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Post-It Note

Bombshell at Flynn hearing: DOJ memo exists exonerating Michael Flynn

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
General Michael Flynn
© UnknownFormer National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn
A bombshell revelation was barely noticed at National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's hearing Tuesday, when his counsel revealed in court the existence of a Justice Department memo from Jan. 30, 2017 exonerating Flynn of any collusion with Russia. The memo, which has still not been made available to Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell, is part of a litany of Brady material she is demanding from prosecutors. The memo is currently under protective order and Powell is working with prosecutors to get it disclosed, SaraACarter.com has learned.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan presided over the hearing Tuesday and set a tentative Dec. 18 sentencing date. He told the prosecution and defense that the sentencing date could be moved depending on the outcome of requests for Brady material requested by Powell and how the case will unfold in the upcoming months. Sullivan also noted during the hearing that the Brady order takes precedence over the plea agreement.

Powell will likely seek to have case dismissed for 'egregious' prosecutorial misconduct and withholding of exculpatory material. Powell told SaraACarter.com:
"Judge Sullivan is obviously taking the Brady issues very seriously and clearly told the prosecutors that his Brady order stands regardless of the plea agreement or the plea. If the prosecutors here were seeking justice instead of a conviction, General Flynn would not have been prosecuted. They have been hiding evidence that he was exonerated in early 2017."
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Question

Iran's 'dark tanker fleet' has become the 'oil world's' biggest mystery

Grant Smith
Bloomberg
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 07:01 UTC
Adrian Darya
© Marcelo del Pozo/BloombergIranian crude oil tanker, Adrian Darya
While one Iranian tanker is attracting global attention, serious oil watchers remain absorbed by a bigger mystery: the hunt for the rest of Iran's fleet.

The quest has led to ever more inventive methods of tracking ships, and divergent views on the amounts of crude secretly slipping into world markets. That's because the vessels have mostly "gone dark" since sanctions were tightened this year, switching off transponders that would reveal their location.

"Iran is a black box, but it's also not a black box" as there are ways to uncover secretive activity, said Devin Geoghegan, global director of petroleum intelligence at Genscape Inc. in Denver, Colorado. "Iran is simply doing a better job of putting their oil into other people's hands -- or their own storage tin-cans -- than anybody has expected."
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X

The firing of John Bolton lets in a ray of hope


21st Century WIre
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
Bolton
© UnknownFormer US National Security Advisor John Bolton
A number of countries are breathing a sigh of relief today as US National Security Advisor and ardent war hawk, John Bolton, has apparently been fired by Donald Trump, although Bolton insists that he had handed in his resignation first.

This afternoon, President Trump tweeted:

"I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House... I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning," Trump tweeted.
However, Bolton is offering a different account of events. After tweeting out that he had offered his resignation to President Trump, Bolton then reached out to reporters to try to amplify the narrative that he had resigned rather than being sacked.
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Footprints

Rocket sirens forced Netanyahu to exit the stage at his campaign rally


Sputnik
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 21:32 UTC
Netanyahu
© AP/Sebastian ScheinerIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
The video of the incident, which took place just a week before the Israeli election, has already gone viral on social media, with the IDF saying they had intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was evacuated from stage during an election rally in Ashdod, southern Israel, on Tuesday after rocket sirens were heard. As was forced to stop the event, he told the audience to keep calm and "quietly, quietly leave the area". According to local media reports, Netanyahu was taken to a sheltered area and was safe.

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Dominoes

Republican pulls off critical House seat win in North Carolina

Max Greenwood
The Hill
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 18:58 UTC
Dan Bsihop McCready North Carolina rep
© Tom Williams/CQ RollCall/GettyDan Bishop talks with supporters at Robin's On Main diner in Hope Mills, N.C., August 10, 2019. | Dan McCready talks with voters at his campaign office during his education tour in Elizabethtown, N.C., August 10, 2019.
Republican Dan Bishop edged out Democrat Dan McCready in the special election on Tuesday to represent North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, narrowly holding on to a House seat that has been in the GOP's hands for nearly 60 years.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Bishop led McCready nearly 4,000 votes, or a little over 2 percent of ballots cast - a large enough margin to avoid the possibility of a recount.

Bishop's win brings to an end a political saga in the 9th District that has spanned more than two years.

A regularly scheduled election in the district last year showed then-Republican candidate Mark Harris leading McCready by a scant 905 votes. But state officials scrapped the results of that race earlier this year after uncovering a massive ballot fraud scheme allegedly operated by a contractor for Harris's campaign.
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Bad Guys

World's governments welcome Bolton exit but still wary of future Trump foreign policy


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 17:54 UTC
john bolton
© Jim Young / ReutersJohn Bolton
The Iranian government spokesman welcomed the departure of US National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday, expressing the belief that the ousting of the "biggest proponent of war" and sanctions pressure would help Washington better understand Tehran.

"Months ago #JohnBolton had promised that #Iran would not be there in 3 months; we are still standing & he is gone. With the ousting of its biggest proponent of war & economic terrorism, the White House will have fewer obstacles to understanding the realities of Iran," spokesman Ali Rabiei wrote on Twitter.

Asked by a US journalist to comment on Bolton's resignation, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in turn, said that his ministry would not publish any statements on issues related to US internal affairs.

Comment: Iran has had enough abuse from the US and won't be talking to them any time soon despite Bolton getting canned:
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has no plans to start negotiations with the US even after the resignation of John Bolton - one of the most well-known hawks in the Trump administration.

"The departure of US National Security Adviser John Bolton from President Donald Trump's administration will not push Iran to reconsider talking with the US", he said as quoted by state news agency IRNA.

In the meantime, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged Washington to stop pressuring his country, adding that Tehran would continue cutting its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, if necessary.
Russia is also unimpressed, but being Russia, is always willing to engage in diplomacy:
We don't think that the presence or dismissal of any official -even this influential- has a serious impact on correcting American foreign policy.
Nevertheless, Russia is determined to find a way out "from that dire state our bilateral ties are still in," Peskov reiterated. But it always takes two willing sides for this to happen, which leaves Moscow to just hope that the US "will demonstrate political will sooner or later."

Bolton is known as a die-hard Iran and North Korea hawk, but his views on Russia also never ventured beyond a Cold War mindset. Back in 2017, he made his case in a Washington Post piece, calling Russia's alleged election interference "a true act of war.
Other Russian officials had comments on the Bolton firing:
To the question of whether the dismissal of a politician considered as a hawk generates some expectations in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov replied that "there are not and cannot be."

"Our position remains the same as always: we judge the facts, not the statements, or the intentions," he said.

Riabkov refused to assess the removal of Bolton claiming that "it is an internal US matter."

At the same time, he recalled that "on repeated previous occasions we have witnessed that some or other changes in the composition of the US government do not lead to an improvement or normalization of relations [with Russia], contrary to statements that make high charges of that administration," Riabkov said.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov also offered Russia's position.

"It is an internal affair of the Americans," Peskov said, answering the question if in the Kremlin they link Bolton's dismissal with the spying scandal in the US.

For his part, a representative of the Security Council of Russia, commenting on the dismissal of Bolton to Sputnik, also said that it is an internal matter of the US and said that the agency takes this fact "in peace."


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Hammer

Riyadh slams Netanyahu's plan for partial West Bank annexation, calls for regional OIC meeting


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 01:03 UTC
West Bank
© AFP 2019 / THOMAS COEX
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled the first steps he will take immediately after forming a new government following next week's election for the 22nd Knesset, announcing that Israel would seize new territories in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.

Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu's plans and quickly called for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers to discuss the issue, Reuters said Tuesday, citing Saudi state media.

"The kingdom affirms that this declaration is a very dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people and represents a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and the principles of international law", the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing the royal court.

The Council of the Arab League condemned statements made by the Israeli prime minister.

Comment: These statements from Saudi Arabia come as a bit of a surprise given the new 'alliance' between the autocratic country and Israel. And when has Saudi Arabia ever given a hoot about the "principles of international law" - given their mass crimes and massacres of civilians in Yemen, support of terrorists in Syria, terror attacks in Iran, etc.??

See also:

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Bullseye

Von der Leyen's ridiculous EU commissionser roles are exactly why people hate Brussels bureaucracy

Danielle Ryan
RT
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 21:34 UTC
Joseph Borrell
© European CommissionJoseph Borrell 'A Stronger Europe in the World,' Margaritis Schinas 'Protecting Our European Way of Life,' Margrethe Vestager 'Europe fit for the Digital Age,' Valdis Dombrovskis 'An Economy that Works for People'
Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled her new team of EU Commissioners. Their job descriptions and responsibilities are nebulous, oddly overlapping and bound to cause confusion. This is European bureaucracy at its worst.

Most Europeans pay scant attention to the detailed inner workings of Brussels politics, precisely because of the bewildering nature of its bloated bureaucracy.

Von der Leyen, the EU Commission President, has gone and made it worse.

The former German defense minister has steered away from traditional ministerial titles and opted for more Orwellian-sounding names - the kind you need to google to decipher what they actually mean.

Comment: Considering Von der Leyen's 'achievements' in her previous role, it would seem she will fit in perfectly at the EU: German SPD lists von der Leyen failures in damning paper to EU peers

See also:

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Question

John Bolton's firing brings cautious hope for improved foreign relations - Rand


RT
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 17:35 UTC
John bolton Ivanka trump
© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/FileIvanka Trump (L) John Bolton (C)
Firing National Security Advisor John Bolton gives US President Donald Trump a chance to move foreign policy in a more peaceful direction - as long as he's not replaced with another hawk, former congressman Ron Paul told RT.

Bolton has "been a monkey-wrench in Donald Trump's policies of trying to back away from some of these conflicts around the world," Paul observed on Tuesday, after news of Bolton's dismissal from the White House.

"Every time I think Trump is making progress, Bolton butts in and ruins it," Paul added. Negotiations with Afghanistan and talks with North Korea and Iran have reportedly been scuttled by his aggressive tendencies, with Pyongyang declaring him a "defective human product."

Comment: Iran was quick to comment on war hawk Bolton's departure:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif criticised Washington for new sanctions against Tehran on Wednesday, stating that the American "thirst for war" should've gone along with the resignation of John Bolton, who is known for being hawkish and an advocate of hardline policies against the Islamic Republic.


In the meantime, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has released a similar statement, calling on the US to stop its "aggression" against the country.

"America must understand that sticking to warmongers and war-mongering policies is no good and they must abandon warmongers and war-mongering policies and maximum pressure", he said, according to President Rouhani's official website, President.ir

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier reiterated that Donald Trump could meet with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the UN without preconditions. Tehran, however, stated it wouldn't engage in talks with the US even though Bolton had stepped down.

Iran announced it would suspend its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) on 8 May 2019 - exactly one year after the US pulled out of the accord and re-imposed economic restrictions against the Islamic Republic - a step, backed by Bolton, who also supported a massive military build-up by US forces in the Persian Gulf.

The Iranian government later said it would continue abandoning its obligations every 60 days if the European countries that signed the JCPOA failed to shield Iran from US sanctions.


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Hammer

Patrick Armstrong: Bye bye, Bolton - but why?

Patrick Armstrong
Russia Observer
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 17:36 UTC
bolton's moustache
John Bolton's moustache may be more famous than he is
(Response to a question from Sputnik)

Trump campaigned in part on the idea that the American wars had been a disaster for the country; John Bolton never met a war he didn't want more of. So the mystery is not what the two disagreed about but why Trump hired him in the first place.

I can't help wondering if the late Justin Raimondo was right when he suggested Trump had appointed Bolton as a cunning plot: "Instead of taking on the neocons directly, Trump embraces them - and we can see the knife go in as this whole scenario plays out." Certainly everything Bolton has had a hand in has been a spectacular flop and Trump is now in a position to tell the war party "see, we tried that, and it didn't work".

Why fire him now? It might be connected with the re-evaluation of weapons supplies to Ukraine or getting out of Afghanistan before the US and its minions double the Soviet time there on 25 January. Or the undoubted failure of the regime change in Venezuela. Or the fact that Tehran has outwitted Washington at every step; a desire to finally improve relations with Russia; Bolton's sabotage of the North Korea initiatives or many other things where the two would have been at odds.

And, although I doubt Trump or he knew it, he was fired on Ashura which is rather ironic.

But we'll have a better idea when we see whom he appoints next. And whom he fires next. It is rather a mystery why Trump has chosen to surround himself with representatives of the war party.

Comment: See also:

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