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Saudi visit: The most dreadful creatures warmly welcomed by the British establishment

Robert Fisk
Independent
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 23:27 UTC
Theresa May welcomed Mohammad bin Salman to Downing Street this week
© AFP/Getty
Theresa May welcomed Mohammad bin Salman to Downing Street this week
There is a dreary inevitability to the way in which the most dreadful creatures turn up at Downing Street or Buckingham Palace. Archbishop Makarios, Jomo Kenyatta, Menachem Begin, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Robert Mugabe, Nicolae Ceaucescu and Vladimir Putin to name a few. Of the 'home-grown' variety, I suppose I would include Tony Blair. So why make such a fuss of his Royal Majesty Mohammad bin Salman?


Comment: Vladimir Putin does not belong on that list:


He's only a crown prince, after all, wet behind the ears at 32, gouts of blood on his hands to be sure, but scarcely 10,000 have died in his Yemen war. Most of them civilians; but none of them British. Certainly not British soldiers, which didn't apply to Begin or McGuinness and doesn't apply to Adams. As for Mohammad's legal head-choppers, they've largely been let loose on Philipinos, Burmese, Pakstanis, Indians and Arabs, women as well as men. Drug-smugglers, murderers, you name it. Saudi ladies will soon be allowed to drive - driving supposedly being a woman's primary objective in Saudi Arabia - and the British, especially Theresa May, are very keen on this.

Comment: If these events are good for anything, its for highlighting the monstrous face behind the stiff upper lip of the duplicitous British establishment:

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Blackbox

Can Trump make the deal of the century with North Korea? Only if he comes to understand what Kim really wants - and why

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 11:11 UTC
kim trump
The key to understanding Kim Jong-un's summit offer to Donald Trump is that it is the product of negotiations which have been underway since October.

At that time a senior North Korean diplomat visited Moscow, and reports of the talks which took place made it clear that the Russians were pressing for the opening of bilateral negotiations between the North Koreans and the South Koreans to end the crisis.

The meeting in Moscow was followed shortly after by a reciprocal visit by a Russian delegation to Pyongyang, which showed that some ground had been made in the talks in Moscow.

Shortly after it became known that whilst the Russians were talking with the North Koreans the Chinese were talking with the South Koreans, whose new President - Moon Jae-in - is known to favour talks with North Korea.

The talks between China and South Korea quickly bore fruit, with South Korea making clear that it would not be part of any security grouping involving the US and Japan (a sort of Asian equivalent of NATO in the north east Pacific) and that it would cap the number of US THAAD anti ballistic missile interceptors located in South Korea.
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Biohazard

Investigators say Skripal may have been poisoned in his home, UK diverts 'enormous' resources to investigate poisoning

Lizzie Dearden, Kim Sengupta
Independent, UK
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 10:51 UTC
hazmat suits Sergey Skripal
© Ben Stansall / Agence France-Presse
All a big show? Salisbury, southern England, March 8, 2018
Investigators probing the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter believe they may have been poisoned in his home, as the hunt for culprits continues.

Sources told The Independent that the toxin could have been sent to Sergei Skripal in a package that he opened in the presence of his daughter Yulia, exposing them both.

Lord Blair, who was the Metropolitan Police Commissioner when Alexander Litvinenko was assassinated, said a police officer who fell ill had visited the property in Salisbury.

[...]

"I'd hope [there is a trail in Salisbury] - clearly what they are trying to find out at the moment is how the nerve agent was delivered and there obviously are some indications.

"The officer, and I'm very sorry that he has been injured, has actually been to the house, whereas there was a doctor who looked after the patients in the open who hasn't been affected at all.

"So there may be some clues floating around in here."

Comment: The UK government is diverting a very significant number of resources towards this case, including 8 of 11 UK anti-terrorism units.
"I want to stress that they are proceeding with speed and professionalism. We are putting in enormous resources to ensure that they have all the support that they need to do that," said Rudd, after chairing a meeting of Cobra, the UK's emergencies committee.
...
Following the incident, authorities managed to collect 240 pieces of evidence and have identified some 200 witnesses to the crime, Rudd said, noting that 250 officers are taking part in the investigation. The incident is getting so much attention that the government will be sending the Armed Forces to Salisbury in order to handle potentially dangerous evidence in the area of the initial poisoning.

The BBC reported on Saturday night that traces of a rare nerve agent, thought to be used in the poisoning, were found in a local branch of Zizzi, a chain restaurant, and one of the five locations at the center of the police investigation.

While Rudd insisted that the investigators "need to be given the space and time" so that they can be "absolutely clear" when assigning blame for the attack, British officials continue to insinuate that a foreign power - presumably Russia - was involved. Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister, Boris Johnson vowed to respond "robustly" if evidence emerges of Russian involvement in the incident, seemingly disregarding that the former spy with a tainted reputation could have made enemies since settling in Britain in 2010.

"The key thing they need to be doing and they will be doing is to look at what Skripal has been doing in his life since he has moved to the UK. And I think this is where the motive for this attack is going to come from," former MI5 agent Annie Machon told RT. "Let's face it, in intelligence terms, he was a 'busted flush'" with no apparent interest to the Russians.

"It is usually the state level actors that have the capability of producing this sort of agent. However, in terms of who might have used it - that is a different question," Machon said. "To say that if it's a state made agent, it must be a state attack is, I think, disingenuous, at best. People can get their hands on this sort of thing. Gangsters and criminals can get their hands on this sort of thing if they've got the right money to pay for it."
...
According to the Times, Prime Minister Theresa May is a step away from naming Russia as the chief suspect in the alleged attempted assassination.

Now, the paranoia in the UK in the Skripal case is reaching massive proportions, with a junior minister calling on London to contact its NATO allies over the incident. "Some big questions arise, as to how do you stand up to a clandestine and sinister attack deliberately done to play havoc in our society?" said UK Government Minister at the Ministry of Defence Tobias Ellwood, vouching a "robust response."
So it looks like it's all going according to plan. After trial by media, Russia will be officially blamed again for something it likely had nothing to do with. How do you stand up to a clandestine and sinister group of Westerners who will stop at nothing to frame Russia as the big bad of the century? Not much.

See also:

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Bad Guys

Knighthoods: How Britain's elite rewards failure - and heinous criminals

Leo McKinstry
Daily Mail
Thu, 28 Dec 2017 16:22 UTC
nick clegg knighthood
© Daily Mail
Unsurprisingly, given his record, he opted for no publicity shots at the ceremony - which is why we have mocked up this photograph with computer trickery to relive his moment of glory.
Yesterday, Nick Clegg was knighted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in what is surely one of the most glaring examples of reward for failure in modern times.

As Lib Dem leader he destroyed his party and as Deputy Prime Minister he introduced a raft of failed policies that cost the taxpayer billions.

Unsurprisingly, given his record, he opted for no publicity shots at the ceremony - which is why we have mocked up this photograph with computer trickery to relive his moment of glory.

This is the man who presided over the Lib Dem's worst electoral defeat in its history - reducing its number of MPs from 63 when he took over in 2007 to just eight when he stood down in 2015.

He pledged in the 2010 election to fight tuition fee increases for students - only to renege on his promise and treble them as soon as he seized power as Deputy PM in David Cameron's Coalition.
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Russian Flag

Putin 'couldn't care less' if Russians interfered in the American election because 'they do not represent the government'

Diana Stancy Correll
Washington Examiner
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 00:56 UTC
Putin
© Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with Megyn Kelly hinted he would not necessarily try to prevent election interference from Russia nationals from happening in the future.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he "couldn't care less" if Russian nationals attempted to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election because they "do not represent the government."

"I don't care," Putin told NBC's Megyn Kelly in an interview that aired Friday. "I couldn't care less. because they do not represent the government."

"They do not represent the interest of the Russian state," he added.

Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

Case for and against an FBI/DOJ special counsel investigation

Sara Carter
Sara A. Carter
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Gavel/Papers
© Getty Images
Increasingly more Republicans are calling for special counsel, while DOJ argues for IG investigation. A second special counsel might investigate any or all of the following:
  • possible criminal violations by senior FBI and DOJ officials in obtaining a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign volunteer,
  • the bureau's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to send classified information
  • whether senior Obama administration officials, including the president, were aware of the use of the unverified dossier to open an investigation into the Trump campaign and possible Russian collusion.
The investigations could also be conducted by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who is expected to conclude his much-anticipated report into the FBI's handling of the Clinton server investigation in the next several weeks and who Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked to investigate possible FISA warrant abuse against Carter Page, who briefly volunteered for the Trump campaign in 2016.

Republicans, however, are not satisfied and are now pushing Sessions, who is recused from the Russia investigation, to appoint a special counsel. DOJ officials are arguing against it, telling this reporter that Horowitz and his team can conduct the unbiased investigation and refer potential people to the DOJ for criminal prosecution.

Comment: See also: Sessions might appoint 2nd special prosecutor to investigate possible crimes in growing scandals

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Attention

Washington's intent? Destroying Iran

Brian Cloughley
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
TrumpIranFlag
© Real Iran
On February 18, the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared that Iran "is trying to establish this continuous empire surrounding the Middle East from the south in Yemen but also trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. This is a very dangerous development for our region." Netanyahu's presentation was dismissed by the Iranian foreign minister as "a cartoonish circus," but it was nonetheless a reflection of the policy of the United States, which is Israel's mentor and unconditional ally.

Last November Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested to President Vladimir Putin that Tehran and Moscow should cooperate more fully to try to dissuade the US from further disruptive dabbling throughout the Middle East. His opinion was that "Our cooperation can isolate America. The failure of US-backed terrorists in Syria cannot be denied but Americans continue their plots," which is certainly the case, because although the so-called "moderate rebels" who were recruited to overthrow President Assad, with massive amounts of assistance from the Pentagon and the CIA, collapsed in ignominious failure, the US fandangos continue. Washington is not going to give up, and the Trump administration seems to relish being isolated by almost everyone.

Comment: What can we expect from a government that believes all the propaganda it generates and is paid to willingly be under the thumb of Israel?

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Attention

The coming backlash over the Pentagon's hybrid war in Syria

M.K.Bhadrakumar
The American Conservative
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Erdogan
© Citifmonline.com
U.S. and Turkish officials are due to meet in Washington today to begin thrashing out the range of issues now threatening to tear the already fragile relationship between the two NATO allies apart.

The Turkish-American discord goes back to the Obama administration when Washington persuaded Ankara to spearhead the regime-change project in Syria circa 2011, only to see the U.S. retract later, leaving Turkey holding a can of worms.

Since then the relationship has become mired in several disputes, with the overarching geopolitical result that Turkey has steadily drifted away from its Western allies towards a détente with Russia. This has taken the form of a quasi-alliance with Moscow over the Syrian conflict-a partnership that appears to be flourishing as a "win-win" economic relationship and has resulted in the Turkish decision to purchase an S-400 air defense system from Russia.

The situation in Syria will top the agenda during the talks in Washington on Thursday. The priority for both sides will be to avert a standoff in northern Syria where the U.S. and Turkey are pursuing sharply divergent interests. At least since 2014, the U.S. has aligned with Kurdish groups that Ankara regards as terrorists belonging to the PKK, the separatist movement waging a bloody struggle to carve out an independent state in the Kurdish homelands in eastern Turkey. On the other hand, Kurds are the Pentagon's foot soldiers in its war against the Islamic State in Syria.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Latvia Bank killing: Washington's financial warfare on Russia

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 03 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
UncleSamHanging
© Getty Images
Washington has begun a new phase in its geopolitical financial warfare in the small Baltic republic of Latvia. Within days it managed to force the Latvian government and the European Central Bank to force the dissolution of Latvia's third largest bank without even a hint of a legal process. Whatever the true relation of Latvia's ABLV Bank AS to money laundering, to North Korea or to Russia, the Washington move can be seen as an ominous precedent for a next phase of blackmail on the financial structures of the European Union or other foreign states not singing the preferred Washington tune.

On February 23, despite the fact that ABLV announced it had raised almost $1.7 billion in four days to stabilize deposit withdrawals, the ECB claimed the bank lacked adequate liquidity and deemed it "failing or likely to fail," committing it to Europe's Single Resolution Board for dissolution. The move followed by hours the arrest of the Latvia representative on the ECB Governing Council, Latvia Central Bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevics, amid bribery allegations in a case supposedly not linked to ABLV's takedown by the ECB. He was released two days later without being charged, but the timing is highly suspicious.

At that point the ECB instructed the Latvian supervisory authority, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FCMC), to impose a moratorium on the bank to give time to the bank to stabilize its situation. A moratorium was also imposed by the Luxembourg authorities for the subsidiary of the bank in Luxembourg.

Comment: Freezing out Russian assets, going after international banking institutions, attempting to isolate Russia -- these actions hurt European and other global business partnerships, forces commerce to find other alternatives and strengthens the Russia-China partnership. The US is sabotaging itself as other options open for those persecuted or affected by these political tantrums and destructive tours of force.

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Arrow Up

Trump may exempt NATO allies from tariffs if they raise military spending


RFE/RL
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 16:51 UTC
Mnuchin
© Yuri Gripes/Reuters
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
U.S. allies might be asked to increase their financial commitments to NATO to avoid new U.S. tariffs on their exports of steel and aluminum to the United States, the U.S. Treasury secretary has said.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC in an interview on March 9 that President Donald Trump will take national security into account in deciding which countries to exempt from the tariffs, and he noted that Trump wants to see NATO allies spend more on defense. Mnuchin said Trump is specifically pushing to get NATO allies to spend the agreed goal of 2 percent of their gross domestic output on defense.

"We're spending 4 percent of GDP and many of our allies are spending 1 percent of GDP and not making commitments to go up to 2 percent, so the president is very clear.... If we're in NATO, he wants to make sure that NATO gets more money so that NATO can protect all of us and fulfill its goal," Mnuchin told CNBC.

Comment: Three birds with one stone? Endgame: Russia and China are economic targets.

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