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Tue, 26 Oct 2021
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Snakes in Suits

Cameron compares Russia to Nazi Germany ahead of G20 Summit

David Cameron
© AP Photo/ Yves Logghe
David Cameron has compared Russia to Nazi Germany because of its actions in Ukraine on the eve of a tense meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Mr Cameron will on Saturday night challenge Mr Putin about Russia's continued acts of aggression in Ukraine as it supplies heavy weapons and tanks to the separatists.


Comment: As if he thinks we don't know about US/EU/NATO support to Ukraine.


In a reference to World War II, Mr Cameron said that the world must "learn the lessons of history" and intervene to stop "a larger state bullying a smaller state".

He said: "Russian action in Ukraine is unacceptable. We have to be clear about what we are dealing with. It is a large state bullying a smaller state in Europe.


Comment: Ah yes, the old "we covertly initiate a problem, blame some bad guy for it, then present a solution" gag.


"We have seen the consequences of that in the past and we should learn the lessons of history and make sure we don't let it happen again."

Mr Cameron is expected to meet Mr Putin in an unscheduled "brush-by" on Saturday evening.

Comment: A bunch of flowery, meaningless words as if Britain was the only virtuous country in the world. In other words Cameron is just a cheerleader. Compare and contrast to what Putin has to say. It's sad and a shame that Putin has to try and have an intelligent conversation with people like Cameron.


Snakes in Suits

Complicit Western media totally silent about U.S.-sponsored genocide in SE Ukraine

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Here's a typical example of what's being blacked-out:

This is a photo of a Ukrainian soldier guiding a truck-full of prisoners toward a ditch, to which the prisoners are then dragged one-by-one, and thrown in, and shot - then covered over with dirt after all the corpses (and perhaps some living bleeding survivors) are piled in it.

(Of course, any survivors then quickly choke to death, from the dirt):

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And here's an explanation of how this extraordinary video of a genocide being carried out, came to be found by the resistance-fighters against Ukraine's war to exterminate the residents in Ukraine's southeast, Ukraine's region where the vast majority of the people are ethnic Russians, or commonly called "Moskals" by many people in northwestern Ukraine, which term employed by them is equivalent to the terms "nigger," and "kike" that are used in some other countries: all psychological terms of de-humanization.

Quenelle

Jonathan Gruber, Obamacare architect, lies about healthcare exchanges and calls American voters 'stupid'

obamacare
Does the name Jonathan Gruber ring a bell?

He's an economist and professor at MIT, best known for his role in the development of the Affordable Care Act, affectionately known as Obamacare.

We talked about him last summer. This might sound familiar:
Gruber was an architect of both the PPACA and its Massachusetts precursor, "RomneyCare." In 2009 and 2010, he was a highly paid advisor to the Obama administration during the congressional debate that produced the PPACA. According to the New York Times, "the White House lent him to Capitol Hill to help Congressional staff members draft the specifics of the legislation."

He boasts to the Times, "I know more about this law than any other economist."
He's the guy who agreed with the Congressional interpretation of the law - that intended subsidies to apply to everyone who purchased insurance on a federal exchange, regardless of the state's decision to participate in that exchange or not.

Light Saber

Russian economy won't be ruled by 'dollar dictatorship'

putin oil prices
© Mikhail Klimentiev
Russia is leaving the dictatorship of the market where oil goods are based on the dollar and won't back down in face of a drastic drop in world prices on energy resources, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

Russia plans to leave the "dollar dictatorship" of market oil prices and turn to using the country's national currency and the Chinese yuan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

"We are leaving the dictatorship of the market where oil goods are based on the dollar and will increase the possibilities of using [other] national currencies: the ruble and the yuan," Putin said in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS.

On a November 9 meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the possibility of using the yuan in transactions in fields of mutual cooperation.

Putin said in his Monday speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China that accounting in the ruble and yuan will most likely weaken the dollar's influence on the global energy market.

Putin added that possibilities to increase the use of the Russian and Chinese currencies in bilateral trade, particularly in the energy sector, were being studied.

Magnify

More cracks in Google's 'don't be evil' mantra as data collection, political power soar

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© Steve Rhodes
At a 2010 protest outside Google's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Google is amassing huge amounts of personal user data while simultaneously accruing big-time political clout, a new report from Public Citizen confirms.

"Mission Creep-y: Google Is Quietly Becoming One of the Nation's Most Powerful Political Forces While Expanding Its Information-Collection Empire" (pdf) looks at the ways Google is accumulating political power - through high-powered lobbying and sizable campaign donations - as well as massive amounts of personal information that make the company a "treasure trove for agencies like the NSA."

"Google is becoming exponentially more powerful in federal and state governments," said Sam Jewler, author of the report and communications officer for Public Citizen's U.S. Chamber Watch. "At the same time, it's pushing boundaries in technology, and it has shown that it can't always be trusted to do the right thing with people's information. When we see such massive influence, it raises the question, will regulators and lawmakers be reluctant to rein in Google?"

Comment: Who would trust Google to protect their privacy? It's like asking the NSA not to spy on you, and now Google has bought off Congress.


Better Earth

Putin interview ahead of the G20 Summit

Vladimir Putin
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Ahead of the G20 summit Russian President Vladimir Putin in an exclusive interview with TASS spoke about challenges that Russia and other participants of the summit will face
The G20 summit is to start Saturday in Australia's Brisbane. Leaders of the world's 19 biggest states and the EU will discuss issues of global economy. Ahead of the summit Russian President Vladimir Putin in an exclusive interview with TASS spoke about challenges that Russia and other participants of the summit will face.

TASS: You are going to another G20 summit. To what extent is this format still in demand and relevant, and is it logical that some G20 countries, while striving to cooperate and develop the global economy, have been taking sanctions against one of the G20 members?

Putin: Is this format still in demand or not? I believe it is. Why? The G20 is a good place for meeting each other, for discussing both bilateral relations and global problems, and for developing at least some sort of common understanding what this or that problem is all about, and how to resolve it. To make a road map for joint work. This is the most important. Hoping that everything that may be said there will be implemented is absolutely unrealistic, especially if one remembers that the decisions themselves are not mandatory. To an extent they are neglected. They are defaulted on then and there, when and where they are in conflict with somebody's interests. First and foremost this applies to the interests of global players.

For instance, at one of the G20 meetings a decision was made to enhance the role of developing economies in the activities of the IMF and to redistribute quotas. The US Congress blocked that decision. Full stop. Both the negotiators and our partners are saying: well, we would be glad, we signed everything, we made that decision, but the Congress will not let it through. There you have it.

And yet, the very fact that a certain decision has been formulated, that all international actors involved in the G20 found it right and fair and consonant with the current realities, this fact alone shapes the international public opinion and the experts' minds in a certain way, and this has to be taken into account. The very fact that the US Congress has refused to pass this law indicates that it is the United States that drops out of the general context of resolving the problems facing the international community. One little thing: nobody cares to recall this. Some capitalize on their world mass media monopoly to hush up this information, to produce an impression it ostensibly does not exist.

You know what I mean. Everybody is talking about some current problems, including the sanctions and Russia, but in reality, in global terms it is the United States that defies decisions being made. This is a fundamental thing, by the way. But it is being neglected. That does not mean, though, that it is a useless format. I have already explained why. It does yield benefits.

Comment: How can you not like Putin for speaking clearly and objectively on various topics?


Light Saber

Putin: Today's world of politics and security exist within very narrow planning horizon

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© RIA Novosti/Michael Klimentyev
Sanctions introduced by members of the G20 against Russia contradict the very principles of the summit's activities, as well as international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin told TASS ahead of the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia.

TASS: You're going to attend another G20 summit. To what extent is this format still in demand and relevant, and is it logical that some G20 countries, while striving to cooperate and develop the global economy, have been taking sanctions against one of the G20 members?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Is this format still in demand or not? I believe it is. Why? The G20 is a good platform to meet each other, discuss both bilateral relations and global problems, and develop at least some sort of common understanding of what this or that problem is all about, and how to resolve it. A good place to make a road map for joint work.

This is the most important thing because it is totally unrealistic to expect that everything that may be said there will be implemented, especially since the decisions themselves are not mandatory. To a certain degree they are neglected. They are not observed whenever and wherever they are not in line with somebody's interests. First and foremost, this means the interests of global players.

Evil Rays

US Justice Dept. targets Americans' cellphones with secret spy program

Devices on planes that mimic cellphone towers used to target criminals, but also sift through thousands of other phones
cellphone spying
© Brian McGill/The Wall Street Journal
The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations.

The U.S. Marshals Service program, which became fully functional around 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports, with a flying range covering most of the U.S. population, according to people familiar with the program.

The Wall Street Journal has learned of a new federal law enforcement program that uses planes and cell signals to track criminal suspects.

Comment: Dirtbox is only an amplification of what has been going for years.


Quenelle

Putin: Sanctions run counter to international law and G20 principles

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© RIA Novosti/Mikhail Klementiev
Vladimir Putin says the G20 must address global imbalances together, and economic isolation, especially in the case of sanctions, which not only leads nowhere but is a crude violation of international economic law.

Here are the Russian president's top takeaways he gave in an interview to TASS ahead of the G20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia from November 14-15.

G20 great for ground work, but decisions often just hot air

Putin believes the G20 is still a good and relevant platform for world leaders, however, decisions at the summit are often nothing but words. Decisions made there are only carried out when there are in line with the interests of certain global players, like the US. Decisions are neglected if they don't fit the agenda of an individual power.
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Map

National Coalition divided over goals in the Middle East

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Remodeling Map according to Ralph Peter
Washington no longer wishes to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic because it considers that the National Coalition as unable to govern and it does not want to see the country falling into unmanageable anarchy. Indeed, unlike Libya and Iraq, Syria and Israel are adjacent, so chaos in this place could be fatal to the US protégé.

Gradually, the US General Chiefs of Staff have reviewed their remodeling project, the Greater Middle East Initiative, as defined in 2001, and whose map was published by Colonel Ralph Peters during the debates of the Baker-Hamilton Commission [1]. A faction within the Obama administration is pushing for the creation of a new plan: the simultaneous remodeling of Iraq and Syria into five states, including two cross-border states.

The representative of Ban Ki-moon in Iraq, German neo-conservative Martin Kobler, strangely reported the merger of the Iraqi and Syrian battlefields to the Security Council in July 2013. [2]

Comment: It is mind boggling how this "Coalition" dictates the boundaries and make up of other countries for their own interests! Of course this is nothing new as has been shown throughout history. The goal is obviously not for peace. This will not end well.