Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 26 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Newspaper

Putin tells prosecutors to protect "honest businesses", ensure proper conditions for those awaiting trial


RFE/RL
Tue, 19 Mar 2019 18:36 UTC
Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office in Moscow on March 19.
President Vladimir Putin has urged Russian prosecutors to protect the rights of businesspeople "with a view to improving the business climate."

Speaking to a gathering of prosecutors in Moscow on March 19, Putin said that a "more effective defense of the rights of business owners" was important "so we can make up for restrictions imposed from the outside by improving the quality of work within the country."

The Russian economy has been hard hit by economic sanctions imposed by Western countries over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its ongoing military, political, and economic support for separatist formations in eastern Ukraine, as well as by Russia's countersactions.


Comment: Ukraine is collapsing under the weight of its own corruption, catalyzed by the US backed coup, meanwhile Crimea, which voted by a landslide to rejoin Russia, is doing very well indeed.


Putin's comments come a month after the February 14 arrest of Michael Calvey, a U.S. citizen and the founder of the multi-billion-dollar Baring Vostok investment fund.

Comment: RFE/RL is a propaganda outlet funded by the West, and that explains its casual, unfounded smears against Russia which it intermingles with accurate reporting: For more on the Magnitsky tale, see: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer

      Read More...
USA

Donald Trump Jr: Conservatives face 'tough fight' as Big Tech's censorship expands

Donald Trump Jr.
The Hill
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:08 UTC
social media censorship google facebook twitter
As Big Tech's censorship of conservatives becomes ever more flagrant and overt, the old arguments about protecting the sanctity of the modern public square are now invalid. Our right to freely engage in public discourse through speech is under sustained attack, necessitating a vigorous defense against the major social media and internet platforms.

From "shadowbans" on Facebook and Twitter, to demonetization of YouTube videos, to pulled ads for Republican candidates at the critical junctures of election campaigns, the list of violations against the online practices and speech of conservatives is long.

I certainly had my suspicions confirmed when Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, "accidentally" censored a post I made regarding the Jussie Smollett hoax, which consequently led to me hearing from hundreds of my followers about how they've been having problems seeing, liking or being able to interact with my posts. Many of them even claimed that they've had to repeatedly refollow me, as Instagram keeps unfollowing me on their accounts.
      Read More...
Star of David

Sick society: Israeli Justice Minister rebuts criticisms of fascism by saying her policies 'smell like democracy'

Jonathan Ofir
Mondoweiss
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:07 UTC
Israel's Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked

Screenshot from a campaign ad for the Israeli New Right Party featuring Israel's Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked spraying herself with "Fascism" perfume and saying: "Smells like democracy to me"
As one person noted: "This is one of the most bizzare election ad you have ever seen: Israel's Minister of Justice (!!) Ayelet Shaked plays a model, sprays herself with "Fascism" perfume and says: "Smells like democracy to me". Viktor Orban on steroids"

Bizarre indeed.

Shaked is mocking her leftist detractors, who are pointing to her fascist traits. Indeed, it has been argued that Shaked is literally, not just metaphorically, a fascist. An example is Rogel Alpher in Haaretz, who in 2017 was referring to a speech where Shaked said: "Zionism should not continue, and I say here, it will not continue to bow down to the system of individual rights interpreted in a universal way." The minister's announcement of a "moral and political revolution" aimed at strengthening national principles at the expense of universal individual rights was comparable to Mussolini's "doctrine of fascism," the columnist said. He cited Mussolini's "revolutionary negation" of individualism and liberalism, wherein the nation 'was a superior, super-personal reality ... a moral law, a tradition, a mission binding together generations past, present and future, and all the individuals'" (quoting from Jacob Talmon's "The Myth of the Nation and the Vision of Revolution").
      Read More...
Chess

Former chief of MI6 slams Trump dossier as 'overrated'

Ashe Schow
Daily Wire
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:08 UTC
MI6 Sir John Scarlett British Secret Intelligence Service
© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Sir John Scarlett
The former boss of the ex-British spy who produced the uncorroborated, salacious dossier on President Donald Trump's alleged Russian collusion says the document is "overrated," and wouldn't comment on the character of the man who wrote it.

Sir John Scarlett, who was the chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2004 to 2009, said after a recent national security panel in Washington, D.C. that the dossier Christopher Steele, who ran MI6's Russia desk from 2006 to 2009, wrote was "overrated" and could never be corroborated.

Scarlett had just finished speaking at the Jamestown Foundation's 12th annual terrorism conference on a panel titled "2018 in Review and the Prospects for Terrorism in 2019." Retired U.S. Marine Corps General John R. Allen was also on the panel moderated by Georgetown University professor Dr. Bruce Hoffman.
      Read More...
Magnify

US extends waiver allowing Iraq to buy Iranian energy supplies


RFE/RL
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 01:02 UTC
iraq energy

The United States has extended Iraq's waiver to buy energy supplies from Iran, despite sanctions.
The United States is extending a waiver to allow Iraq to continue to buy electricity from Iran, despite sanctions imposed by Washington targeting Tehran's energy sector.

The original waiver, issued in December 2017, expired on March 19.

The State Department issued the second three-month exemption to help prevent a destabilization of Iraq, which has relied on Iranian gas and electricity supplies to help it deal with shortages that have led to anti-government protests in some areas.


Comment: Shortages which are the result of the US' destruction of the country.


Iraq, which receives financial and military support from Washington, has attempted to balance its relations with the United States and Iran, which carries significant influence with members of Iraq's Shi'ite population.

Comment: Iraq seems to be making it quite clear that its relations with Iran, and other nations in the region, are of utmost importance, so the US has no choice to grant them a waiver - even after declaring 'no more waivers' - because, otherwise, they'd easily lose Iraq to Iran:

      Read More...
Arrow Up

Iraq-Syria-Iran hold "tripartite" meeting against US in Syria


Jerusalem Post
Tue, 19 Mar 2019 12:03 UTC
assad iran iraq
© SANA/AFP
President Bashar al-Assad (C) meeting with Iraq's Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi (4th-R) and Iran's Chief of Staff Mohammad Hossein Bagheri (5th-L) in the presence of Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayyoub (3rd-R) in the Syrian capital Damascus .
Iranian Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Baqeri met with his Iraqi counterpart and Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayyoub to discuss opposition to the US role in Syria on Monday. In what Iranian media called a "tripartite" meeting, the three held a joint press conference in Damascus. It is the latest visible sign of an Iran-Iraq-Syria entente that will aid Iran's ambitions in the region and comes on the heels of a historic visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Iraq.

Syrian President Bashar Assad hosted the Iranians and Iraqis in Damascus to show off not only Syria's return to the region as a stable country after eight years of civil war, but also to stress that Iraq and Iran were now stronger allies of Syria than in the past. "We have shown our unity in this war and fighting together against enemies," Assad said, according to Iran's Tasnim news.

Comment: A lot has changed in 5 years. Although what hasn't changed is that the source of instability in the region was always and continues to be the US, along with it's allies, like Israel and Saudi Arabia: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

      Read More...
Hardhat

Inside the Yellow Vests: What the Western media won't tell you

Ollie Richardson
The Saker Blog
Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:28 UTC
Gilet Juanes 1
Disclaimer: if you think that Soros/Russia/America/Illuminati is behind the Yellow Vests or some other batsh*t nonsense, then please stop here. This article isn't for you. Cat videos on YouTube are maybe more appropriate.

While the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) protests actually began on 17.11.18, I think most are aware that frustration with the government has been building for many, many years. Sarkozy certainly played a big role in this. Deep-rooted contractions have been left unaddressed while offshore accounts were filled up. Without wanting to dedicate a lot of space to the details of each French government since the last massive riots in 1968, I think it is easier to proceed from the fact that France has been essentially occupied by America for decades. For me personally, this helps to explain a lot.

In Russia there is the word "народ". The closest translation of this into English is "nation", but actually it doesn't really convey the sense. We're talking about fraternal relations amongst peoples that are indistinguishable from kindred ones. And it's understandable why this concept doesn't exist in the West. Or at least, I've never seen it. When America landed on Omaha beach in 1944 it sure didn't have the best interests of France at heart. And the quick formation of NATO in 1949 testifies to this. America succeeded to create a loyal bloc in synchronisation with the USSR's withdrawal from Europe (by the way, talk about "Soviet occupation" is vulgar NATO propaganda). Normandy was bombarded by US aviation in an act of national subjugation. This is also psychological warfare.

Comment: Excellent reporting. This 'uprising' has it's roots in decades of systemic oppression, the slow, subtle kind that we see becoming ever more fascist all throughout the West. People around the word would do well to take a page from the Yellow Vests and find some solidarity with each other and stand against the slow destruction our their lives and erosion of their freedoms by the elite. See also:

      Read More...
Propaganda

Douma attack: Did UK pay White Helmets to produce Syria 'chemical weapon' PR?

Vanessa Beeley
RT
Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Jaish Al Islam terrorists
© REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh
As controversy rages over the alleged April 2018 Douma "chemical weapon attacks" that signaled the end of Jaish Al Islam's occupation, life in the Syrian city gradually returns to peace and stability.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' (OPCW) interim report and final report have thrown the Western media community into disarray. Already scrambling to salvage their loss of face after the "no sarin" conclusions were drawn by the OPCW in July 2018, they are now trying to convert an inconclusive OPCW report into a definitive claim regarding chlorine use, in order to reassert their declining narrative supremacy.

A "chemical weapon" narrative that has effectively sustained the criminalization of the Syrian government and thus the continued unlawful aggression, direct and through Takfiri proxies, by the US coalition against Syria.

Comment:



      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Noose tightens around Trudeau as key aide unexpectedly quits amid growing SNC-Lavalin scandal

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Mon, 18 Mar 2019 23:45 UTC
Trudeau and Michael Wernick, SNC-Lavalin

Wernick is the latest but not last in what will be a long line of cabinet departures as the SNC scandal exposes even more corruption in Trudeau's cabinet.
Since it was exposed by a report in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this month, the scandal that's become known as the SNC-Lavalin affair has already led to the firing of several of Trudeau's close advisors and raised serious questions about whether the prime minister was complicit in pressuring the attorney general to offer a deferred prosecution agreement with a large, Quebec-based engineering firm.

And according to the first round of polls released since the affair exploded into public view...
Canadian political party rankings SNC-Lavalin scandal

Comment: More on Trudeau and the SNC Lavalin scandal:

      Read More...
Cell Phone

Why Washington wants to ban Huawei: US wants to spy and China won't cooperate

Mike Shedlock
Mish Talk
Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Huawei 5G
The UK, Germany, India, and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries resisting US pressure to Ban Huawei.

The New York Times reports U.S. Campaign to Ban Huawei Overseas Stumbles as Allies Resist.
Over the past several months, American officials have tried to pressure, scold and, increasingly, threaten other nations that are considering using Huawei in building fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, has pledged to withhold intelligence from nations that continue to use Chinese telecom equipment. The American ambassador to Germany cautioned Berlin this month that the United States would curtail intelligence sharing if that country used Huawei.

But the campaign has run aground. Britain, Germany, India and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries signaling they are unlikely to back the American effort to entirely ban Huawei from building their 5G networks. While some countries like Britain share the United States' concerns, they argue that the security risks can be managed by closely scrutinizing the company and its software.

The United States is not ready to admit defeat, but its campaign has suffered from what foreign officials say is a scolding approach and a lack of concrete evidence that Huawei poses a real risk. It has also been hampered by a perception among European and Asian officials that President Trump may not be fully committed to the fight.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly undercut his own Justice Department, which unveiled sweeping criminal indictments against Huawei and its chief financial officer with accusations of fraud, sanctions evasion and obstruction of justice. Mr. Trump has suggested that the charges could be dropped as part of a trade deal with China. The president previously eased penalties on another Chinese telecom firm accused of violating American sanctions, ZTE, after a personal appeal by President Xi Jinping of China.

One senior European telecommunications executive said that no American officials had presented "actual facts" about China's abuse of Huawei networks.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts