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Light Sabers

Tulsi Gabbard: Trump is 'for socialism' ... but only when it comes to funding US military industry


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 20:59 UTC
trump and tulsi
© Global Look Press / Ron Sachs
US President Donald Trump, who has been relentlessly bashing everything linked to what he sees as 'socialism,' is himself no stranger to using socialist principles to support the US arms industry, Tulsi Gabbard has claimed.

One could hardly suspect Trump of being a socialist in disguise. After all, the US president has emerged as one of the most ardent critics of the leftist ideological platform. Just recently, he announced he would "go into the war with some socialists," while apparently referring to his political opponents from the Democratic Party.

But the president also seems to be quite keen on borrowing some socialist ideas when it fits his agenda, at least, according to the congresswoman from Hawaii and Democratic presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, who recently wrote in a tweet that "Trump is for socialism when it comes to taxpayers underwriting military contractors and arms manufacturers."
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Magnify

France and Germany's 'Alliance for Multilateralism' may not be as good as it sounds

Neil Clark
RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 20:38 UTC
merkel and macron
© Getty Images / Friedemann Vogel
Germany and France have announced the creation of a new 'Alliance for Multilateralism' to support international cooperation and the UN. Is it a much-needed step to counterbalance the US, or a reaction to the excesses of Trump?

On the one hand you could say it's a sign of Europe's biggest powers finally showing some teeth to the US.

The news that two of America's strongest allies in Europe are forming an 'Alliance for Multilateralism' - which will officially launch in September at the United Nations General Assembly - probably won't go down well in Washington, especially as we're also told that Canada, Japan and Australia have shown interest in joining the initiative.

As cited in Deutsche Welle, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the first objective would be to show that countries that "support multilateralism and support the United Nations remain the majority in the world." US President Donald Trump wasn't mentioned by name, and while both he and his German counterpart Heiko Maas stressed that the initiative wasn't directed against America, it was clear when Le Drian talked about the "consequences of unilateralism and isolationism" who he was really referring to.
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Chess

Saudi Arabia opens consulate in Iraq after absence of nearly 30 years

Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Miami Herald
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 20:22 UTC
Mohamed Alhakim
© HADI MIZBAN AP PHOTOIraq Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim
Saudi Arabia on Friday reopened a consulate in Baghdad for the first time in nearly 30 years and announced a $1 billion aid package for Iraq, a sign of improving ties between the two neighbors whose relations have been uneasy for years.

The consulate, which will issue visas to Iraqis, was opened at a ceremony in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, during which Iraq's Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim raised a green Saudi flag over the building.

Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Sahhaf said the move was expected to benefit both countries.

"This will reflect positively on pilgrims and investors," he told The Associated Press. He said work was also underway to reopen border crossings between Iraq and its southern neighbor.
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Eye 2

'We did not expect the world to be silent': US military machine continuing to kill civilians with impunity

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 20:00 UTC
Reaper drone
© Reuters / Omar SobhaniMQ-9 Reaper drone
The Trump administration, which made promises to rein in Washington's unnecessary wars, has not only expanded the US' covert and lethal drone program, but has taken the covering up of its civilian death toll to a whole new level.

Like most of the battlefields opened more widely under the Obama administration, Donald Trump ramped up airstrikes against the infamous Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia approximately two years ago. And, like most drone wars expanded under Obama and dramatically widened under Trump, the details of this covert assault are continuously swept under the rug, particularly when it comes to civilian casualties.

The Pentagon has openly said that its airstrikes in Somalia have killed zero civilians.

Yet, recently, an Amnesty International investigation into just five of the strikes carried out since March 2017 by both manned and unmanned reaper aircraft found that the strikes resulted in at least 14 civilian deaths, with instances of eight civilian injuries as well. In total, the US has carried out more than 100 strikes in Somalia since 2017.
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Newspaper

FBI accused of omitting evidence of explosives in World Trade Center buildings from 9/11 report

Jennifer Hijazi
courthousenews.com
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 20:00 UTC

Comment: This report has since been 'de-published', but we found an archived copy...


courthouse news fbi 9/11
Nearly two decades after the deadly Sept. 11 attacks, a lawyers' group claims the federal government did not properly assess evidence known to the FBI but left out of the 9/11 Review Commission findings, including reports of pre-placed explosives at the World Trade Center.

The Lawyers' Committee for 9/11 Inquiry and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth filed a complaint Monday against U.S. Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, claiming the FBI failed in its federally mandated duty to assess all the evidence available that previous 9/11 commissions may have missed.

"The FBI's 9/11 Review Commission, and the FBI itself, failed to assess and report to Congress, as mandated, several other categories of significant 9/11 related evidence known to the FBI via reports in the press, via the web, and via public events and/or reflected in the FBI's own records," according to the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., federal court by lead attorney Mick Harrison.

Comment: More on this from Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth.

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Bad Guys

Saudi Arabia threatens to ditch dollar oil trades to stop 'NOPEC'

Dmitry Zhdannikov, Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler
Reuters
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 19:07 UTC
Aramco plant oil saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is threatening to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar if Washington passes a bill exposing OPEC members to U.S. antitrust lawsuits, three sources familiar with Saudi energy policy said.

They said the option had been discussed internally by senior Saudi energy officials in recent months. Two of the sources said the plan had been discussed with OPEC members and one source briefed on Saudi oil policy said Riyadh had also communicated the threat to senior U.S. energy officials.

The chances of the U.S. bill known as NOPEC coming into force are slim and Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to follow through, but the fact Riyadh is considering such a drastic step is a sign of the kingdom's annoyance about potential U.S. legal challenges to OPEC.

In the unlikely event Riyadh were to ditch the dollar, it would undermine the its status as the world's main reserve currency, reduce Washington's clout in global trade and weaken its ability to enforce sanctions on nation states.

"The Saudis know they have the dollar as the nuclear option," one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

"The Saudis say: let the Americans pass NOPEC and it would be the U.S. economy that would fall apart," another source said.
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Blackbox

High-profile Russian anti-corruption cases - have the Atlanticists lost their high-level administrative protection?

John Helmer
Dances with Bears
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 18:52 UTC
putin cat
The cat is out of the bag!
The indictment of ex-minister Mikhail Abyzov is a clear signal; the arrest of former Khabarovsk Governor and ex-presidential representative Victor Ishayev is another.

The system of high-level administrative protection, on which these two notoriously corrupt figures have relied for the past twenty years, has ceased protecting them. There is a legion to follow them; they no longer have the telephone number to call for early warning to quash investigations before they close in, or if they do, to escape in time to the US or London.

When Abyzov recognizes he is doomed, he will start to testify against Anatoly Chubais and others. When Alexei Kudrin, chairman of the Accounting Chamber, realizes his game is up, he will start sounding more like the accountant he was in St. Petersburg than the candidate for selection to the highest national office he has aspired to be. Whether Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will be replaced before the next State Duma election falls due in September 2021, or before the election campaign commences, he is going; none of his men will be left in power.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman announced after Abyzov's arrest: "The President received the report [on the Abyzov case] in advance [of his arrest]." That is precisely what happened, not because Putin gave the order to commence the prosecution of Abyzov, but because Putin wants no one to realize he didn't. Putin has lost the initiative; he cannot protect those who have counted on his protection for two decades.

Comment: The balancing act of keeping the 'Atlanticists' and 'Sovereignists' in check may have simply become impossible to maintain. Either Putin has lost the initiative, or he's allowing to happen what has been a long time coming. See also:

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Marijuana

2020 candidate Andrew Yang promises to legalize marijuana and pardon all non-violent drug offenders on 4/20 if he's elected

John Haltiwanger
Business Insider
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 04:38 UTC
Andrew Yang
© AP Photo/Phil Long
  • Andrew Yang said if he's elected president he'll legalize marijuana and pardon non-violent drug offenders on April 20,2021.
  • Traditionally, April 20 is a holiday for marijuana enthusiasts, and is often referred to as "4/20."
  • "I would legalize marijuana and then I would pardon everyone who's in jail for a nonviolent drug-related offense," Yang said on Wednesday. "I would pardon them on April 20, 2021 and I would high-five them on the way out of jail."
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang pledged to legalize marijuana at the federal level if elected president and pardon all those who've been incarcerated for non-violent, drug-related offenses.

"I would legalize marijuana and then I would pardon everyone who's in jail for a nonviolent drug-related offense," Yang said at the National Action Network conference in New York City on Wednesday. "I would pardon them on April 20, 2021 and I would high-five them on the way out of jail."

April 20, or 4/20, is considered a holiday by marijuana enthusiasts.
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Arrow Down

Turkey's offer to address S-400 fears rejected by Pentagon

Jack Detsch
Al-Monitor
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
S-400 missile system
© Igor Zarembo/SputnikS-400 missile system
The Pentagon will not entertain Turkey's plan to set up a bilateral working group aimed at tempering US fears over the looming acquisition of Russian air defenses, the Defense Department told Al-Monitor today.

Speaking at a Washington panel celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NATO alliance on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu again insisted that the purchase of the Russian made S-400 was "a done deal." But he also floated the idea of creating a bilateral panel to try to quell US fears that the system could give Russia insights into Western weapons systems, including the F-35 fighter jet, for which Turkey builds the fuselage.

Cavusoglu's pitch for a working group appears to be the newest idea from Ankara to quash tensions over the pending purchase of the S-400, which Turkey insists will not be integrated into NATO networks. But the Donald Trump administration isn't interested.

"A technical working group at this stage isn't necessary or a path the US is even considering as a resolution," said Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon. "We have been clear with Turkey at all levels - the S-400 is a threat to the F-35 program and the safety of our NATO allies."

Comment: See also:

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Nuke

Satellite images show Saudi nuclear reactor close to completion


Sputnik
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 13:51 UTC
Riyadh installation
© KACST/Facebook
Riyadh has been showing interest in building nuclear power plants as a mean to diversify its energy supplies as a significant part of the fossil fuel produced in the country is consumed to power its growing electricity needs.

Saudi Arabia is close to completing the construction of its first nuclear reactor in the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh, Robert Kelley, a former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director told Bloomberg after analysing satellite images from Google Earth. Kelley said that judging by the photos it's a 30-kilowatt research reactor, which will be ready to function within a year.

The reactor itself was designed by the Argentinian company Invap SE, but the engineering was completed by Saudi specialists. Argentinian envoy to the IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has confirmed to The Guardian that Invap was in charge of designing the reactor and that it will be operational "by the end of the year roughly".

Comment: See also:

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