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Korea's economic potential divides US billionaires

Caleb Maupin
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:42 UTC
Korea north corea
© REUTERS/ KCNA
The first historic summit between US President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea took place in the prosperous Asian city-state of Singapore. The city is also the home of one of the leading voices championing a possible entrepreneurial boom on the Korean Peninsula, legendary investor Jim Rogers.

Jim Rogers is currently the chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests Inc. He explained to South Korean TV: "Important opportunities are coming in the Korean peninsula, and North Korea is going to be the most exciting country in the world for the next decade or two." He went on to say: "North Korea today is where China was in 1981. North Korea is a copy. He has been opening up the country just as Deng Xiaoping did."

In an appearance on FOX news, Rogers emphasized the fact that the population of the DPRK is highly educated, making them more highly skilled than other people throughout the developing world. Rogers is associated with Republican and libertarian circles and has admitted that the Austrian School, with its "hands off" approach, is closest to his view of how the state should handle the economy.

Despite his personal libertarian bent, Rogers seems to embrace the highly authoritarian government of his current country of residence. However, an old business partner of his seems to hold the opposite view, not just about Singapore, but about North Korea, Trump, and everything else.
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Pistol

New Zealand PM says 'gun laws will change' after mosque shooting


RT
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:42 UTC
Linwood mosque in Christchurch
© Reuters / Edgar Su
Police responding to the attack on Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand
The New Zealand government is looking at banning semi-automatic weapons following the killing of 49 worshipers at two Christchurch mosques, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The suspected attacker had bought five guns legally.

The primary suspect was an Australian citizen who "travelled sporadically to New Zealand and stayed for varied amount of time," Ardern told reporters. "I would not describe him as a long-term resident."

He was not on a government watch list in either New Zealand or Australia.

Comment: For more on the shooting see:


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Oil Well

OPEC threatens to kill US shale producers

Irina Slav
Oilprice.com
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:23 UTC
US Shale plant
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will once again become a nemesis for U.S. shale if the U.S. Congress passes a bill dubbed NOPEC, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, Bloomberg reported this week, citing sources present at a meeting between a senior OPEC official and U.S. bankers.

The oil minister of the UAE, Suhail al-Mazrouei, reportedly told lenders at the meeting that if the bill was made into law that made OPEC members liable to U.S. anti-cartel legislation, the group, which is to all intents and purposes indeed a cartel, would break up and every member would boost production to its maximum.

This would be a repeat of what happened in 2013 and 2014, and ultimately led to another oil price crash like the one that saw Brent crude and WTI sink below US$30 a barrel. As a result, a lot of U.S. shale-focused, debt-dependent producers would go under.

Comment: More on OPEC's "war" on shale:

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Magnify

"Political scheming": Deripaska sues US over "devastating power" of Russian sanctions


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:34 UTC
Deripaska
© Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin
FILE PHOTO. Russian tycoon Deripaska attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has sued the US over sanctions, calling them unjust and illegal. The businessman portrayed himself as a victim of "political scheming" in the US and said his net worth shrunk by $7.5 billion.

The case against the US was filed at a US District Court in Washington by the businessman on Friday. The billionaire asked the court to block the US Treasury from using the "devastating power" of sanctions and force it to remove him from the sanctions and "oligarch" lists.

The businessman accused the US government of being biased against him and making allegations based on "false rumor and innuendo." The sanction activities against him violate the US Constitution, he argued.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Would-be Maduro drone assassin speaks to CNN, claims he met with US officials after terror attack


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 14:13 UTC
maduro drone
© Global Look Press / Xinhua
Protecting Maduro mid-drone attack
The man who claims he planned the exploding-drone attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro along with defectors from the Venezuelan military has come forward to tell his story - to CNN, of all people.

The would-be drone bomber says he met with US officials three times after the attack that took place at a military parade in August last year. In an interview with CNN, he claims the US officials seemed receptive to giving them "things in return" for information about the assassination attempt.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment, saying only "Our policy is to support a peaceful transition in Venezuela."

The assassin, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, provided video of the conspirators tinkering with the improvised drone bomb, which they reportedly built themselves in a farmhouse in Colombia using materials they purchased online from the US. His footage also showed the group practising flying the drones "high enough to not be seen," then diving steeply to hit their target, before dismantling them and sneaking them into Venezuela.

Comment: US officials, rather than arrest him for his crimes, wanted to trade 'something' for information and then they let him go? It seems that so long as violence is committed on behalf of a cause that supports the US establishment scheme then it's legitimate. It's also notable that the terrorists built the weapon in Colombia and sourced the parts from the US: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Chess

Senate sets up Trump's first veto by rejecting national emergency declaration

Emily Tillett
CBS News
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 10:46 UTC
Donald Trump
In a rebuke of the president, the Senate voted 59-41 to pass legislation Thursday afternoon rejecting President Trump's national emergency declaration concerning the U.S.-Mexico border. Twelve Republicans joined Democrats in voting to pass the resolution.

The president issued his emergency declaration as a way to free up funding to build his long-promised wall along the southern border after Congress refused to provide the $5 billion he originally requested. New budget requests now put that total dollar amount at over $8 billion.

When the bill moves to the president's desk, Mr. Trump will likely issue his first veto of his presidency. "I look forward to vetoing" the resolution, he tweeted Thursday.
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Bizarro Earth

US & Canada use Ukraine's Kerch Strait stunt to impose fresh sanctions on Russia


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:23 UTC
white house
© Reuters / Jim Bourg
FILE PHOTO.
Washington has slapped a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia over "unjustified" actions during a maritime incident last November in the Kerch Strait near Crimea when three Ukrainian boats went into Russia's territorial waters.

The US Treasury Department included six people and eight entities in its Friday update of "Ukraine and Russia-related Designations." The deputy director of the Russian Border Guard Service, which is under the command of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), as well as the head of the FSB service in Crimea and Sevastopol are among the sanctioned individuals.

The list of entities consists of eight enterprises related to the shipbuilding industry and operating as Russia's defense contractors, including a St. Petersburg engine manufacturer, several shipyards located both in Crimea and mainland Russia, and companies producing hydroacoustic devices and ship automatics.


Comment: It's unlikely the US will sanction Russia's rocket manufacturers anytime soon: America will continue to use Russian rocket engines to fly into space


Comment: Ukraine's Kerch strait provocation seems to be the gift that just keeps giving to the anti-Russian mob; the US has excuse to slap on more sanctions and can test its 'allies' willingness to get even further enmeshed; Porkyshenko has a pre-election excuse for martial law and a lame attempt to foster some votes; and the anti-Russian mob along with their propaganda media can completely distort the story in another egregious effort to demonize Russia: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: The Russia Collusion Ruse: Why the US Deep State Hates Russia, Not Trump

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Snakes in Suits

Russia wipes US in Rand corp wargame, just in time for a defense budget increase

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:40 UTC
pentagon
© AP Photo /
A recent US war-game report certainly made dramatic headlines claiming that in a conventional war with either Russia or China, American forces would get a whipping.

All the more remarkable was that the assessment came from the Rand Corporation, which is closely aligned with the Pentagon. It may seem therefore a rather rude admission by a Pentagon-funded think tank that US military forces would be so humiliated by would-be adversary Russia or China.

The Rand lead analyst put the scale of defeat for the American side rather colourfully. "The US would get its ass handed to it," he is quoted as saying.

The simulated war scenario found that US military formations in every domain would be vanquished.

What's going on here? Is the Pentagon, through its think tank, really admitting to such stark defeat? No.

Comment: Following the first ever audit of the Pentagon, at a cost to the taxpayer of $360 million, it was revealed that, even after changing the rules, billions (and maybe even trillions) of dollars were unaccounted for, to which the Pentagon responded that the result was "irritating".

Below are some shameful stories that show just how some of that money is being spent:

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Candle

'Lights out!' Did Trump and his neocons use a Bush-era plan to knock out Venezuela's power grid?

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
2 with candles
© Ariana Cubillos/AP
Relatives of a patient walk the halls of a clinic with candles in Venezuela.
Even as the Venezuelan government blamed the recent power outage on U.S.-led "sabotage," the U.S. has long had a plan on the books for targeting the civilian power grid of adversarial nations.

For nearly four days, much of Venezuela has been without power, bringing the country's embattled economy to a near standstill. Though power is now returning, the outage saw U.S. officials and politicians blame the Venezuelan government for the crisis while officials in Caracas accused the U.S. of conducting "sabotage" and launching cyberattacks that targeted its civilian power grid as well as of employing saboteurs within Venezuela.

Although many mainstream media outlets have echoed the official U.S. government response, some journalists have strayed from the pack. One notable example is Kalev Leetaru, who wrote at Forbes that "the United States remotely interfering with its [Venezuela's] power grid is actually quite realistic."

Leetaru also noted that "timing such an outage to occur at a moment of societal upheaval in a way that delegitimizes the current government, exactly as a government-in-waiting has presented itself as a ready alternative, is actually one of the tactics" he had previously explored in a 2015 article detailing U.S. government hybrid warfare tactics "to weaken an adversary prior to conventional invasion or to forcibly and deniably effect a transition in a foreign government."

In addition to Leetaru's claims, others have asserted U.S. government involvement after U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is deeply involved in Trump's Venezuela policy, appeared to have prior knowledge that the blackouts would occur when he tweeted about them only three minutes after they had begun.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

Bruce Ohr's testimony reveals political operatives got the FBI to investigate the NRA

Margot Cleveland
The Federalist
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Cleta Mitchell
© Gage Skidmore
Cleta Mitchell
Instead of investigating the NRA, 'Glenn Simpson should be prosecuted for making a false statement to a federal agent,' former NRA board member Cleta Mitchell said.

Friday's release of a transcript of Bruce Ohr's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee revealed several new tidbits. It also raised serious concerns that fake claims of collusion pushed by Glenn Simpson and Democratic opposition research shop Fusion GPS prompted the launch of not one, but two federal investigations: the Russia collusion investigation and investigations into the National Rifle Association (NRA).

During his day-long testimony last August, Ohr, then an associate deputy attorney general, explained his involvement-or non-involvement, if he is to be believed-in the Russia-collusion investigation. Ohr testified that he knew former MI6 spy and dossier author Christopher Steele for more than a decade and was acquainted with Steele's boss, Fusion GPS head Simpson, for many years.

Ohr further explained that from July 30, 2016 until November 2017, both Steele and Simpson provided him "intel" related to supposed collusion between Russia and members of the Trump campaign. Ohr then passed this information on to the FBI, where it was used to, among other things, obtain FISA court orders to surveil and otherwise target the Trump campaign team.

But in an abbreviated aside, Ohr causally revealed one communique with Simpson that indicates the Fusion GPS founder pushed another false story that unleashed multiple federal investigations into the NRA.

Comment: See also:

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