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Light Saber

Bowing to pressure? Maduro proposes early parliamentary elections in Venezuela


RT
Sat, 02 Feb 2019 19:29 UTC
guaido and maduro
© (L/R) REUTERS / Carlos Garcia RawlinsVenezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido (L) and President Nicolas Maduro (R)
Venezuelan President Niсolas Maduro has called for early elections to the National Assembly - a legislative body dominated by the opposition and led by Juan Guaido who declared himself interim leader last week.

Maduro's statement comes as thousands are rallying in the streets of Caracas both in support and against of his government.

Comment:

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Eye 1

'Those who devastate innocents dare to declare their actions humanitarian': Venezuela's FM slams US


RT
Sun, 03 Feb 2019 09:27 UTC
venezuela yankee go home
© FILE PHOTO. Reuters / Jorge Silva
Washington has earned a bitter rebuke from Caracas as it bluntly told the Venezuelan government to "get out of its way" while it delivers "humanitarian aid" to Venezuela after supporting a coup and imposing more sanctions.

Those who "wage unjust wars... devastate innocent... populations, subject economies to a blockade, cause death, hunger, destruction and suffering" dare to declare their actions "humanitarian," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza wrote on Twitter.

Venezuela has been in a dire financial situation for years following the collapse of oil prices that led to hyperinflation and shortages of food and other essential supplies. The country has also been pressured by US sanctions, with the latest hitting its state oil company. Last week, political turmoil was added to the mix after opposition leader Juan Guaido announced himself the interim head of the country with immediate support from the US.

Comment: The US, with the help of its lackeys throughout the West, has been blocking food aid, it conspired with the BoE to steal Venezuela's gold, and more recently threatened anyone doing business with Venezuela with sanctions, amongst many other things, see: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?

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Bad Guys

US killed INF treaty so it could freely 'encircle Russia and China'


RT
Sun, 03 Feb 2019 09:24 UTC
Tomahawk missiles
© REUTERS/HANDOUTTomahawk missiles - which are currently only launched from the water - can be placed on land again after INF collapse.
The collapse of the INF Treaty, conceded by the Kremlin on Saturday, is the result of decades-long "strategic destabilization of the nuclear balance" by the US, which wants a new international order, and perhaps a fresh arms race.

On Friday, Washington said it was suspending its participation in the 1987 agreement for 180 days, for alleged non-compliance by the other signatory, Moscow. The next morning, Vladimir Putin, flanked by two senior ministers, bemoaned that Russia "could not save" the milestone Cold War arms restriction agreement, despite generous offers to up its transparency.

According to Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann, a geopolitics analyst from Paris 8 University, this is the exact outcome Washington wanted, which already decided "beforehand to get out of the treaty" regardless of concessions.

Comment: See also:

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Document

Mueller's collusion-free collusion indictment of Roger Stone is a fever dream

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Sat, 02 Feb 2019 20:10 UTC
Roger Stone
© Leah Millis/ReutersRoger Stone arrives for a news conference in Washington, D.C., January 31, 2019.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of Roger Stone may be the most peculiar document to emerge from the Trump-Russia "collusion" saga. It is an instant classic in the Mueller genre: lots of heavy breathing, then sputtering anti-climax.

After a 20-page narrative about Russian cyber-ops, WikiLeaks' role as a witting anti-American accomplice, and Trump supporters enthralled by thousands of hacked Democratic emails and visions of the Clinton campaign's implosion, Stone, a comically inept hanger-on, ends up charged with seven process crimes. No espionage, no conspiracy, no commission of any crime until the investigations started.

This is not to say that obstruction of congressional investigations is trifling. Nor is it to say the accused has a good chance of beating the case. Some of Stone's alleged lies were mind-bogglingly stupid. Why deny written communications with people you've texted a zillion times? Why deny conversations with interlocutors (such as Trump-campaign CEO Steve Bannon) who have no reason to risk a perjury charge to protect you? And don't even get me started on the witness-tampering count, which, if I were Mueller, I'd have hesitated to include for fear of suggesting an insanity defense. (Do it for Nixon? Pull a "Frank Pentangeli"?)

That said, the case is overcharged. The tampering count carries a 20-year penalty. Adding an obstruction or false-statements count (five years each) would have given Stone (who is 66 years old) prison exposure of up to 25 years. The most central "colluder" in the Mueller firmament to be bagged so far, George Papadopoulos, was sentenced to a grand total of two weeks' imprisonment. Surely a quarter-century of "potential" incarceration would have sufficed to give prosecutors the "this is serious stuff" headline they crave while allowing for the more representative sentence Stone will eventually receive - who knows, maybe three weeks? But true to form, Mueller instead included six of these five-year counts - so the press can report that Stone faces up to 50 years in the slammer.

Comment: See also: Roger Stone's indictment shows FBI, DOJ have known for months there was no Russia collusion conspiracy

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Bullseye

US Gov't internal document outlines its program of 'economic warfare' on Venezuela

Ben Norton
Gray Zone
Wed, 30 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Venezuela crisis
© Freedoms Phoenix
An internal government document reveals tactics of "economic warfare" and "financial weapons" the US is using against Venezuela in the name of "furthering capitalism."

Venezuela has suffered from an economic crisis in recent years, and while the US government and corporate media outlets have blamed this hardship solely on the ruling socialist party, internal US government documents acknowledge that Washington has been using what it clearly describes as "financial weapons" to wage "economic warfare" on the oil-rich South American nation.

The quiet admission confirms what Caracas' government has said for years: The United States is waging an economic war on Venezuela, the country with the world's largest oil reserves.

Crippling sanctions imposed by the Donald Trump administration have bled Venezuela of billions of dollars.

The first United Nations rapporteur to visit the nation in two decades, legal expert Alfred de Zayas, told The Independent that the devastating international sanctions on Venezuela are illegal and could potentially be a crime against humanity.

Professor Steve Ellner, a leading scholar of Venezuela's politics who has lived and taught in the country for decades, explained in an interview on Moderate Rebels that the sanctions have economically isolated Caracas: "The fear of retaliation on the part of the Trump administration has pressured the world economic community to lay off the Venezuelan economy. This amounts practically to a blockade of Venezuela."
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Star of David

'Really disgusting' says Twitter, as Bibi uses Trump in election posters


RT
Sun, 03 Feb 2019 16:44 UTC
Trump/Neti billboard
© Jack Guez/AFPIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election billboard in Tel Aviv on February 3, 2019.
A looming poster of best buds Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump has sprung up in Tel Aviv, as the Israeli leader campaigns for upcoming elections. The poster has sparked jokes and disgust on social media.

The poster by the Israeli PM's ruling Likud Party reads, "Netanyahu, in another league," and appears to be a bid to remind the electorate of his close ties to the US president before the Israeli national elections in April.

Trump has been endorsing Netanyahu since back in 2013, when the then-businessman appeared in a video complimenting him and urging Israelis to "vote for Benjamin."



Comment: Get out your barf bag, gonna need it...

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Books

Flunking? Trump is right - the intel community needs to 'go back to school'

Scott Ritter
The American Conservative
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
DanCoats etc.
© CSPAN/ScreenshotDirector of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other members of the Intelligence Community testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee Jan. 29, 2019.
Their leadership got Iraq wrong. Now they're making the same mistakes all over again.

Earlier this week, the collective leadership of the United States intelligence community briefed Congress on the Worldwide Threat Assessment Report. In doing so, they provided testimony that seemed to contradict virtually every aspect of President Donald Trump's foreign policy, including the decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, the threat posed by Iran, North Korean denuclearization, and improving relations with Russia.

The president, in typical fashion, lashed out, criticizing the intelligence community's collective analysis, which predictably elicited criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. They accused him of undermining public confidence in the pronouncements of the intelligence agencies and damaging national security.

In this case, Trump is right and his detractors are wrong.

The current crop of national intelligence chiefs are cut from the same cloth as their predecessors. They are careerists who have risen to the top not through their analytical or operational talents, but through their willingness to conform to a system that is designed not to challenge conventional thinking - especially when such thinking sustains policies that have been given the imprimatur of the entrenched establishment.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Spain caves: US pressured Spain gov't to support US-backed coup in Venezuela


teleSUR
Sat, 02 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Sanchez
© EPASpain's PM Pedro Sanchez
"The US diplomat made two demands: for Spain to immediately recognize Guaidó as the legitimate president, and to cut off all dialogue with Maduro," El Pais reported.

The United States has exerted considerable pressure on the left-leaning government in Spain, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in order to come out against the Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro, recognize the opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as the country "interim president," and not to endorse or participate in any talks or dialogue between the opposition and the government, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Friday.

"We are under a lot of pressure - I won't tell you from whom but you can figure it out - to vote against the creation of this group," Foreign Minister José Borrell told El Pais, alluding to an EU-sponsored international contact group meant to foster dialogue in Venezuela.

The newspaper reported that in several meetings ahead of Jan 23, the day Guaido proclaimed himself the interim president, and since, that U.S. diplomats and senior officials placed pressure on counterparts in the Spanish government and other in the European Union to follow the same position as that of the United States and its right-wing allies in Latin America.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

'God save the Queen' from Brexit, reviving Cold War plan to rescue royals from riots


RT
Sun, 03 Feb 2019 10:03 UTC
Queen Elizabeth
© Reuters/Leon Neal/PoolBritain's Queen Elizabeth
A secret Cold War-era plan to evacuate the British royal family has reportedly been dusted off and repurposed in preparation for Brexit chaos that could see angry riots endanger the Queen's life. According to the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday, plans are in motion to evacuate the Queen and her family from mobs of angry Britons should Brexit really hit the fan.

The Cold War plan has been "repurposed in the event of civil disorder following a no-deal Brexit," an unnamed source from the Cabinet Office told the Sunday Times. The plan would see the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh ferried out of London to a top secret location elsewhere in the country.

The Cold War-era plan 'Operation Candid' would have seen the royals dispersed to country homes around the UK in an extreme national emergency. The Queen, though, was to set off on the royal yacht Britannia if there was a nuclear attack on the UK. The evacuation plans are reportedly now being updated to be ready to go should Brexit turn violent.

Comment: By 'all means', hide and save the antiques.

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Camcorder

Microsoft: It would be cruel to stop facial recognition software use by government agencies

Jake Kanter
Insider
Sun, 03 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Microsoft face API
© Microsoft
A top Microsoft executive has said that stopping government agencies from using facial recognition software would be "cruel in its humanitarian effect."

More than 85 human rights groups wrote to Microsoft, Amazon, and Google last month demanding they stop selling facial recognition software to the public sector, fearing it will lead to government surveillance.

Business Insider asked Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, about the letter at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He strongly rejected the idea that government agencies, including law enforcement, should step back from the technology.
"I do not understand an argument that companies should avoid all licensing to any government agency for any purpose whatsoever. A sweeping ban on all government use clearly goes too far and risks being cruel in its humanitarian effect."

Comment: Words or actions?

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