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Tue, 28 Nov 2023
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Canadian regime postpones trial of Freedom Convoy protester

Trial's start date delayed 6 months until May 2024

freedom convoy canada
The trial of Freedom Convoy protester Pat King has changed from a jury to a judge-alone trial and the start date has been delayed from later this month to May 2024.

Appearing in virtual court Tuesday, King's lawyer Natasha Calvinho had filed a motion asking for the trial to be adjourned to a later start date.

Calvinho told the court she received hours worth of video evidence and other materials from the Crown, but would not be able to review it all before Nov. 27, as was originally planned.

The Crown was prepared to proceed sooner and was available for earlier dates, but consented to King's decision to have his case heard by a judge.

By hearing the trial by a judge, the court can choose non-consecutive sitting days. Jury trials are typically heard consecutively to minimize the disruption to jurors' lives.

Comment: Freedom? Democracy? Right to protest? Not if your cause frightens the regime...


Arrow Up

Craig Murray: Activating the Genocide Convention

stopcop
© United Nations
Full Stop Cop • Still from a U.N. film strip on the 1948 Genocide Convention, circa 1949.
There are 149 states party to the Genocide Convention. Every one of them has the right to call out the genocide in progress in Gaza and report it to the United Nations.

In the event that another state party disputes the claim of genocide — and Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom are all states party — then the International Court of Justice is required to adjudicate on "the responsibility of a State for genocide."

These are the relevant articles of the genocide convention:
Article VIII
Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.

Article IX
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute."
Note that here "parties to the dispute" means the states disputing the facts of genocide, not the parties to the genocide/conflict. Any single state party is able to invoke the convention.

There is no doubt that Israel's actions amount to genocide. Numerous international law experts have said so and genocidal intent has been directly expressed by numerous Israeli ministers, generals and public officials.

Comment: Abbas has always played safe - a reaction in which he obviously excels. Proven useful, he's still around.


Target

US-China reset? Biden offers hand of friendship to Xi while holding enmity in the other

xibid
© AFP
Xi-Biden meeting
Despite the hype in the U.S. media about their much-anticipated summit in California this week marking a putative return to normal bilateral relations, the Biden administration continues pushing unprecedented aggression towards China.

Just like San Francisco's notorious Third World-like homelessness and squalor being hurriedly cleaned up (swept under the rug, more like it) for the media spectacle, all the signs point to no return to decent U.S.-China relations in the longer term. It's all a duplicitous facade for a passing moment on a path of enmity.

Biden held a four-hour summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday in San Francisco ahead of the annual conference for the 21-nation Association of Pacific and Economic Cooperation (APEC).

It was highly notable that Biden and Xi did not hold a joint press conference following their lengthy discussions. Nor did the two leaders issue a joint statement. So much for a new beginning!

Almost comically, the supposed positive meeting was later thrown into disarray when Biden at the end of his solo press conference made a hallmark embarrassing gaffe by repeating an earlier epithet for Xi. Asked by a reporter if he still considered the Chinese president "a dictator", Biden responded, "Yes".

Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, was visibly perplexed by his tone-deaf boss's remarks, sensing that all the effort to create an apparent amiable reset in relations was in danger of collapsing in farce.

X

Joe Biden's Washington Post op-ed shows the US never learns its lessons

JoeBi
© Kyle Mazza/Anadolu/Getty Images
US President Joe Biden • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • October 13, 2023
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has recently published an op-ed. Appropriately released through the Washington Post, it is, of course, really the equivalent of a regime policy declaration - a laying down of the party line, if you wish. As such, the text deserves attention, never mind that it is impossible that America's leader, clearly challenged by worsening senescence, has written it himself. This is, to borrow a phrase from the Russia-watching crowd, America's "collective Biden" speaking.

Translated from official jargon and scrubbed of empty rhetoric and euphemisms, the long proclamation makes only two substantial points about what the US and its "allies" (really clients and vassals) must do:
Continue waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and
Continue backing Israel in its genocidal war against the Palestinians.
(no, it is not a "war against Hamas," that's a side effect).
In that sense, there is nothing surprising, or hopeful, in collective Biden's announcement: It took them more words this time, but this Democratic administration of neocons is simply repeating the equally tone-deaf slogan of a former Republican president representing a past gaggle of neocons: Stay the course, as George W. Bush put it succinctly during the Iraq disaster. Deja Vu all over again, in the words of America's greatest philosopher.

But the details of the text still merit scrutiny. Let's pick out a few highlights:

Dollars

Russia and Venezuela confirm de-dollarization plans

Lav Pinto
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AFP
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov • Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil Pinto
Moscow • November 16, 2023
The two countries will switch to national currencies in trade, the Venezuelan foreign minister has announced...

Moscow and Caracas are making progress towards de-dollarization and hope to switch to national currencies in trade soon, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto announced on Thursday.

Pinto, who is in Russia on a three-day official visit, was speaking at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

According to Pinto, the central banks in Moscow and Caracas are working on the technical and technological side of the planned switch. Both partners will be able to shift away from the US dollar and start using local currencies in cross-border transactions "very soon," he added.

The foreign minister also pointed out that the leading developing nations, particularly the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), are pursuing the de-dollarization policy in order to reduce the influence of the US dollar.

Comment: On the flip side, Argentina's new president is set against joining BRICS.
Javier Milei pledged to stay away from China and Brazil, as well as to dollarize the country's economy.

Argentina is not planning to become a member of BRICS on January 1, Diana Mondino, senior economic adviser to the country's president-elect, Javier Milei, told Sputnik Brazil on Monday. The invitation to join BRICS was approved in August and extended to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The current alliance consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

"I don't know why there is so much interest around BRICS," Mondino said, adding that it's unclear how joining the group would benefit Argentina. The candidate for Argentine foreign minister also said that the country's government will "analyze" if joining the organization promises advantages.

Milei, who beat Economy Minister Sergio Massa in Sunday's presidential runoff, had previously voiced opposition to joining BRICS. He has also expressed marked reluctance to support economic ties with China and Brazil while planning to work toward economic rapprochement with the US and Israel.
"I'm not going to push for deals with communists because they don't respect the basic parameters of free trade, freedom, and democracy; it's geopolitics. Some countries are not along those lines."
At the same time, the president-to-be pledged not to interfere with the country's businesses that are dealing with the BRICS countries. He has also vowed to "dollarize" the Argentinian economy.

Joining the BRICS group was viewed as a chance to open up a "new scenario" for Argentina, outgoing President Alberto Fernandez said back in August after accepting the invitation.

The South American nation is currently struggling with the worst economic crisis in decades. Inflation surged 60% over the past year alone. The severely devalued peso forced the country's government to refinance its $44 billion debt to the IMF.
Wait, there's more:
Argentina's president-elect, Javier Milei, has promised "shock therapy" to fix the country's beleaguered economy, which has been hit by one of the world's fastest inflation rates and a looming recession, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Milei pledged radical measures for the Argentine economy that will reportedly include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso for the US dollar and slashing public spending.

Argentina is faced with a debt of $44 billion due to be paid to international bondholders and the International Monetary Fund next year. To cover the arrears, the country will require "a big current account surplus amid a stabilization plan," according to Martin Castellano, head of Latin America research at the Institute of International Finance.

This puts Milei, a 53-year-old economist, former TV pundit, and one-time legislator without executive experience, in front of an "enormous" challenge at a time when state coffers are empty and inflation is nearing 150%.

Argentina's president-elect used to carry a chainsaw as a symbol of his planned cuts but has shelved it in recent weeks to help boost his moderate image.

Bloomberg's Latin America economist Adriana Dupita said:
"Milei's ambitious vision of a market-friendly, small-state, dollarized Argentina will finally be put to test. He has yet to clarify on timing and process for dollarization — which, with negative reserves, doesn't seem feasible for the near term."
Experts warn that dollarizing the $622 billion economy at a time when international reserves are depleted could plunge the South American nation into another spell of hyperinflation.
The cost of reality can be really, really high.


Bullseye

Shame on US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield: She has forgotten her roots

UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield us ambassador vote against gaza ceasefire
© Mike Segar/Reuters
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield votes against a Brazil-sponsored draft resolution on October 18, 2023.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has refused to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza to save lives, after more than 12,000 civilians have died, and half are children.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has refused to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza to save lives, after more than 12,000 civilians have died, and half are children. Thomas-Greenfield's policy statements suggest Israelis are deserving of human rights, while Palestinians are not.

In 2015, Thomas-Greenfield received the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award, and yet her current presence at the UN has not exhibited any humanitarian urgency for Gaza, which her own colleagues at the UN are calling a humanitarian disaster, and genocide.

She forgets that her own ancestry mirrors the Palestinians, not the Israelis. She is representing the interests of the masters, while denying the oppressed people's rights.

Eye 2

NATO considering permanent increase of troops in Kosovo - Stoltenberg

Stoltenberg
© Unknown
NATO Secretary Gens Stoltenberg
NATO is looking into a more permanent increase in the number of troops in the Western Balkans to keep tensions under control, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization sent hundreds of additional forces to Kosovo from Britain and Romania after a battle between police and armed Serbs holed up in a monastery turned a quiet village in northern Kosovo into a war zone on Sept. 24.

"We are now reviewing whether we should have a more permanent increase to ensure that this doesn't spiral out of control and creates a new violent conflict in Kosovo or the wider region," Stoltenberg told reporters on a visit to Kosovo.


Comment: Translation: To ensure that NATO has greater control over its chaos creation in the region.


Comment: See also:


Recycle

Zelensky again warns of 'Maidan' plan to oust him before end of 2023

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
© AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
This has been the second time in less than a week that the Ukrainian leader has told Western media that a third "Maidan" is being plotted against him
"The name of operation is Maidan 3. It is meant to change the president," he said in an interview with The Sun. "Maybe it's not by killing. I mean it's changing. They will use any instruments they have. So that's the idea, to the end of the year," he added.

This has been the second time in less than a week that Zelensky has told Western media that a third "Maidan" is being plotted against him. He first said that such information had been coming from Ukrainian intelligence and Western allies at a meeting with foreign reporters on November 17.


Comment: And it's the Western 'allies' that are planning on replacing him. Zelensky seems to think that by sounding the alarm he can prevent the inevitable.


Comment: It became clear a few months ago that some scheme was in the works when Western media began to publicise how the Kiev-junta was losing the proxy-war, more so with TIME magazine's pitiful front cover. This prompted a number of analysts to speculate that Zelensky's masters intended to replace him with General Zaluzhny, and shift their focus to supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza, and escalating their chaos creation in Middle East.

Following Zelensky's first cry for help, on the 17th of November, Medvedev highlighted the following:


The head of Ukrobanderostan has said that Russia is getting ready to launch an operation called "Maidan 3" in Kiev, aimed at overthrowing him. Hell... Upset the cart. Exposed the plan. Everything was otherwise ready: the right people, tons of weapons, and Russian prankers calling the fleet-footed grandma Nuland to cook pies for maidaners. Will have to adjust the groundwork now.

P.S. Remarkably, the very name of Russians' cunning scheme, "Maidan 3", shows that Kiev has admitted that the first two maidans were nothing but coups. And all the talks about the legitimate will of the people is nothing but bullshit.
See also:




Newspaper

France sowing instability in South Caucasus, says Azerbaijan's president

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
© Ilya Pitalev/POOL/TASS
According to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Paris also seeks to take advantage of its permanent membership of the UN Security Council to conduct political intrigues in various regions
France encourages separatists and provides weapons to Armenia, setting the stage for a new war in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a welcoming address to participants at a conference titled "Decolonization: Empowerment and Development of Women."

"Apart from its former and current colonies, France is also destabilizing our region, the South Caucasus, by supporting separatist tendencies and separatists, providing weapons to Armenia, imposing a military policy, encouraging revanchist forces in Armenia and setting the stage for a new war in our region," Aliyev said in his address, which was read out by Azerbaijani Presidential Aide Hikmet Hajiyev.

Comment: In the West's failing attempts to prevent the rise of the multipolar world, one can expect allied factions to set off fires in as many places as possible, particularly now with Israel's escalation in the Middle East.


Light Sabers

Russo-Ukrainian War: The Reckoning

tank fire

The Last Argument of Kings
The Russo-Ukrainian War has been a novel historical experience for a variety of reasons, and not only for the intricacies and technicalities of the military enterprise itself. This became the first conventional military conflict to occur in the age of social media and planetary cinematography (that is, the ubiquitous presence of cameras). This brought a veneer (though only a veneer) of immanence to war, which for millennia had unveiled itself only through the mediating forces of cable news, print newspapers, and victory steles.

For the eternal optimist, there were upsides to the idea that a high intensity war was slated to be documented in thousands of first-person view videos. Purely from the standpoint of intellectual curiosity (and martial prudence), the flood of footage from Ukraine offers insight into emerging weapons systems and methods and allows for a remarkable level of tactical-level data. Rather than waiting for years of agonizing dissection of after action reports to reconstruct engagements, we are aware in near real time of tactical movements.

Unfortunately, all the obvious downsides of airing a war live on social media were also in effect. The war instantly became sensationalized and saturated with fake, fabricated, or incorrectly captioned videos, cluttered with information that most people are simply not equipped to parse through (for obvious reasons, the average citizen does not have extensive experience differentiating between two post-Soviet armies using similar equipment and speaking similar, or even the same language), and pseudo-expertise.