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Belgian PM Charles Michel resigns after mass migration push leads to no-confidence motion

Daniel Boffey
Guardian
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:42 UTC
Charles Michel
© Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters
Charles Michel at an EU leaders summit in Brussels last week.
Belgium's government of four years has fallen on the issue of migration after the country's parliament rejected an appeal from prime minister, Charles Michel, for its support for a minority administration.

Michel was forced to offer his resignation to the King of the Belgians, Philippe, after the Socialist party, with support from the Greens, proposed a vote of no confidence in his administration.

The country is now braced for a snap election in January. The head of Michel's party said the opposition had rejected the government's "fair offer" in order to secure a political scalp.

"The Socialist opposition and Greens wanted a trophy and have it", said David Clarinval, chairman of the liberal Reform Movement party.

Comment: The issue of mass migration seems to be the dealbreaker for most citizens in Europe and the Belgian PM is only the latest causality. Once the UN bill is pushed through there are likely to be many more as people revolt. The list of grievances Europeans have encompass much than just migration but it seems the mass migration mandate enforced by unelected EU bureaucrats is symbolic of all that is wrong with the EU: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Snakes in Suits

Tory minister 'misled Parliament' over Government-paid propaganda attack on Jeremy Corbyn

John Ferguson
Daily Record
Sun, 16 Dec 2018 04:30 UTC
AFP/Getty Images
© Alan Duncan
Alan Duncan says Foreign Office cash was not used to fund shadowy Scottish “charity” the Institute for Statecraft's Integrity Initiative’s social media account
An MP has taken aim at Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan over the Institute of Statecraft and demanded a probe into a Scottish-based black ops Twitter attack on Labour.

An MP has accused Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan of misleading Parliament over a Government-funded infowars unit that attacked the Labour Party.

Chris Williamson made the claim after an urgent debate in the House of Commons sparked by the Sunday Mail's exclusive report on shadowy Scottish "charity" the Institute for Statecraft (IfS).

The organisation - run by military intelligence experts - is now being probed by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Labour want a full independent investigation and the Tories claim they are reviewing its social media policies.

Comment: Wow -- who would have thought that another Western country could nearly rival the US in its level of deep state-inspired chaos, Russophobia, public manipulation and political evil-doings??

See also:

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Bad Guys

Engdahl: Is Canada's Huawei arrest an attempt to sabotage Trump-Xi talks?

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 12:00 UTC
huawei
The arrest of the CFO of the China's largest telecoms equipment company, Huawei, carries hallmarks of deep state or behind-the-scenes sabotage designed to rupture recent progress between US President Trump and China President Xi Jinping on strategic issues. Here are some elements of the case that smack of insider sabotage from the US side, with complicity of Five Eyes member Canada.

After months of trade tariff clashes between USA and China, US President Donald Trump met with China President Xi Jinping during the Buenos Aires G-20 Summit. There the two issued a positive joint statement in which it was stated that the US on January 1 will impose a "cease-fire" and freeze current tariffs at 10% on the $200 billion of Chinese imports to the US, not raising it to 25% as scheduled. For his part, Xi agreed to resume buying US soybeans and other agriculture and energy products to cut the trade imbalance. Most interesting and little-discussed in western media coverage, on the US request, Xi also agreed to list the controversial chemical Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China's maximum penalty under the law.

As well, they agreed to immediately begin negotiations on key US issues including forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture to be completed within 90 days or face resumption of the planned 25% tariff raise.

Comment: See also: 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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Christmas Tree

Russophobic Tide Rising as Tory Government Fends Off Corbyn And Brexit

George Galloway
RT
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 21:26 UTC
theresa may brexit
© Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
A float featuring British Premier Theresa May drives in the annual Rose Monday parade on February 27, 2017
In almost 30 years as a member of parliament and another 20 years watching it from the outside, I have never seen - or imagined - a basket-case Britain like this.

"It's not one damned thing, it's one damned thing after another," as the former Conservative premier Harold MacMillan once said. That Britain no longer has a functioning prime minister is just one damned thing. Add the dysfunctional government, a parliament of herded cats, a foreign policy deep in disgrace, a media subverted to the core by the deep-state, a wholly uncertain economic future, at "war" with the European continent and with our special relationship to the United States daily undermined by a parallel collapse of the power structures in Washington, it's hard not to be pessimistic about the future.

The sight of the prime minister literally rushing from the chamber seconds after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn rather cleverly wrong-footed everyone (not least his own party) by tabling a no-confidence motion not in the government - which would have united her own side and their allies on the principle that turkeys seldom vote for an early Christmas, in this case an early general election - but in the prime minister personally. It was a rational assumption that some at least of the 117 Conservative MPs who had just expressed their own no-confidence in Theresa May might do so again, or even sit on their hands and abstain. They would, after all, be then rid of her and keep their government.

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MIB

The spooks' revenge: Flynn case shows extent of anti-Trump #Resistance

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 19:02 UTC
Trump Flynn
© Reuters / Mike Segar /File
General Michael Flynn (L) and Donald Trump (R) in this September 2016 file photo
President Donald Trump's ill-fated first national security adviser Michael Flynn will twist in the wind for another three months or more, before he can face a sentence for getting caught in a FBI ambush while doing his job.

Flynn was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday, ending the year-long legal saga that destroyed his reputation, nearly bankrupted him, and even endangered his family. Then, in a bizarre last-minute twist, his lawyers asked for a delay. The next status hearing will be in March, with the actual sentencing who knows when.

At one point in the hearing, Judge Emmett Sullivan urged Flynn to reconsider his guilty plea, telling him that the violation he was admitting to amounted to treason - only to walk back the comments minutes later. The media, predictably, gave far more coverage to the original statement than the retraction. It's the perfect example of the collective hysteria that has followed Flynn's case from the very beginning.
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Attention

US confirms a pullout from INF treaty, Russia to respond if missiles are placed in Europe


RT
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 19:10 UTC
Missile
© Sputnik/Russia's Defence Ministry
Washington has confirmed its decision to withdraw from the INF treaty is final, Russia's deputy foreign minister said, adding that Moscow will 'take measures' if American missiles that threaten its security are placed in Europe. Sergey Ryabkov told the Kommersant newspaper:
"Washington publicly announced its plans to withdraw from the treaty (the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) already in October. Through the high-level bilateral channels it was confirmed to us that this decision was final and wasn't an attempt to initiate dialogue."
The Deputy FM said that Moscow will respond to possible attempts to place short and intermediate range nuclear-capable missiles in Europe if the US decides to go on with this plan.
"We'll be forced to come up with effective compensating measures. I'd like to warn against pushing the situation towards the eruption of new 'missile crises.' I am convinced that no sane country could be interested in something like this. Russia isn't threatening anybody, but have the necessary strength and means to counter any aggressor."

Comment: More from RFE/RL:
"Yes, indeed, there are certain difficulties with this treaty," Putin said. "Other countries possessing short- and intermediate-range missiles are not party to it. But what prevents [us] from starting talks on their accession to the existing treaty or starting to negotiate the parameters of a new treaty?" Putin asked.

He also said that Russia could easily make and deploy land-based intermediate-range missiles if the United States ditched the accord.

"Whatever the complaints about the treaty, in the current conditions it plays a stabilizing role [and] works to support a certain level of predictability and restraint in the military sphere," the Russian president said.

In a tweet on December 3, Trump expressed certainty that "at some time in the future" he, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping "will start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable Arms Race."

While suggesting the INF treaty could be saved, revamped, or replaced by bringing in other countries, Putin also asserted that Russia has no need to violate it -- but could swiftly develop weapons prohibited by the pact if the United States pulls out.

He asserted that it has successfully tested air-launched Kh-101 and sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles with a range of 4,500 kilometers in combat in Syria.

This has "probably made our partners worry, but it doesn't violate the INF treaty," Putin said.

Russia could develop and deploy land-based intermediate-range missiles if the United States ditches the accord, Putin said.

"If we have similar air- and sea-launched systems, it wouldn't be that difficult for us to do some research and development to put them on land if needed," Putin said.


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Satellite

Trump orders Pentagon to create US Space Command


RFE/RL
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 16:29 UTC
trumpspaceguy
© Carlos Barria/Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the establishment of a space command that will oversee the country's military operations in space.

Trump signed the one-page memorandum on December 18 directing the Department of Defense to create the new command to oversee and organize space operations, accelerate technical advances, and find more effective ways to defend U.S. assets in space, including satellites. The move comes amid growing concerns that China and Russia are working on ways to disrupt, disable, or even destroy satellites on which U.S. forces rely for navigation, communications, and surveillance.

The new command is separate from Trump's goal to create an independent space force, but could be a step in that direction.

Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vice President Mike Pence said: "A new era of American national security in space begins today."

Space Command will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military, Pence said, adding that it will "develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable our war fighters to defend our nation in this new era." It will be the Pentagon's 11th combatant command, along with well-known commands such as Central Command and Europe Command.

Comment: See also:

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Laptop

Reuters assumed 'Russia' when Twitter reported suspicious traffic from Saudi Arabia


RT
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 16:57 UTC
Saudi volunteers
© Reuters/Sultan Al-Fahed
Saudi telethon volunteers
When 'Russian hackers' and their malign activities feature so much in your reports, it may be difficult to switch to another country. Just ask Reuters, which falsely claimed Twitter found suspicious traffic coming from Russia.

Twitter said on Monday that it found out a certain form on its website could be used by a third party to identify the country of origin of a user, if they had a phone number linked to their account. The vulnerability was fixed last week, but the microblogging service said it identified many requests related to this form "coming from individual IP addresses located in China and Saudi Arabia" and suggested that "state-sponsored actors" may be responsible.

Reuters reported the find, but apparently its first impulse was to blame Russia for the suspicious traffic. Because the first version said it was coming from China and Russia. A correction was soon issued.

Well, when you are a big news agency, being swift in reporting the news is paramount for staying ahead of the competition. And humans do make errors, nothing wrong with that, as long as they are corrected. One can honestly mistake one country's name for the other.

Comment: The mistake is thinking an analysis default, substituted for accurate and accountable news, is acceptable reporting.

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Target

Is it possible for America to fight two cold wars at the same time?

Pat Buchanan
The Unz Review
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
WHouse dark
© Reuters/Leah Mills
Kim Jong Un, angered by the newest U.S. sanctions, is warning that North Korea's commitment to denuclearization could be imperiled and we could be headed for "exchanges of fire." Iran, warns Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is testing ballistic missiles that are forbidden to them by the U.N. Security Council.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that, within days, he will launch a military thrust against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, regarding them as allies of the PKK terrorist organization inside Turkey. Vladimir Putin just flew two Tu-160 nuclear capable bombers to Venezuela. Ukraine claims Russia is amassing tanks on its border.

How did the United States, triumphant in the Cold War, find itself beset on so many fronts?

First, by intervening militarily and repeatedly in a Mideast where no vital U.S. interest was imperiled, and thereby ensnaring ourselves in that Muslim region's forever war.

Second, by extending our NATO alliance deep into Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Baltics, thereby igniting a Cold War II with Russia.

Third, by nurturing China for decades before recognizing she was becoming a malevolent superpower whose Asian-Pacific ambitions could be realized only at the expense of friends of the United States.

The question, then, for our time is this: Can the U.S. pursue a Cold War policy of containment against both of the other great military powers, even as we maintain our Cold War commitments to defend scores of countries around the globe? And, if so, for how long can we continue to do this, and at what cost?

Comment: The US needs to 'chill out'. It has its own track-record of global offenses, as bad or worse than those of China, Korea, Iran and Russia. You get what you give.

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Star of David

Haley: Trump's peace plan will be beneficial for Palestine


Sputnik
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 23:04 UTC
Palestinian protest
© AFP/Abbas Momani
Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli security forces near the village of al-Mughayyir, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would experience advantages from the forthcoming Trump administration's peace plan, but Israel would risk more, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council on Tuesday.
"Both sides would benefit greatly from a peace agreement, but the Palestinians would benefit more, and the Israelis would risk more," Haley said. "What awaits the Palestinian people with a peace agreement are the prospects of a massive improvement in the quality of their lives and far greater control over their political future."
Haley also said the Trump administration's peace plan takes advantage of modern technology, recognizes realities on the ground have changed and embraces the fact things can be accomplished that were previously unthinkable.

In her speech, Haley also encouraged Arab nations to prove that the Palestinian people are their priority by supporting US President Donald Trump's peace agreement.

Comment: Trump promises accomplishments hitherto unthinkable. What are the chances Israel is going to relinquish its illegal holdings and quell its appetite for Palestinian land?

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