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Monsanto laments it cannot patent life: India's top court upholds decision that seeds cannot be patented

Lorraine Chow
EcoWatch
Mon, 07 May 2018 19:48 UTC
BT cotton
© Abhishek SrivastavaBt cotton.
In an another legal blow to Monsanto, India's Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Delhi High Court's ruling that the seed giant cannot claim patents for Bollgard and Bollgard II, its genetically modified cotton seeds, in the country.

Monsanto's chief technology officer Robert Fraley, who just announced that he and other top executives are stepping down from the company after Bayer AG's multi-billion dollar takeover closes, lamented the news.

Fraley tweeted,
"Having personally helped to launch Bollgard cotton in India & knowing how it has benefited farmers ... it's sad to see the country go down an anti-science/anti-IP/anti-innovation path..."
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Sherlock

Sherlock Holmes considers the UK's explanation of the Skripal case

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Thu, 10 May 2018 14:30 UTC
Sherlock holmes book
© Chancellor Press
In an article on 3rd May, the Guardian journalist, Luke Harding, made the following rather amusing observation:
"Since the Skripals were found stricken on a park bench, Downing Street has stuck to one version of events. Theresa May says it is 'highly likely' Moscow carried out the attack using a Soviet-made nerve agent. Only the Kremlin had the motive to kill its former officer, she argues."
The funny part, in case you didn't spot it, was his claim that Downing Street has stuck to one version of events. He is of course correct, but what he doesn't tell his readers is that this one version of events has had a plethora of sub-narratives attached to it, none of which have been able to remotely support the main thesis. Sticking to one version of events is reasonable only inasmuch as that version can be supported by facts. On the other hand, if the version of events being stuck to is not supported by the facts, or if the "facts" constantly change, or if the "facts" are contradictory, then sticking to it is a measure not of reasonableness, as Mr Harding implies, but rather of absurdity, folly and irrationality.

Comment:

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Attention

Journalists invited: North Korea to publicly close nuclear test site on May 23-25


RT
Sat, 12 May 2018 15:38 UTC
Map showing seismic data following a North Korean nuclear bomb test
© JUNG Yeon-Je / AFPMap showing seismic data following a North Korean nuclear bomb test at an underground site.
North Korea will openly dismantle its nuclear test site around May 23-25, state media said. Pyongyang has invited foreign journalists, including those from the US, to cover the event.

The dismantling will involve collapsing all tunnels with explosions and blocking their entrances. All observation facilities, research buildings, and security posts will be removed, KCNA reported.

Notably, journalists from other nations, including China, Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US, will be invited to cover the event.
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Bad Guys

The dancing bear of British hypocrisy over Russia

John Wight
RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 13:32 UTC
Big Ben
© Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP
It is time to confront the fact that the British political class is the most toxic and mendacious of any in the West, up to and including the US.

It is also time to recognize the fact that Brexit is nothing more than a diversion - that in truth, whether in or out of the EU, Britain will continue to play an onerous role in the world, a key pillar of a Washington free market consensus that has sown an ocean of misery at home and abroad, and an eager champion of regime change wars that have taken a scalpel to international law and wrought unremitting devastation and destabilization.

Thus, whenever the British political establishment and its loyal media attempt to assert the moral high ground over the behavior and actions of other countries, it can only ever be a surreal spectacle - to all intents like watching a dancing bear.
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Snakes in Suits

'Duty made me do it': Slimeball McCain makes excuses for giving Trump dossier to Comey

Gideon Resnick
The Daily Beast
Wed, 09 May 2018 22:58 UTC
The senator describes that fateful decision in his upcoming book, 'The Restless Wave.'
John McCain
© Aaron Bernstein/Reuters
In his new book, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defends his decision to give a controversial dossier about President Trump to former FBI chief James Comey.

"I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as 'the dossier,'" McCain writes in the upcoming book, titled The Restless Wave, referencing information compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. "I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation's security should have done."

The Daily Beast obtained an advance copy of the book, due out May 22.

Comment: The idea of 'duty' is quite rich, coming from top war-monger McCain whose primary duty has always been to further his own ambitions.

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Gem

#ICYMI: Trump risks chaos in the Middle East... as US Presidents tend to do


RT
Sat, 12 May 2018 11:14 UTC
ICYMI polly boiko iran deal
Donald 'Art of the Deal' Trump demonstrated he can break 'em as well as make 'em by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. Of course, he risks causing more chaos in the Middle East, but that is what US presidents tend to do.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is the level of surprise there appeared to be at Trump's decision, as if nothing like this has ever happened before.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

Europe signals patience drying up as US re-imposes Iran sanctions that will hurt the EU economy


RT
Sat, 12 May 2018 11:03 UTC
EU Flag
© Russell Cheyne / Reuters
Europeans are angry over the latest US-imposed set of sanctions harming EU interests in the wake of Donald Trump quitting the Iran nuclear deal. The EU needs to decide whether to finally stand up for itself, analysts told RT.

Aside from imperiling a landmark international accord and endangering regional and global security, the US pull-out from the 2015 agreement with Iran will have crushing economic consequences for Europe. French, German and UK firms stand to lose billions of euros in investments and trade if they are forced to comply with the sanctions that will be re-imposed and expanded now that the US is no longer a signatory of the nuclear deal.

Now, facing the ruinous economic and political fallout from Washington's unwillingness to honor its agreements, Europe has signaled that it may choose to pursue its own interests - as opposed to obediently swallowing what the US dictates.

'Crucial turning point for Europe'

"At the moment, there's a lot of anger in Europe about [US President Donald] Trump and the way he's pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal. European politicians are reacting to that anger," journalist Neil Clark told RT. He noted that Europe faced a similar predicament following the 2014 Ukraine crisis, when the Barack Obama administration rolled out sanctions aimed at Russia. Back then, Europe went along with the sanctions that "were clearly not in the interest of EU nations," but now the discontent seems to have reached the boiling point. "The key thing is: What actions will follow?" Clark notes.

Comment: So far it's been all talk and no walk. Will the EU actually stand up against their 'masters' or will they go against their economic interests and ditch the JCPOA? See also:

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Radar

Kremlin: Russia hasn't delivered S-300 to Syria but reserves the right to


Sputnik
Sat, 12 May 2018 13:17 UTC
Russia S-300 missile system
© Sputnik / Russian Defence Ministry
There's been much speculation circulating in the media around the possibility of Russia supplying its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria after the latter was attacked by three Western nations - the United States, France and the United Kingdom - in response to an alleged use of chemical weapons by government forces in the city of Douma.

Russia is neither supplying S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria, nor negotiating a potential delivery to Damascus, Vladimir Kozhin, presidential aide for military technical cooperation, told Russian media, adding that the Syrian forces had "everything they needed."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment Mr. Kozhin's remarks, stressing that it would be wrong to connect those statements with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow.
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Star of David

Why is Israel allowed to meddle in US politics over the Iran deal?

Phil Weiss & Donald Johnson
Mondoweiss
Sat, 12 May 2018 13:17 UTC
Netanyahu iranian drone
Netanyahu brandishes wreckage he says came from an Iranian drone in Israeli air space, Feb. 18, 2018, at a Munich security conference.
Let's see how hard it is to connect the dots.

For the last three years, Benjamin Netanyahu has been doing everything he can to sink the Iran deal, from speaking in Congress against the deal in 2015 with the support of Democrats who were defying President Obama on his signature foreign policy achievement, to sending his Defense Minister over to try to sink the deal, to cartoon presentations at the U.N., and a video lecture in English last week saying, Iran Lies. Netanyahu's interference was so obtuse that Obama once said that Israel was the only country that was against the deal and it would be an "abrogation of my constitutional duty" if he didn't push the Iran deal.

Comment: Further reading: By wrecking Iran deal, Trump put US Israeli lobby in the front and center of public attention

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Mail

Flashback Ayatollah Khamenei's letter to President Rouhani regarding the JCPOA


Khamenei.ir
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 12:11 UTC
Iran President Hassan Rouhani
Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution wrote a letter to Mr. President Hassan Rouhani on 21 October, 2015 where he declared the 9 requirements of the implication of JCPOA.

Comment: They knew even then that the US isn't to be trusted. See also: Nuclear deal with Iran or JCPOA explained

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