond the American borders at will, Simonyan said. "Those who are young and live in social networks, think it's normal, and those who are older and in charge, don't really get what it's all about most of the time. Me, I'm just sad," she told Russia's RIA news agency.

Comment: See also: UPDATE: Saturday 14th September 2019

RT reports:
Facebook has lifted a ban on RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan's account after less than a day, imposed over an alleged breach of its rules. The US social media giant apologized, while saying the move was a "mistake."

"If we see that we have made an error we restore the deleted content and apologize for the mistake as it was the case here," a spokesperson for Facebook in Russia told RIA Novosti news agency, commenting on the sudden change of heart. The social network did not elaborate on the reasons that prompted the ban of the journalist's account in the first place.

On Thursday, Facebook issued a three-day-long ban against Simonyan while vaguely stating that she allegedly violated "community standards." RT's editor-in-chief said she regretted this decision while essentially accusing the company of spreading US censorship beyond America's national borders. Now, Simonyan has jokingly rejoiced at being reinstated on the social media platform.

In the US, conservative commentator Laura Loomer, who has been banned from several major internet platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, recently filed a lawsuit against the tech giant, accusing it of conspiring to silence her political views.
While the social media giants are clearly tools of the US government, for some insight into the staff that are moderating Facebook, which also may explain why overall service is so poor, see: Inside the dark world of Facebook's content moderation

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Oil Well

What the frack: The new American oil empire is built on sand because the shale boom is about to go bust

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
oil rig
Over the course of the past decade the United States, following decades of relative stagnation in oil production, has surprised many to become the largest oil producer in the world, exceeding Russia as well as Saudi Arabia. Latest daily production is just above 12.1 million barrels a day. In November 2018 for the first time in decades the US became a net oil exporter. The geopolitical implications to this energy boom in a world where oil determines the growth of entire economies, would appear to be great. Almost all the increase owes to the exploitation of what is called shale oil, unconventional oil found in shale rock formations. The US Department of Energy projects a rise to 8.8 million barrels daily from US shale oil alone, a new record. Now though, we are seeing the first clear signs that the "shale boom" could implode even faster than it rose. The implications for American foreign policy and global geopolitics and economics are significant.

The 'Fracking' Revolution

The idea of extracting oil or natural gas embedded in shale rocks has been known for years. However shale oil, or tight oil as it is known, first became economical with introduction of new horizontal drilling techniques combined with oil prices of $100 a barrel or more. This was about two decades ago.

In hydraulic fracturing or fracking, oil embedded in shale rock thousands of feet down is injected with a high pressure mix of water, lots of it, mixed with chemicals and sand. The de facto sand blasting creates fissures where oil can flow into the oil pipeline. The actual drilling of a shale well is only about 30-40% of the total cost. Up to 55-70% are from completion which includes actual fracking. The independent oil consultancy, Wood Mackenzie, recently estimated that the USA held an impressive 60% of all world shale reserves that are economically viable at oil prices of $60 per barrel or less.
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Gear

The story that will just not die: Trump the Russian puppet

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
Putin's puppet
© Wikimedia
Certainly, there are many things that President Donald Trump can rightly be criticized for, but it is interesting to note how the media and chattering classes continue to be in the grip of the highly emotional but ultimately irrational "Trump derangement syndrome (TDS)." TDS means that even the most ridiculous claims about Trump behavior can be regurgitated by someone like Jake Tapper or Rachel Maddow without anyone in the media even daring to observe that they are both professional dissemblers of truth who lie regularly to enhance their professional resumes.

There are two persistent bogus narratives about Donald Trump that are, in fact, related. The first is that his campaign and transition teams collaborated with the Russian government to defeat Hillary Clinton. Even Robert Mueller, he of the famous fact-finding commission, had to admit that that was not demonstrable. The only government that succeeded in collaborating with the incoming Trumpsters was that of Israel, but Mueller forgot to mention that or even look into it.

Nevertheless, Russia as a major contributing element in the Trump victory continues to be cited in the mainstream media, seemingly whenever Trump is mentioned, as if it were demonstrated fact. The fact is that whatever Russia did was miniscule and did not in any way alter the outcome of the election. Similarly, allegations that the Kremlin will again be at it in 2020 are essentially baseless fearmongering and are a reflection of the TDS desire to see the president constantly diminished in any way possible.
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