Puppet MastersS


Newspaper

Iran approves hardliner for presidential polls, bars several hopefuls


Reuters
Tue, 25 May 2021 12:46 UTC
Raisi
© Majid Asgaripour/ WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERSFILE PHOTO: Ebrahim Raisi, Chief Justice of Iran, shows his identification document as he registers as a candidate for the presidential election at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran May 15, 2021.
Iran's election watchdog has approved the candidacy of hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi in next month's presidential election, state TV said on Tuesday, while disqualifying some of his main rivals including former parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

The move is likely to boost the prospects of Raisi, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But it may further dent the clerical rulers' hopes of a high turnout in the June 18 vote, amid rising discontent over an economy crippled by U.S. sanctions.

As well as Larijani, a moderate conservative, the hardline-led Guardian Council barred populist former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and pragmatist First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, an ally of the outgoing president, Hassan Rouhani.

Comment: See also: Iran's Ahmadinejad registers candidacy for Presidential race

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Star of David

Cowards: Israel's air strikes targeted entire families in Gaza — but U.S. media won't pursue the story

James North
Mondoweiss
Tue, 25 May 2021 18:10 UTC
palestinian deaths morgue
© Ashraf Amra/APA ImagesPalestinians mourn over bodies of Salha family who were killed after Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah in the center of Gaza Strip, on 19 May 2021.
Amira Hass is one of the most impressive and experienced journalists in Israel/Palestine. She writes for the respected daily Haaretz, where on May 19 she made an extraordinary charge — that the Israeli military, as part of its air assault on Gaza, "is wiping out entire Palestinian families on purpose."

So far, no mainstream U.S. media outlet has followed up on her report. Their failure is journalistic malpractice.

Hass, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, actually lived in Gaza from 1993-97, and afterward published the valuable Drinking the Sea in Gaza (1999). She obviously still has excellent contacts there. This latest report starts by observing that 15 Palestinian families in Gaza lost multiple family members during the Israeli bombardment:

Comment: There are many attested instances where the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) has indeed at certain times, warned Gazans away from dangerous areas such as the fence. Inasmuch as the IDF has the mobile phone numbers of every household in Gaza (disturbing as that is), one can only assume that withholding a warning was deliberate. That would be pre-meditated murder.





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Star of David

Chest-beating bully: Israel hails 'Guardian of The Walls' operation in Gaza as 'a success'


Sputnik
Tue, 25 May 2021 17:56 UTC
israel soldier artilley fire gaza
© AP Photo / Amir CohenIsraeli soldiers work at an artillery unit as it fires near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, on the Israeli side 17 May 2021
During the eleven days of fighting, the Jewish state eliminated 25 commanders and engineers of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It has also destroyed the groups' offensive tunnels and dealt a devastating blow to its so-called metro, an underground tunnel network used for smuggling fighters and weapons.

With Israel's Operation Guardian of the Walls finally over, the Jewish state's media is counting achievements and losses.

During the eleven days of the operation that erupted when Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched rockets into the country's southern communities, 12 Israelis have lost their lives. Hundreds have been treated in hospitals across the country. Dozens of residential buildings have been partially or fully damaged.

Comment: Part of the claim to victory included Mossad sabotage:

Israeli Mossad agents reportedly 'tampered' with Hamas rockets so hundreds 'misfired'

For which they then taunted Hamas, blaming civilian deaths on them



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Bullseye

Alex Saab v. The Empire: How the US is using 'lawfare' to punish a Venezuelan Diplomat

Roger D. Harris
MintPress News
Mon, 24 May 2021 00:00 UTC
graffiti FreeAlexSaab
© AlamyGraffiti near a shop in Caracas calling for the release of Alex Saab: hashtag #Freealexsaab.
The case of Alex Saab raises dangerous precedents in terms of extraterritorial judicial abuse, violation of diplomatic status, and even the use of torture to extract false confessions. This is according to Montréal-based international human rights lawyer John Philpot. He spoke on May 19 at a webinar sponsored by the Alliance for Global Justice and other groups about this example of the long reach of the U.S. empire enforcing its deadly sanctions on some one-third of humanity.

US sanctions Venezuela for being sovereign

Stansfield Smith of Chicago ALBA Solidarity commented that the Saab case is part of a larger U.S. effort to use "lawfare" to impose its illegal sanctions, which the United Nations condemns as "unilateral coercive measures." The U.S. employs sanctions to discipline countries that attempt to develop independently of its dominion.

Comment: US controls the definition, the punishment and the leverage as suits its dictates.

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Attention

The real big lie: You can't question elections

Frank Miele
Real Clear Politics
Mon, 24 May 2021 00:00 UTC
Liz Cheney
© AP/Amanda Andrade-RhoadesWyoming Rep Liz Cheney
Liz Cheney doesn't get to decide what is true for the rest of us; neither, as hard as it is for some of them to believe, do the media pundits and philosopher-kings whom our society breeds like rats in a junkyard. But they sure do try, and for the most part they have gotten away with it for decades.

Cheney has become the darling of the oligarchs the last several months because she first voted to impeach Donald Trump and because she then elected to condemn the Republican Party for disagreeing with her.

Cheney, the lone Wyoming representative in Congress, has deemed herself the conscience of the GOP. Of course, what is obvious is that she is the latest in a long line of self-appointed saviors of the party who believe the way to save the village is to first destroy it.

Her pretend friends in the media take offense when Cheney is described as a traitor, but anyone who still thinks the Republican Party stands for something fundamental and principled certainly is within their rights to question her loyalty, as her obsession with destroying Donald Trump and excising the 75 million Americans who voted for him has only one effect — to give aid and comfort to the Democrat Party and to its agenda of transforming America into a post-constitutional Marxist regime.

Comment: The Dems trick is turning a lie into a belief - because what you believe in becomes your call to action.

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X

Facebook, social media giants admit to silencing Palestinian voices online

Jessica Buxbaum
MintPress News
Fri, 14 May 2021 00:00 UTC
Mourning relatives
© Khalil Hamra/APRelatives of 11-year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike mourn during his funeral in the family home in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, May 11, 2021.
In a video posted on activist organization Jewish Voice for Peace's Twitter account, Muna El-Kurd explained why social media is so vital for the Palestinian cause.

"We rely on the honorable people standing in solidarity with us, people who tweet #SaveSheikhJarrah everyday," Muna El-Kurd said. "Even a short tweet or post is a treasure."

El-Kurd and her family are under threat of forcible displacement by Israel settlers and Israeli government forces from their home in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in Occupied East Jerusalem. Over the past week, Palestinians on the ground have documented both Israeli police brutality and settler violence.

In response, the world rallied behind Palestinian home defenders online by sharing information related to Sheikh Jarrah, al-Aqsa Mosque, and Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine. However, activists claim their content was met with censorship from the very platforms with which they're engaging.

Comment: The social media bans took place just before the latest deadly and devastating confrontations between Israel and Hamas, who fought on behalf of Palestinians. As of May 21, 2021 reports: 12 people in Israel had died as a result of the offensive, with over 50 injured, according to the Israeli army. Among Palestinians, there are at least 232 victims, and over 1,900 wounded.

How many of these deaths and injuries are potentially attributable to the loss of contact and subsequent blackout of information due to takedowns by social media giants? Were they unfortunate circumstances of wrong place and bad timing or unwitting victims of complicit affiliations? Perhaps both.

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Network

GCHQ's mass data interception violated right to privacy, court rules

Haroon Siddique
The Guardian
Tue, 25 May 2021 10:45 UTC
GCHQ
© Government Communications HeadquartersGCHQ
The UK spy agency GCHQ's methods for bulk interception of online communications violated the right to privacy and the regime for collection of data was unlawful, the grand chamber of the European court of human rights has ruled.

In what was described as a "landmark victory" by Liberty, one of the applicants, the judges also found the bulk interception regime breached the right to freedom of expression and contained insufficient protections for confidential journalistic material but said the decision to operate a bulk interception regime did not of itself violate the European convention on human rights.

The chamber, the ultimate court of the ECHR, also concluded that GCHQ's regime for sharing sensitive digital intelligence with foreign governments was not illegal.

The grand chamber judgment is the culmination of a legal challenge to GCHQ's bulk interception of online communications begun in 2013 by Big Brother Watch and others after Edward Snowden's whistleblowing revelations concerning the interception, processing and storing of data about millions of people's private communications by the eavesdropping agency.
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Hammer

Hammerfall! Governor DeSantis signs bill to curb Big Tech

Seraphim Hanisch
The Duran
Tue, 25 May 2021 00:00 UTC
DeSantis press conf.
© ScreenshotFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis warns Big Tech!
This is the first time I have seen a politician draw an honest standing ovation since Donald Trump's rallies.

The Next News Network broadcast a video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he signed a bill limiting the reach of Big Tech media companies against Floridian residents. This is one of the first new laws in the United States that takes Big Tech to task in any useful and provocative way. One aspect of the bill imposes $250,000 per day fines if a Big Tech company blocks a political candidate's social media presence.

A reporter asked a question that probably tipped off the crowd, asking if this law was made for the benefit of President Trump, who now lives in Florida, and who was deplatformed while in office toward the end of his first term.

Governor DeSantis's response not only put the reporter in her place, it literally caused a standing ovation. Watch [If you want to go straight to this moment, go to [02:29] in the video if this link below fails to actually begin to play from that point:


This is one of an increasing number of signs I have been tracking that show that conservative, or just plain "normal" America, is standing and fighting back against the coup d'etat that took place in November, 2020.

Comment: It isn't just Republicans that are under siege by Big Tech social media: Palestinians are also receiving the shutout treatment from Silicon Valley at the behest of Israel - a globalized tyranny in deed and alliance.

See also:
Facebook, social media giants admit to silencing Palestinian voices online

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Stop

National Guard's mission to provide security ending at Capitol


MYNorthwest
Sun, 23 May 2021 03:46 UTC
Opening capitol gate
© AP/Carolyn KasterNational Guard open a gate in the razor wire topped perimeter fence around the Capitol at sunrise in Washington.
Nearly five months after being deployed to the U.S. Capitol to help quell the Jan. 6 insurrection, National Guard troops were set to leave and turn over security of the area to Capitol Police.

Guard troops, their mission ending Sunday, were expected to be leaving on Monday, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to discuss the plan by name and requested anonymity.

The Pentagon announced earlier in the week that an extension of the Guard presence — 2,149 troops — had not been requested.

The planned departure came as Democrats and Republicans sparred over how to fund fortifications of the Capitol and whether to form an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the attack that sought to overturn former President Donald Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Comment: The saga continues in how to parlay the events and non-events at the Capitol into legislation securing not the Capitol, but the party in charge. Nothing says 'reminder' like barbed-wire fencing and guards with guns on display.

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Nuke

Iran, world powers resume talks on US return to nuclear deal

David Rising, Philipp Jenne
Yahoo News
Tue, 25 May 2021 08:38 UTC
Nuclear power plant
© IRNA/Mohammad Babaie/ReutersNuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran
World powers opened a fifth round of talks with Iran aimed at bringing the United States back into the landmark 2015 nuclear deal meant to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining an atomic bomb, with both sides expressing hope Tuesday that it might be the final series of negotiations.

The talks in Vienna came the day after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, struck a last-minute agreement with Tehran for a one-month extension to a deal on surveillance cameras at Iran's nuclear sites. The issue wasn't directly related to the ongoing talks on the nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, but if Iran had not agreed it could have seriously complicated the discussions.

The U.S. is not directly involved in the talks, but an American delegation headed by President Joe Biden's special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has been in the Austrian capital. Representatives from the other powers involved — Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — have shuttled between the Americans and the Iranians to facilitate indirect talks.
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