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Italy's UniCredit to pay $1.3 billion to settle US sanctions probe

Karen Freifeld
Reuters
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:48 UTC
UniCredit bank
Italy's top bank UniCredit SpA and two subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle probes of violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries, U.S. authorities said on Monday.

In addition, UniCredit Bank AG, the bank's German unit, agreed to plead guilty to federal and New York state criminal charges for illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned entities, the U.S. Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.

The resolution ends a six-year investigation that has hung over the bank and follows last week's $1.1 billion settlement by London-based Standard Chartered Plc with U.S. and British authorities over similar conduct.

Comment: Evidently US sanctions not only don't work - and are based on lies - but many banks chose to evade them, and were still able to make a profit:

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Bad Guys

Brexit ruckus: Jacob Rees-Mogg responds to Remainer David Lammy's 'nazi' remark


LBC Radio
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:16 UTC
Jacob Rees-Mogg
© Press Association ; LBCLabour MP David Lammy and Conservative Party MP Jacob Rees-Mogg
Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed that he feels sorry for the Labour MP, after David Lammy's comment that comparing Brexiteers and Nazis was "not strong enough".

David Lammy has defended comparing some Tory Brexiteers to Nazis. The Labour MP for Tottenham and campaigner for a second Brexit referendum hit out at members of the European Research Group.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday Mr Lammy said that his previous comparison between Brexiteers and Nazis was "not strong enough."
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Network

The EU adjusts its copyright rules towards a 'true digital single market'


Council of the European Union
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 19:42 UTC
Copyright
The EU is amending its legal framework on copyright to make it fit-for-purpose in today's digital environment. The Council today adopted a directive that modernises existing EU copyright law to pave the way towards a true digital single market. The new rules ensure adequate protection for authors and artists, while opening up new possibilities for accessing and sharing copyright-protected content online throughout the European Union.
I am very glad that we have achieved a balanced text, creating multiple opportunities for Europe's creative sectors, which will thrive and better reflect our cultural diversity and other European common values, but also for the users, whose freedom of expression on internet will be consolidated. This is a milestone for the development of a robust and well-functioning digital single market.

Valer Daniel Breaz, Romanian Minister for Culture and National Identity
The directive addresses a variety of issues, which can be grouped together under three categories:

Comment: More on the copyright directive:


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Russian Flag

Remembering the past: Russia applies in Venezuela what it failed to do in Yugoslavia, Syria

Marko Marjanović
The Saker
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 19:39 UTC
hillary war syria
© The Duran
Pushing for the US to start an air war against Syria in 2012 Hillary Clinton argued in her emails that Russia would not "stand in the way", just as it had done "little more than complain" when the US and its satellites bombed Yugoslavia in 1999:
"The second step is to develop international support for a coalition air operation.
Russia will never support such a mission, so there is no point operating through the UN Security Council.
Some argue that U.S. involvement risks a wider war with Russia. But the Kosovo example shows otherwise
In that case, Russia had genuine ethnic and political ties to the Serbs, which don't exist between Russia and Syria, and even then Russia did little more than complain.
Russian officials have already acknowledged they won't stand in the way if intervention comes"

Comment: As an aside, we would have no knowledge of Hillary's stone-cold calculus without Wikileaks.


What Hillary failed to appreciate was that Putin was not Yeltsin, that comeback Putin who had returned to the presidency after a Medvedev abstention at the UN allowed the Empire to unleash an air war against Libya in particular was not Yeltsin, and also that even Yeltsin had done quite a bit more than just "complain" in 1999.

Comment:

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Bullseye

Maria Zakharova on US policies towards Venezuela


The Saker
Sun, 14 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Maria Zakharova
© Uprootedpalestinians's Blog/WordPress.comRussian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, at the UNSC meeting on Venezuela.
Excerpt of the weekly MFA briefing by Maria Zakharova:

The UN Security Council held a meeting in New York yesterday at the initiative of the US to discuss the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. Russia's position, whereby this is not the appropriate platform or format for discussing this topic, remains unchanged. We are not turning a blind eye to the challenging social, economic and humanitarian developments in Venezuela. Still, we do not see any threats to regional, let alone international, stability or security.

Representatives of Donald Trump's administration are obsessive in hammering home the message that "all options are on the table." This is a matter of grave concern. Let me reiterate that the possible military scenario, if this is what representatives of the US establishment have in mind, would lead nowhere. It is dangerous, since it could bring about a civil war. We urge our US colleagues to review these irresponsible plans that are at odds with international law. I would like to draw the attention of our Western colleagues once again to what they have done in a number of countries around the world. Just look at the scenarios you have been trying to follow there, and what came out of it.

We will continue to do everything we can to prevent the dangerous scenarios that we witnessed in a number of countries from taking place in Venezuela. We are glad that there is little support for this option within the international community, even though Washington regrettably persists in its efforts.

It is also unfortunate that the UN Security Council was not able to refrain from discussing the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. Vice President Mike Pence's remarks went beyond the bounds of decency when he called for recognising Venezuela's new leader, backing up his claims with ultimatums and threats of new sanctions.
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Arrow Down

Brexit squashed, Assange under arrest - just another day in the Empire

Tom Luongo
tomluongo.me
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Assange cat
© UnknownA good and proper friend of Julian Assange
And down goes Julian Assange, right beside Brexit. If there was ever any doubt that The Powers That Be are unrelenting in their cruelty just look at the 24 hours starting on Wednesday.

First Theresa "The Snake Oil Lady" May kicks 17.4 million voters into the weeds. And then she oversees the arrest and judging of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The timing of this is important beyond dovetailing it with her Brexit betrayal. They had to go after Assange now, because Theresa May's time in office is ending. A Jeremy Corbyn-led government would not grant the U.S. it's prize.

Corbyn, for all of his faults, would be a breath of fresh air in the unraveling of the 'special relationship' between the U.S. and U.K. in foreign policy for as long as he lasted in office.

Still think Theresa works for anyone other than her owners?

Still think the opposition to Corbyn predicated on his "Socialism" isn't anything other than a coordinated psy-op? It's no different than the narratives spinning around Trump being a Nazi or a Russian stooge, except that Corbyn actually is a socialist. But, he is also far more independent than anyone in the British political class wants running the country, that much is certain.

Trump is running for re-election opposing "Socialism" in the U.S., Venezuela and soon, Cuba.
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Network

Able to sustain its own web, MPs confirm Russia is ready for global internet shutdown


RT
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 12:44 UTC
Putin/Monitors
© screen shot 2017
Russian users would survive a global internet shutdown as the Lower House of parliament passed a bill set to guarantee the sustainable operation of the Runet - the Russian segment of the internet.

The new legislation (which could cost up to US$466mn) envisions a full range of measures to ensure the operation of the Russian internet and to counter cyber-threats. They include the creation of a national DNS system that stores all domain names and corresponding IP addresses, and would provide cryptographic data protection. The bill also restricts the transfer of data shared between Russian internet users to servers outside of the country.

Introduced by a group of lawmakers in December 2018, the bill was designed as a response to the "aggressive" US National Cyber Strategy, which accuses Russia, along with China, Iran, and North Korea, of using cyber tools to "undermine" its economy and democracy. It also threatens dire consequences for anyone conducting cyber activity against the US.

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Target

Canada's message to Russia: Interference OK if it destabilizes YOU, not the other way around

Matthew Ehret
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Chrystia Freeland
© News 1130Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland
In the midst of one of the most de-stabilizing scandals to rock Canada in years, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on April 5 that the threat of "Foreign interference" going into the October 2019 elections was at an all-time high.

Sitting beside her UK counterpart at a G7 meeting in France, Freeland stated: "Interference is very likely and we think there have already been efforts by malign foreign actors to disrupt our democracy". Her warning was echoed by an embattled puppet Prime Minister in Ottawa who stated it is "very clearly that countries like Russia are behind a lot of the divisive campaigns ... that have turned our politics even more divisive and more anger-filled than they have been in the past."

The Measures to Defend the British Deep State

In order to counteract this "foreign threat", several Canadian mechanisms have been announced to "keep democracy safe" in alignment with the G7, Five Eyes and NATO. These mechanisms are:

The creation of an "Incident Public Protection Panel" run by five Privy Council bureaucrats under the Clerk of the Privy Council which will exist outside of the authority of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, whose job is to maintain the integrity of elections. In defense of this mysterious group, Canada's Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould stated that "it won't be one person who will decide what Canadians will be allowed to know" (apparently having five people decide is more democratic). The new Clerk of the Privy Council is Ian Stugart, who served as former deputy minister to Chrystia Freeland until just a few weeks ago.

A Security and Intelligence Election Threats Task Force which will incorporate all of Canada's intelligence agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and Freeland's Global Affairs Canada. All of these agencies are Privy Council organizations.

The Rapid Response Mechanism of the G7 created in June 2018 and headquartered in Ottawa Canada in Freeland's Global Affairs Office and Privy Council Office.
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Arrow Up

Trump: 'I finally agree with Cher.' Illegal immigrants WILL be sent to sanctuary cities


RT
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 13:21 UTC
Trump
© UnknownPresident Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump agreed with singer and liberal activist Cher that California can't even take care of its own citizens, but tweeted he will follow through on his threat to start sending illegal immigrants there.

"I finally agree with Cher," the president tweeted Monday morning, after the pop diva bemoaned how Los Angeles has 50,000-plus US citizens living out on the street and can't take any more. He even included a screenshot of Cher's tweet, just in case she decided to delete it (she hasn't).

Comment: See also:
Hypocrite: Migrant advocate, Cher, gets blasted for opposing illegals being sent to L.A.

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Flashlight

Russia assists Venezuela in energy facility attacks; US holds CSIS secret meeting

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Caracas blackout
© bangkokpost.comFILE PHOTO: Caracas, Venezuela during blackout
Russia is providing all the necessary assistance to Venezuela with the two countries jointly investigating the attacks on the Venezuelan energy sector, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Siromolotov:
"We are providing our Venezuelan friends with all the necessary help. According to data from the legitimate government of the country, led by Nicolás Maduro, and according to other reliable sources, Venezuela's electro-energetic sector was attacked on March 7 this year from abroad."
According to the deputy minister, this was remote-controlled interference in the control systems of the main electricity distribution stations, whose equipment was manufactured in one of the countries of the West. In addition, the diplomat added that "the perpetrators of attacks on power plants were well aware of their vulnerabilities."

Venezuela has suffered a blackout nearly a week after an accident at the Guri hydroelectric plant. The operation of factories and public facilities was suspended throughout the country. The other massive blackout took place on March 25 and reached 16 of the 23 states of Venezuela. The blackout left the capital without electricity. Maduro's government blamed service failures for an organized attack from the United States against the Guri Hydroelectric Plant.

On the 28th the partial recovery of the electricity service was achieved, but Maduro reported that between March 29 and 30 there were new computer attacks that left the country again without electricity.

Comment: See also:

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